Speaking of teams needing to keep winning… Despite the fact no one could watch it, Bethlehem did in fact win their game against Toronto on Thursday. Last week I brought up Bethlehem’s discrepancy of points and points possible in contrast to the teams around them (36 pts. and 60 PP). This week they did what they needed to do. They currently sit in 5th place, tied with Indy on points but you need to look at the second tie-breaker, goal difference, to break the tie. While the Steel’s schedule is going to be a bit lighter than other teams, their main goal for their remaining games is to keep the pressure on by winning. Obvious, I know, but it’s even more important as 5 of their 8 remaining games are against teams in playoff contention.

Two of those Bethlehem games are against Ottawa and another against Nashville, two teams tied on points for the 7th place along with NYRBII. Those three teams are tied with 35 points in the true table. The way it stands Ottawa earn the 7th place through their wins and NYRBII edges Nashville on goal differential. However, with their games in hand, Nashville sits in 6th on the points possible table (68 PP) , NYRBII sit in 7th (65 PP) and Ottawa sits in 9th (62 PP). Oh and don’t forget North Carolina who currently sits 10th (30 pts., 63 PP) and Indy in 6th (36 pts., 69 PP).Between 5th and 10th place you have a spread of only 6 points and 9 points possible. To say the race for 8th is close would be an understatement.

The Charleston win was already mentioned but that win gave FC Cincinnati more than just a solid lead in the East. The biggest storyline for the Orange and Blue is this week’s win has lowered FCC’s magic number to 4. A full week lies ahead for FCC as they will play their first away games since July 14, first at ATLUTD2 on Wednesday and then Tampa Bay on Saturday. ATLUTD2 (16 pts., 52 PP), not really in playoff contention, may try to play spoiler for the rest of the season while Tampa Bay (27 pts., 60 PP) needs to string together a few wins to put their name right back into playoff contention.

Fun Fact: With FCC’s win and Toronto’s loss, FCC now has more points, 51, that Toronto can theoretically earn, 45.