In Major League Soccer, playoff qualification is about as close as you’re going to get to a pass/fail metric. With no promotion/relegation system in place it is the most obvious divide between seasons that are arguably good and those that are definitely bad.



Teams like the 2017 San Jose Earthquakes, which edged over the line despite a minus-21 (!) goal differential, can delude themselves into thinking it was a successful campaign in a black-and-white sense. Clubs that fail to achieve that bare minimum are left to look inward and soul search. When more than half the league make it into the bracket, it’s a discouraging letdown for those that don’t.



Having fallen short of the playoffs in 2018, however, the Houston Dynamo didn’t do anything drastic. General Manager Matt Jordan and Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera retooled the edges of their roster, and bolstered the spine of the team, but they didn’t blow up their core.



So far this season,...