At the beginning of the season, I assumed, like almost everybody else, that the Western Conference would be much stronger than the Eastern. I made this prediction: "I'm guessing something like 53 points will be needed for Western teams to make the playoffs. (Last year NYRB made it in with 46 and PTFC had 42). Maybe 40 will do it for the East. These are WAGs."

Early in the season, western teams were regularly beating eastern teams, but that has not been the case in recent weeks. In fact, as of this morning, Western Conference teams have
28 wins
25 losses
12 draws
+5 goal differential
against Eastern teams. (Feel free to check my numbers. I don't swear by them. Heck, I didn't even double-check them.)

Based on the current standings, it appears that the worst eastern teams are somewhat worse than the worst western ones, but there is not much difference between the teams at the top of the tables. I guess this is good news for the Timbers--it might not be as difficult to qualify for the playoffs in the West as expected.

Thoughts?