Schedule Released!

We finally have the season schedule!  Just a couple of quick housekeeping notes before we get to it though:

• GK Andrew Rawls and D Jeremy Kelly have been loaned to USL Phoenix Rising for the 2021 season, with the right of recall.  This is not at all a surprise for Rawls, who sits behind Yarbrough, Irwin, and probably Rodriguez for playing time.  I'm a little surprised about Kelly given that he showed well in his limited time last season.
• The Rapids have added scrimmages on the 31st against FC Tucson and LA Galaxy II.  They're scheduled just an hour apart so I suspect these will be 45 or 60 minute scrimmages.

Now, the schedule.  As we already knew the season will start in Dallas on April 17th followed by our first look at Austin here in Colorado a week later.  Now we know the full season details.  Back to 34 games, but 31 of them will be against the Western Conference as the league keeps things somewhat regionalized to save costs and allow for same-day travel.  We play seven teams 3 times, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, Seattle, KC, and of course FSL.  The rest of the West we play twice (once home, once away) and we go to New England and the new stadium in Cincinnati while Toronto visits Colorado.  

The bad news is that we have to go to Salt Lake not once, not twice, but three times.  Since cross-border travel for sports is still not allowed for pro sports the Canadian teams are at least starting the season in the U.S. and Vancouver is playing their home games in Sandy.  So our May trip "to Vancouver" is actually a trip to Salt Lake.  On top of that they get two of the three Rocky Mountain Cup matches at home.  We also go to Houston and KC twice.  Austin, Dallas, Minnesota, and Seattle we get twice at home.

The schedule has some gaps this year for international play.  The team has the first 3 weeks of June off for World Cup qualifying.  There's also a 10 day gap in mid July for the Gold Cup.  The Rapids have a long home stand around that with 4 home games in a row starting with the Sounders on the 4th of July and ending with Dallas on July 21st.  The Rapids follow that with their only 3 game road trip, going to Salt Lake, Austin, and Minnesota in 11 days.  They also have a 3 games in 10 days home stand in September.  Otherwise there's never more than 2 home or away games in a row.

Their toughest stretch is in mid August where they play in Houston on Saturday, in LA against the Galaxy on Tuesday, then come home for their only home Rocky Mountain Cup match on Saturday.  They also have a rough 5 games in two weeks right before the end of the season starting in Salt Lake for a RMC match, heading home for Seattle and Portland, then flying out to New England before heading back down to Houston for the 5th game.  Depth will be tested.  They get a week off after that before the season finale, facing LAFC at home on November 7th.  Snow Clasico IV?

Overall given the compressed schedule this works out pretty well.  The Rapids' youth and depth will server them well.  If you look at our 10 "extra" games after playing the 12 Western teams home and away we have the two worst teams in the West last year (both on the road), an expansion team, and the worst team in the East (also on the road).  New England finished 8th and wouldn't have made the playoffs if they hadn't been expanded.  So half of those games are against non-playoff teams going into 2021.  We also get 3 of the top 4 teams in the West last season and the second best team in the East, but all but one of those extra games (KC) are at home.  The last one is against Dallas, who finished right behind us, and is also at home.  Other than drawing KC on the road that's a pretty favorable mix.

The league announced on Monday that the Leagues Cup, which the Rapids qualified for, would be reduced this season and only 4, not 8, MLS teams will play in it.  Colorado no longer qualifies under the new rules but I think that's a good thing.  We don't need the fixture congestion.