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Just how jam-packed is the East playoff race?
The difference in points between second-place Sporting Kansas City and the eighth-place Houston Dynamo is just nine points.
So with the Red Bulls habitually dropping points this season, the last two wins over SKC and D.C. United -- which just happen to be the top two teams in the conference -- are huge to the New York Red Bulls' playoff push.
And last night's win specifically? Enormous, according to Sports Club Stats, which gave the Red Bulls just a 45.3 percent chance of making the post-season before last night's game.
But the win bumps the Red Bulls' chances up to 59.9, while taking a chunk out of several competitors' odds.
Thankfully, the site hasn't been updated with last night's results, so we can still play with the result. A loss would have given the Red Bulls a slightly-less-than 1-in-3 shot at the post-season, while a draw would have whittled the Red Bulls chances down a little, nearing 40 percent.
A loss:
A draw:
Not to say Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Union isn't equally as huge. A win bumps the Red Bulls' chances up to nearly 70 percent, while a loss drops them to 33.2 percent. A loss wouldn't be as dire, though since there are three matches with playoff implications also being played Saturday: the Dynamo host the Columbus Crew, Toronto FC travels to the Chicago Fire and the New England Revolution take on the Montreal Impact.