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With the season now in the home stretch, it's time to start taking a look at the playoff and Supporters' Shield pictures. For the New York Red Bulls, the picture is a very good one. They currently sit at the top of the Eastern Conference tied at 45 points with D.C. United, but with a much better Goal Difference (2nd tiebreaker). The Shield race is currently led by the Vancouver Whitecaps with the Red Bulls only 3 points back.
Below are two tables for each of the races that shows each team's current points, maximum points if they win all their remaining games, and our projected points. The projected points is used by taking the Home and Away Points Per Game (PPG) and multiplying them against the remaining games both home and away. For the full set of data, you can look at our Google Sheets file where we have this laid out.
Eastern Conference
| # | Club | Pts | Max Pts | Proj Pts |
| 1 | New York Red Bulls | 45 | 69 | 58 |
| 2 | D.C. United | 45 | 60 | 53 |
| 3 | Columbus Crew SC | 44 | 59 | 51 |
| 4 | New England Revolution | 43 | 61 | 52 |
| 5 | Toronto FC | 37 | 58 | 51 |
| 6 | Montreal Impact | 32 | 59 | 42 |
| 7 | Orlando City SC | 32 | 47 | 38 |
| 8 | Philadelphia Union | 30 | 45 | 34 |
| 9 | New York City FC | 28 | 46 | 34 |
| 10 | Chicago Fire | 27 | 45 | 32 |
Supporters' Shield
| # | Club | PTS | Max Pts | Proj Pts |
| 1 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 48 | 66 | 58 |
| 2 | FC Dallas | 47 | 68 | 58 |
| 3 | LA Galaxy | 47 | 62 | 54 |
| 4 | New York Red Bulls | 45 | 69 | 58 |
| 5 | D.C. United | 45 | 60 | 53 |
| 6 | Columbus Crew SC | 44 | 59 | 51 |
| 7 | New England Revolution | 43 | 61 | 52 |
| 8 | Seattle Sounders FC | 42 | 57 | 48 |
| 9 | Sporting Kansas City | 41 | 62 | 53 |
| 10 | Portland Timbers | 41 | 59 | 49 |
| 11 | San Jose Earthquakes | 39 | 57 | 48 |
| 12 | Toronto FC | 37 | 58 | 51 |
| 13 | Houston Dynamo | 35 | 53 | 42 |
| 14 | Real Salt Lake | 35 | 53 | 42 |
| 15 | Colorado Rapids | 34 | 52 | 40 |
| 16 | Montreal Impact | 32 | 59 | 42 |
| 17 | Orlando City SC | 32 | 47 | 38 |
| 18 | Philadelphia Union | 30 | 45 | 34 |
| 19 | New York City FC | 28 | 46 | 34 |
| 20 | Chicago Fire | 27 | 45 | 32 |
As you can see the Red Bulls have a wide margin for error with their current spot in the Eastern Conference. The Red Bulls can in fact clinch a playoff spot with a win over New England on Wednesday or Portland on Sunday. A win will make it so the 7th place team (Orlando City) cannot overtake them in the standings, which means they would fall no lower than 6th if they lost their remaining games.
In the shield race, a win will draw them even on points with Vancouver. The Red Bulls would still have 1 game in hand on the current leaders and would be in a good position to take the Shield as well.
Games to Watch
- 9/16 - New England vs New York - a win would clinch a playoff spot for the Red Bulls.
- 9/18 - Sporting KC vs FC Dallas - a win by KC would help the Red Bulls Shield hopes as Dallas currently sits in 2nd with 47 points.
- 9/19 - D.C. United vs Columbus - a Columbus win helps as that would mean a D.C. loss, but a draw would be the best outcome for New York.
- 9/19 - Vancouver vs Seattle - Seattle has not been a great road team in 2015 (11 pts in 14 games), but a win would help keep Vancouver from pulling away from the pack in the Shield race.
- 9/19 - Chicago vs Orlando - If New York fail to win against New England, an Orlando loss would also clinch them a spot.
- 9/19 - Real Salt Lake vs LA - a LA loss helps the chances at the shield. LA is also not a good road team in 2015 (11 pts in 14 games).
- 9/20 - Portland vs New York - If New York fails to beat New England and Orlando beats Chicago, a win here would still clinch a spot.