Norm Pollock Syosset, N.Y. The San Jose Clash finished its MLS season with 19 wins and 13 losses. Yet it did not make the pool of eight playoff teams in the 12 team league and therefore is not eligible to win the season’s championship. Its 19-13 record is better than the records of at least three of the eight playoff teams [and the Clash compiled more points than two], each of whom could be the season’s champion. Doesn’t it look foolish even though there is a logical explanation based on shootouts and divisional play? Ridge Mahoney: Norm, it’s somewhat incongruous, but not uncommon in other pro sports to have a team with a better record shutout of the playoffs because it played in a different division or conference. That’s why the NHL and NBA determine playoff teams not by where a team finishes in its division, but where it ranks in its conference. If you look at the NFL standings over the past two decades, you’ll see many examples of a 9-7 team making the playoffs and a 10-6 team staying home. But I agree, the spread between 19-13 and 14-18 Tampa Bay and 13-19 Miami is extreme, for the points as well as the somewhat misleading W-L record. A bad break for the Clash, but here’s the irony: The Clash was 9-3 against the East, and 10-10 in its own division. So, indeed, it could make the case that this season, it was in the wrong conference. But, had it not played so many shootouts early in the season, it would have stayed a lot closer to its conference rivals and thus, perhaps, fought harder to stay in the chase. (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)