Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney puts the MLS playoff picture in focus following last weekend’s (Sept. 1-3) games: One week of play remains in the MLS regular season and still there are three playoff spots unclaimed. The 2000 season concludes with 10 games played between Tuesday (Sept. 5) and Saturday (Sept. 9). By blowing a 1-0 lead and losing to Chicago 2-1 Sunday, Colorado lost the chance to keep its playoff hopes in-house. Instead, the Rapids — which occupy the No. 7 seed — are not assured of a playoff spot even if they win their season finale against Los Angeles at Mile High Stadium on Friday. With 40 points, Colorado is within catching distance of Miami and Columbus, both with 38 points and two games to play. If it finishes on equal points, Colorado would win tiebreakers against Dallas (2-0-0), New England (2-0-0) and Columbus (1-0-1), but loses the tiebreaker against Miami (1-3-0). Another team with 40 points, the Dallas Burn, does control its playoff destiny. With four points in its last two games, Dallas would reach the playoffs, since Columbus and Miami could then only tie it on points, and the Burn holds the tiebreaker edge in head-to-head play over both teams. The Burn could know its playoff fate by Wednesday night when it plays the Galaxy. If Miami fails to beat the MetroStars Tuesday and Columbus doesn’t beat Chicago Wednesday, Dallas would sew up a playoff spot by beating L.A. New England squandered a chance to clinch a playoff spot by losing to D.C. United 2-0 on Sunday. The Revs are at home for their last two games, where they are 8-3-3 this season, but they entertain divisional leaders Kansas City (Wednesday) and the MetroStars (Saturday). The Revs need one win to clinch a playoff spot. They have lost the season series to Colorado (0-2-0) and Columbus (1-2-1), so they would lose tiebreakers with those teams. They finished even with the Fusion at 1-1-2, so a tie in points between those two teams would be broken by goal difference in all games (the Revs lead minus-2 to minus-5). Kansas City took the No. 1 seed by nudging Tampa Bay 1-0 Saturday. That loss also cost the Mutiny the Central Division lead, which is now the property of Chicago. The teams are tied with 51 points, but Chicago won the season series 2-0-2. Of the three teams with 51 points, Chicago has the best record in games against the other two (3-1-2), so it is allotted the No. 2 seed. Next come the Metros (3-3-0) and the Mutiny (2-4-2). They split their head-to-head series (2-2-0), and the Mutiny has a better goal difference (plus 12 to plus 8). But the divisional leaders, or in the case of the Metros, divisional winners, must be seeded in the top three, and so the Metros claim the No. 3 seed. The ladder as of Sept. 4: Clinched: 1. Kansas City 53 points 2 games to play: @Revs, @Mutiny 2. Chicago 51 points 2 games to play: Crew, @Crew 3. MetroStars 51 points 2 games to play: Fusion, @Revs 4. Tampa Bay 51 points 1 game to play: Wizards 5. Los Angeles 50 points 2 games to play: Burn, @Rapids The next three: 6. New England 42 points 2 games to play: Wizards, Mutiny 7. Colorado, 40 points 1 game to play: @Galaxy 8. Dallas, 40 points 2 games to play: @ Galaxy, Quakes Still alive: 9. Columbus, 38 points 2 games to play: @Fire, Fire 10. Miami, 38 points 2 games to play: @Metros, @United D.C. United (30) and San Jose (29) are eliminated. Currently, the playoff brackets would look like this: 1. Kansas City vs. 8. Dallas, winner plays winner of 4. Tampa Bay vs. 5. Los Angeles 2. Chicago vs. 7. Colorado, winner plays winner of 3. MetroStars vs. 6. New England Games to wrap it up: Tuesday — Miami at MetroStars. Wednesday — Kansas City at New England, Columbus at Chicago, Dallas at Los Angeles. Friday — Los Angeles at Colorado. Saturday — Miami at D.C. United, MetroStars at New England, Kansas City at Tampa Bay, Chicago at Columbus, San Jose at Dallas. One scheduling quirk is that none of the teams fighting for a playoff spot meet in the final week of the season. They either play teams that have clinched or those that have been eliminated. The MLS playoffs will open Sept. 14 with the higher-seeded teams hosting the first game of a best-of-three series. The Metros have set Sept. 15 as the date for their playoff opener.