Colorado Rapids Season Preview – Expectations

So we know about the somewhat depleted team that the Rapids are working with in 2014. We know that they have a coach who has never gotten any top-flight experience on the touchline, though he does have a much better support network and a better base of players and system than Oscar Pareja did when he took over from Gary Smith. We know we are entering a season where just about every other team in the Western conference either stayed just as good as they were before or got better, while it looks like the Rapids might have regressed.

We have absolutely no idea what any of that is going to mean in terms of the team's finish in the standings though, and there are arguments that can be made for this team finishing anywhere from third in the west to eighth. It all depends on who you ask.

Our Expectations

Where do the expectations lie with this team? I asked Burgundy Wave's readers to answer a poll on the topic in the first Daily Wave of the new season and I was surprised; 72% of the people voting saw the Rapids as good enough to get a playoff spot. Only 12% of the 62 voters thought that they would drop below 6th place. The national media is getting a sinking feeling from the Rapids, and the odds all seem to be against us. It's nice to see that, at least within the fanbase, someone still believes in the boys in burgundy after that trainwreck of an off-season.

Everyone Else's Expectations

If we're feeling bullish about Colorado's chances this season, we're pretty much the only ones. Just about every non-biased media outlet has completely tossed the Rapids aside as an afterthought.

Simon Borg on Extra Time Radio had the Rapids finishing eighth. Andrew Wiebe had them at seventh.

The SB Nation MLS Preview's aggregate vote finished with the Rapids in seventh.

MLS has the Rapids ranked 16th (that's third from the bottom in the entire league!) in their first Power Rankings of the season.

In fact, the nicest non-Rapids-related ranking or preview I could find was Sports Illustrated's, which had the Rapids ranked 9th in the league without mentioning the coaching situation.

You, I like you, SI guy.

It doesn't just cover those sorts of things, either. We covered the fact that Bovada's odds for the MLS Cup feature the Rapids at 50/1, the fourth lowest in the entire league. Despite being absolutely adored by nearly everyone in the media after their finish to 2013, the loss of Pareja was apparently enough to completely remove any air of legitimacy from the Rapids.

This is a season of what-ifs, and I wouldn't bet my house on any scenario you put in front of me, be it good or bad. There's just too many things that could go right or wrong, and as I said before, I could see this team finishing anywhere from third to eighth without much of a 'well, wasn't expecting that' reaction from me.

Best Case Scenario

All of a sudden, the Rapids go from 45 goals in 2013 to 55 or more in 2013. At that point, all the defense needs to do is not regress more than a goal or two.

Worst Case Scenario

So why did I say that the Rapids could get eighth when even that year, they got seventh? Because the West was a hot mess in 2012. The last playoff team (Vancouver) didn't even have 45 points. In fact, if you took that Whitecaps team and put them in last year's West, they would have been… below everyone except for Chivas. San Jose absolutely demolished everything in sight, which meant there were fewer points to go around for the other teams. This season, the West has only one team that people can agree on as being definitively bad, and that's Chivas. (Simon Borg does not count as people.)

Now, neither of the above scenarios are likely to happen, but it's nice to see that we're probably in for another roller coaster of a season.

Burgundy Wave Predictions

I asked Burgundy Wave's contributors for their best prediction of record and finish this season. In general, we were mostly guessing mid-table for the Rapids.

See the rest of the Burgundy Wave Rapids Season Preview: