'Caps and Herons starting to rise while everyone else stays stuck in neutral | Matchday 31
A lot of chopping, a lot of changing, and not much rhythm as 2026 limps towards the finish line
We're just three weeks away from the finish line, and just one from Nashville officially clinching the Supporters' Shield. They could've done so on Saturday night, but winning on the road in this league is still hard, and the Quakes are still good, and so here we are. Even the best hit speed bumps.
What I will say, though, is that Nashville's week-to-week, matchday-to-matchday excellence – the consistency with which they've delivered performances that range from a solid B to an A+ – has been the outstanding attribute of this season. And I mean outstanding as "literally stands out." Because the rest of the crowd (even the good teams) have largely been injury-riddled, or under various forms of teardown-and-construction, or outright dysfunctional/self-sabotaging.
The 'Yotes avoided all that, and actually got stronger over the course of the year as CSO Mike Jacobs added a few new pieces, and as head coach BJ Callaghan coached up some kids. And they didn't keep the level high in league play by skipping the extra-curriculars; remember, this is a team that made a deep run in the Concacaf Champions Cup. When they hoist the Big Dinner Plate at some point next week, they will have earned it in every conceivable way.
I just wanted to shout that out at the top of this newsletter. The 'Yotes had a chance to win the Shield this week but didn't – they turned in a B-level performance at best – and that's ok, because everyone else who had a chance to push them over course of the year has, at one point or another, stumbled and bumbled their way through this weird, chopped-up, Frankenstein of a season that's lacked both rhythm and a through-line.
So let's take our usual spin around the league:
