Good Monday morning Caps fans, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and that your week is off to a good start.

Pain. Again.

The loss to FC Dallas at BC Place on Saturday won’t sting as bad as the CCL final earlier this year, but it adds to the list of heartbreaks for the Whitecaps, as they missed out on the Western Conference crown with San Diego’s thumping of Portland. The Caps fought bravely despite being down a man for functionally the whole game. But despite second half domination that seemed like it would produce the late drama this team has embraced all season … Nada.

The red card for Mathias Laborda will sting, as it cost the Caps this game and will see the centerback miss game one of the playoffs, leaving them with the choice of Ralph Priso or the recovering Joedrick Pupe (who has still not made his MLS debut). Personally, I don’t see it as a sending off, given that Belal Halbouni was covering and Sam Sarver’s touch was taking him away from goal. And if you send off Laborda, I’m not sure how Lalas Abubakar stays on the pitch later in the first half.

The team deserves a lot of credit for fighting bravely, even with ten men, and throwing everything they could at this one to try and get a result. But this was still a match the Caps have to find a way to win, and it could haunt them, as they will get a full-strength Dallas side in the playoffs. At the same time, Vancouver will be approaching things much differently in round one and will have a new read on how Dallas is likely to set up. The last half hour showed they could break down the Dallas defensive structure — they just need to find the goal.

Does not winning the West change how we look at this team writ large? Maybe a bit, as winning the conference would’ve let the Caps have something to hang their hat on, no matter how the playoffs end up. And it stings a bit to fall short twice in one season.

But this has still been a phenomenal season. Think back to last year, when this team stumbled down the stretch into decision day and fell into the wild card play-in match. A year later, and things are in a very different place indeed.

And this team always was going to judge its own success or failure based on the outcome of the playoffs. And its success in knockout play is demonstrable at this point. Sure, finishing in second leaves open a possible second round date with LAFC, but it’s the playoffs — if you want glory you have to beat good teams eventually. And giving Thomas Müller, Ryan Gauld and Jesper Sorensen an extra bit of motivation can’t hurt heading into the postseason. Saturday stung, but it’s a new day — onwards and upwards.

Shameless Self Promotion

We have the gory details of the decision day disappointment for the Caps and where it leaves them ahead of the playoffs.

Best of the Rest

Game one of the Dallas series will be next Sunday at 4:30 p.m., followed by game two on Saturday, November 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Lionel Messi locked up the golden boot on Saturday and, with it, almost certainly secured the MVP award as well. This time it is deserved.

Apple and MLS are dropping the need for Season Pass to watch the playoffs, which should open up the league to some new eyeballs.

The Whitecaps 2 saw their playoff run halted by Colorado Rapids 2 on Sunday, despite a fiercely contested round one tie.

In CPL action, Forge rounded off another strong campaign by winning another Shield.