Inter Miami CF have six matches and 18 points left in MLS season to qualify for playoffs

Sportsbooks have Miami third-favourite in MLS Cup winner outright betting odds

Inter Miami CF will play intra-state rival Orlando City on Sunday night in a six-point MLS Eastern Conference match-up. Three playoff places are still undecided in the Eastern Conference, and Inter Miami have six matches left to save their season.

The Herons are chasing one of the final three playoff positions, while Orlando City have already clinched a place in the postseason. City have nothing to play for, although they will want to hold onto the second-place position in the conference.

Inter Miami, on the other hand, have everything to play for after going all-in by signing Lionel Messi midway through the campaign. Messi already led Miami to one trophy, the Leagues Cup, and could lift the US Open Cup on Wednesday against Houston Dynamo.

The club was always behind the eight-ball for qualifying for the MLS playoffs. Messi was able to make a major impact on both cup competitions from the start. Miami had the worst points total in MLS when Messi made his league debut.

If Miami cannot overhaul the current gap in points between themselves and ninth-place DC United, then it will be due to their poor start to the campaign, not what Messi and co. have done since August.

Sunday night, Inter Miami CF will go into their game against Orlando City just five points off DC United, with six matches left on the fixture list. The Herons can easily overturn their deficit and make the playoffs, something I have said will happen since Messi signed with the club.

Miami possess games in hand over the teams ahead of them in the table, making it likely that they can steal ninth place and the final playoff position. The ridiculousness of MLS having nine playoff places per conference makes the league a farce.

Not long ago, league commissioner Don Garber said MLS “is more competitive than the Premier League” due to the number of teams that could potentially win the championship. But MLS’s ability to have any random team win the MLS Cup does not make it competitive.

Rather it shows anything can happen when 18 of 29 teams in the league qualify for a playoff structure that rewards the team that gets hot at the right moment instead of the best team over the course of a 34-game season. It rewards mediocrity.

Sportsbooks still believe Inter Miami can lift the MLS Cup. Miami are currently 6.00 to win the MLS Cup, according to bookmakers. Only FC Cincinnati have better odds. FC Cincinnati are 5.00 to win the MLS Cup.

If Inter Miami go on to win the MLS Cup, it won’t be a good advertisement for the league. Why? This is a team that has, up to September 24, picked up a mere 1.11 points per game.

In fact, no team in the entire MLS except for FC Cincinnati has taken 2.00 points per game or more. Orlando City, the second-place team in the East, picked up just 1.72 points per match. In the Western Conference, the league leader, St. Louis City, averages just 1.71 points per game.

This isn’t a great advertisement for the league, and it doesn’t make it competitive. It actually shows that there is a lack of consistency and quality in the teams. It also shows that the regular season doesn’t mean anything and teams can meander through it picking up as few as 1.16 points per game (DC United) and still make the playoffs.