MLS announces potential playoff dates

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Playoff dates? They're out.

Kinda.

Major League Soccer announced Thursday potential playoff dates for this year's 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The MLS will observe the international date that falls on the third weekend of November. There will be an extended break between the second leg of the Conference Finals and MLS Cup — as was the case in 2012 — which also coincides with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

Here are the potential dates for the playoffs:

Knockout Games: Oct. 30-31 (Wed.-Thurs.)

Conference Semifinals, Leg 1: Nov. 2-3 (Sat.-Sun.)

Conference Semifinals, Leg 2: Nov. 6-7 (Wed.-Thurs.)

Conference Finals, Leg 1: Nov. 9-10 (Sat.-Sun.)

Conference Finals, Leg 2: Nov. 23-24 (Sat.-Sun.)

The MLS site broke down the claustrophobically-close Western Conference standings.

Real Salt Lake will clinch a playoff berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs if ...

RSL defeats Portland at JELD-WEN Field Saturday night.

Or ...

RSL ties Portland and ...

Colorado loses to Vancouver on Saturday or ...

San Jose ties or loses to L.A. on Sunday.

In short, no one knows how it's going to play out. The possibilities are many.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani