Look at the foot of the MLS table right now and you find four clubs separated by five points and, in one case, an extra fixture still to play. Columbus Crew and Atlanta United sit level on 23 points from 25 matches, occupying 27th and 28th place. CF Montréal trail them by two points on 21 from the same number of games, in 29th. At the bottom, Sporting Kansas City have 18 points from 24 played, the lowest tally in the group but with a match in hand on the three teams above them.
The gaps, game by game
On a points-per-game basis the picture tightens even further. Columbus and Atlanta are both running at 0.92 points per match. Montreal sit at 0.84. Sporting Kansas City, despite occupying last place, are at 0.75 points per game with that outstanding fixture still to come, a result that could shuffle the order before the weekend is out.
None of the four have any breathing room. A single Columbus or Atlanta defeat combined with a Montreal win would completely reshuffle the 27th to 29th spots. And Sporting Kansas City's game in hand means their eventual points-per-game total, not their raw tally, is the number worth watching.
Why it matters
With 23 points apiece, Columbus and Atlanta are functioning as direct rivals for position even though they are not scheduled against each other in this data snapshot. Every result elsewhere in the bottom four now carries weight for both clubs. Montreal's two-point cushion above Sporting Kansas City looks slim rather than safe, especially with the Kansas side yet to play their 25th match.
Nothing here is decided. The table simply shows four teams bunched together with the season's business at the bottom still very much alive.