Time for part 2 of my First Annual Half Arsed And Proud Of It MLS Season Predictions, and this time it's the Eastern Conference. Click here for my Western Conference preview, where Seattle took less than half a game to make a mockery of my optimism for Blaise Nkufo and O'Brian White. Like how I did it with the West, it's another no research, no googling, gut instinct kind of thing, here we go.
1 New York Red Bulls. Juan Pablo Angel could be a big loss, but having a full season of Thierry Henry should work out nicely for them. Not really much competition in the East, so they should sew up first fairly easily, before shockingly and amusingly losing to the wild card Colorado Rapids.
2 Sporting Kansas City. A new name, almost a new stadium, and Omar Bravo as their new DP. Things are looking up in KC. A long road trip could kill their season, but I think they'll do just about well enough to hang on, and then really make up ground in the 2nd half of the season, before making it to the Conference final and losing.
3 D.C United. Charlie Davies is a great signing and if Andy Najar can repeat or improve upon his showing of last year, they should help restore DC, if not to their former championship winning glories, at least back to respectability and a playoff position.
4 Philadelphia Union. Faryd Mondragon's a great name, and a decent signing as well. Carlos Ruiz seems like a bit of a desperate gamble, but things will come together and the Union will get the last wild card spot, where they'll lose to Colorado
5 Chicago Fire. Lost a few big name players in Cuahtemoc Blanco Brian McBride and Nery Castillo, so will wallow in mediocrity, flirt with the playoffs all season, but not make it.
6 Houston Dynamo. Houston benefit with the move to the weaker Eastern Conference, but won't really be able to take advantage. With no big names coming in over the off-season, they'll once again be relying on Brian Ching, and he won't be able to do it on his own.
7 Columbus Crew. Lost a lot of their best and most experienced players, like Schelotto and Hejduk, and their days of being a contender are over. They'll actually lose a game to Toronto, but will still finish above them.
8 Toronto FC. Ah, Toronto. New management, new hope, no good new players yet though. If some academy kids/draftees or as yet unknown new signings don't come along and impress, we'll be in trouble. We're finally on the right track but we're a long way back, 2012 should be better but this year will be long and frustrating, it'll be interesting at least.
9 New England Revolution. If only because I couldn't bring myself to put Toronto dead last. If Shalrie Joseph can keep himself out of trouble and out of rehab, they'll maybe do ok, but I think they'll struggle and it may be the end of the Nicol era.
So overall, in one magnificent single table format, your standings will be;
1 Real Salt Lake
2 Seattle Sounders
3 New York Red Bulls
4 LA Galaxy
5 Colorado Rapids
6 FC Dallas
7 Sporting Kansas City
8 DC United
9 Portland Timbers
10 Philadelphia Union
11Chicago Fire
12 San Jose Earthquakes
13 Houston Dynamo
14 Columbus Crew
15 Chivas Usa
16 Toronto FC
17 Vancouver Whitecaps
18 New England Revolution.
Wild cards, Colorado beats Philadelphia, Portland beats Dallas.
Conference semi finals, RSL beats Portland, Seattle beats LA, Colorado beats New York and Kansas City beats DC.
Conference finals, Seattle beats RSL and Colorado beats Kansas City
MLS Cup, Seattle beats Colorado.
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