Rhode Island FC is on course to become the first true expansion side to reach the USL Championship Playoffs since 2019.

Given the way the club has played over the past three months of its expansion season, there’s even more within reach.

• SLOW OUT THE TRAPS: There was understandable excitement about the direction the club was taking under Head Coach and General Manager Khano Smith. The side went out and acquired some big names – including 2023 Championship Player of the Year Albert Dikwa – but struggled early, picking up only 11 points from its first 13 games.

• TRENDING UP: Since a defeat at home to Detroit City FC on June 8, things have moved in a different direction. Rhode Island has lost only once in its last 13 league outings, picking up a massive 5-2 road win against Louisville City FC and a season sweep of Birmingham Legion FC – where Smith was an assistant coach for four-plus seasons before his appointment with RIFC.

• WHAT’S REAL: The club’s underlying numbers say this run isn’t down to good fortune. RIFC leads the Championship with 26 points since June 11, but it also ranks fifth in Expected Points at 20.82xP per American Soccer Analysis and has a +4.45 Expected Goal Differential per Opta. In John Morrissey’s Playoff Odds, Rhode Island is projected to finish fourth, which would mean a home playoff game in its first season.

The caveat to all this? The draws. Rhode Island has drawn 13 of its 26 games this season, one shy of equaling the Championship’s single-season record. While it has defeated LouCity and Legion in its current 7-1-5 run, the other four wins came against teams currently below the playoff line.

But there’s a sense of optimism within the group over the path so far, and where it can carry them over the final two months of the regular season.

“Looking at the way that the table is, one win [or] two wins, and you go on a little run, you can shoot from where we are now up into the top four,” said midfielder Stephen Turnbull after scoring the game-winner against Legion. “It's a long season and it's a long year. You can look at it in different periods, and where you start is never where you finish. I think we can be really happy with where we started and where we're going.”

For a club which maybe saw this season as a soft-open before moving into its soccer-specific stadium at Tidewater Landing next spring, the door appears wide open for immediate success.

This is an excerpt from The Rondo, the USL Championship's free weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday.