In the not too recent past, there have been final days of the USL Championship regular season that have been relatively uneventful.

Take 2022, for example. By the time the final day arrived, only one playoff berth was up for grabs. The teams that began the day in the top four of their respective conferences stayed there without much to-do. San Antonio FC and Louisville City FC had already locked up the No. 1 seeds and SAFC the Players’ Shield.

That’s definitely not the case this Saturday.

There are five postseason berths up for grabs, with an intriguing three-way duel for the final spot in the East set to play out as eighth-placed Detroit City FC visits the 10th-placed Tampa Bay Rowdies before ninth-placed Indy Eleven closes the season out West.

In the West, meanwhile, there are still five teams alive for four berths, and pressure sitting squarely on each squad to be part of the postseason.

Here’s why.

5. Phoenix Rising FC (9-8-12, 39pts) – On one hand, what Phoenix Rising has achieved in Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah’s first season has been notable. The side is one point from clinching a playoff berth while having allotted 27.4 percent of its minutes to players eligible for the USL Championship’s Young Player of the Year award, with 23-year-old Hope Avayevu also sitting tied for the league-lead in assists.

At the same time, this is Rising, which has won three Western Conference titles in the past seven years as well as one Players’ Shield and a league title in 2023. Whatever the squad looks like, reaching the playoffs is a minimum expectation. After getting in as last year’s No. 8 seed, Phoenix must make sure of its postseason berth despite a tough road test at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC to close.

6. Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (10-12-7, 37pts) – Let’s be honest, if you’re the defending title-holder, you’ve got to make the postseason the following year to defend your crown. The Switchbacks have been in precarious positions throughout this season with the club’s lack of consistent scoring proving a serious issue. (Would you have guessed the club’s leading scorer in the league this season is Marco Micaletto with six goals? I would not.)

There have only been two USL Championship title-winners who missed the playoffs the following year. The first was Real Monarchs SLC in 2020 after massive roster turnover. The second was Orange County SC in 2022 when despite Milan Iloski’s best efforts the side went from title-winner to last in the West. The Switchbacks don’t want to join that club.

7. San Antonio FC (10-12-7, 37pts) – Whatever happens on Saturday night when San Antonio hosts Copa Tejas rival El Paso Locomotive FC, the club is guaranteed of an improved record from its past campaign. Head Coach Carlos Llamosa’s side has averaged 1.28 points per game, up from last year’s low-point of 1.14ppg that brought the former United States international to Toyota Field as its new manager.

As with Phoenix, though, that isn’t the standard Llamosa was brought here to deliver. The title-winners three seasons ago, San Antonio has only missed the postseason in consecutive seasons once, in 2018-19, which saw the end of Darren Powell’s tenure as Head Coach. Llamosa shouldn’t be under that level of pressure but missing out while going winless in its final six games of the season would be an unthinkable ending.

8. Orange County SC (9-11-9, 36pts) – If Orange County’s 2021 title was the embodiment of the club’s ethos of competing for silverware while developing high-level young talent, the years since have seen the side continue to serve as a conduit for young talent to take their games to the next level but lacked a little of the consistency that’s required to be a contender for silverware.

That’s where the side finds itself currently, with youngsters Bryce Jamison – headed to the Colorado Rapids in 2026 – and Pedro Guimaraes – headed to the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the United States next month – shining brightly, but the side under pressure to reach the postseason for a third consecutive season. Saturday’s game at home to Indy Eleven is one of the pivotal games of the weekend, and only a win guarantees OCSC will be in the top eight.

9. Lexington SC (9-11-9, 36pts) – Going off its performance in USL League One over the past two seasons, where LSC failed to reach the postseason, predicting it to make the USL Championship Playoffs in its first season after moving up would have seemed a long-shot. Given the upgrades the squad received on paper last offseason – which led our friend Mike Watts to pick the side as a 90% chance to reach the playoffs in preseason – anything less than a playoff berth is going to be a disappointment.

Lexington has invested strongly in its squad, but results have been inconsistent, including a four-game winless run entering Saturday’s visit to Oakland Roots. They might be the new boys, but the Boys in Green need to step up and hope one of the teams above them falters for this season to be considered a success.

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