KC currently hosts North Carolina in the 1st round of the playoffs

The final week of the 2024 National Women's Soccer League season isn't over yet, but the drama is over for the Kansas City Current. Because the NWSL does not host a Decision Day-style format where all teams play at the same time, all of the team's Kansas City chasers have already played.

There were two teams KC could get past on the weekend if the results were right. NJ/NY Gotham played Friday night and the Washington Spirit placed Saturday. The Current only needed a single point lost by each team to move past both clubs and climb into second place (if KC won on Sunday).

Both clubs achieved victories. Washington defeated the North Carolina Courage 1-0 tonight. Gotham defeated the Utah Royals 4-1 on Friday.

The Current has been just one point behind both clubs for weeks. Gotham hasn't lost a point since playing Current on September 28th. A 1-1 draw was the deciding factor in these teams' placement. Gotham has been perfect in the last three games. Washington was also perfect. Three games, three wins.

No matter what happens when the KC Current takes on the Chicago Red Stars tomorrow, they will finish fourth in the standings. North Carolina has been in fifth place for weeks. That means KC hosts NC next Saturday, November 9th at 11:00 a.m. CST at CPKC Stadium.

If Current advances, they will have a chance to host if there are a number of upsets in the league. As well as the top teams have played, they could end up facing the Orlando Pride away in the semifinals. A match that would have made a premier NWSL championship with the hostility of the first meeting of the season.

No matter what happens, the NWSL finals will be played in Kansas City.

Unprecedented overall score

Regardless of what happens on Sunday, Kansas City will finish with at least 52 points. In 2023, the San Diego Wave had the best record in the entire NWSL with just 37 points. The KC Current is already 15 points (!!) better than the team with the best record from last year. That's pretty wild!

Now it must be said that the teams have still played four games this season. But even then that's only 12 possible points. Even if San Diego got them all, it still wouldn't be enough to pass the KC Current. The same applies to the league winners in 2022 (Seattle Reign, 40 points) and 2021 (Portland Timbers – 44 points in 24 games). In fact, only 2014 Shield winner Seattle Reign and 2018 Shield winner North Carolina had significantly better seasons than fourth place (!!!) KC Current.

And three teams finished ahead of them! The NWSL in 2024 is truly about haves and have-nots.