We know the all nine of the Eastern Conference playoff and play-in teams but the final seeding in said bracket is still yet to be determined.

The New England Revolution could still be the #2 seed with a win over Orlando City (Apple TV, 4pm EST) as the Lions look to climb out of the play-in game and their current #9 seed.

We begin however across the pond in the second division of Spain, where CD Tenerife announced the passing of striker Jesus de Miguel Alameda after a stoppage time collision with FC Andorra keeper Jesus Owono.

We join the outpouring of love and support in this tragedy to Jesus' friends and teammates which include former Revs midfielder Nacho Gil who was on the field for Tenerife when the collision occurred.

Continuing with the bad news, Vancouver Whitecaps announced defender Belal Halbouni has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and will be out until further notice though the Caps did extend his contract through the 27/28 season.

Revs fans remember recent cancer fights from players like Charlie Davies and Kevin Alston and we wish Belal the best in his efforts to get well and return to soccer as soon as possible.

On top of the recent news that Andrew Farrell will be retiring at season's end, we have a wave of longtime MLSers doing the same. Former Revs defender Tim Parker and New York native will end his career after a second stint with RBNY. Longtime Philly Union midfielder Ale Bedoya is also hanging it up which means we get to play the clip of him watching Henry Kessler yeet a soccer ball into Row Z on repeat.

Then we have the bummer news coming out of Orlando. No, it's not just longtime defender and captain Robin Jansson saying farewell after eight seasons. Our friends at The Mane Land are also winding down operations.

I wanted to take a moment to thank Mike Citro, Ben Miller and everyone from our former SBN brethren who ever took the time to answer questions for KTE, respond on social media, and the few podcast appearances I did on the PawedCast (which is still a bad pun and I will still boo it if I get invited the 2v7 Revs-ORL playoff preview).

Regardless of the specifics of their situation, this is a sad day for specifically Orlando soccer coverage and the league as a whole to see what I am almost positive as the leagues best site for Lions coverage step away. I do not know how that void will be filled on the local level but I absolutely know it's not getting filled on the national level.

I spoke at the beginning of the year about MLS' decision making (or lackthereof) when it came to promoting their product. There is only so much independent soccer media can do to fill a void left by not just the league itself but traditional media as well, and we can't fill that void without support.

National broadcasters giving sites a shoutout here or there for coverage, the old MLS dot com guard praising TBM's multi-state network of coverage is tremendous, but at the end of the day it's never going to be enough to keep alive what is for most of a tremendous labor of love that comes with a massive financial/time sink.

Incoming league commissioner Larry Berg has a lot of problems to solve as the league enters a new calendar cycle and figuring out how to improve the coverage of his league on a national, regional/traditional, and local/independent level should be very high on that list. Especially when he expects his product to compete with the entirety of the NFL and NCAA regular season deep into December.

For perhaps the final time barring some Decision Day shenanigans, we are as always joined by the great Ben Miller to offer his insights on Orlando's playoff scenarios and season overall. We complied these before Jansson's retirement announcement so Ben was not offered a full chance to give Robin his flowers but I'm sure they would have been lovely.

Be sure to follow The Mane Land during their last hurrah and keep tabs on everyone in what they do after the season ends. I'm sure we will still banter online with our friends in Orlando as often as possible.

TBM: It's been a mixed bag of results for Orlando down the stretch, but they are in the playoffs though likely resigned into the play-in game. Could the Lions have finished in, say the 6 or 7 seed? What went right and wrong in the final two months?

BM: They absolutely could have, but in no way did they deserve to finish higher up the table. Primarily, because the team is still really bad at all things defending, but also because they left a ton of points on the table down the stretch. Orlando blew a late lead on the road against Toronto and drew 3-3, allowed a 100th minute equalizer at home against NYCFC and drew 2-2, and blew a 2-0 lead on the road against Chicago and drew 2-2. If you add in those additional six points that the Lions left on the table, they'd currently be in sixth and guaranteed to finish above the play-in places.

If you really want to go deeper into it, you can point to the team blowing a 2-0 lead on the road against Minnesota in the final game of August, going down 3-2 and somehow managing to salvage a point in a 3-3 draw. Eight more points would still have them in sixth, with a chance to overtake Charlotte on Decision Day. Good teams don't cough up leads in the manner that Orlando has continuously done, and that's the biggest thing that's gone wrong.

Fortunately, the offense is usually good for scoring a couple of goals and giving the team a puncher's chance in most games, and that's why the team is in the postseason again. Antoine Griezmann has been transcendent, Martin Ojeda and Justin Ellis are both playing well, and the team has certainly been better post-World Cup than it was pre-World Cup. It's probably right where it should be in the standings though - not quite a bad team, but certainly not a good one.

TBM: Okay that last game out against Charlotte was absolute pants, an 0-4 drubbing but really that just got out of hand late...was there any reason for that late collapse or is that just a culmination of an entire season of giving up way too many goals?

BM: This team is typically not one that plays especially well from behind. It already plays a very open and attacking style, and when it needs to go more open and attacking to chase a game, things can get really ugly. Robin Jansson's season-ending injury hasn't helped a back line that's been one of the worst I've ever watched in my 10 years supporting the team, and in general this version of the Lions does not do well on the road. Add in a short week, absences for David Brekalo through suspension and Griffin Dorsey through an injury that has me wondering if he'll play again this year, and it was a perfect mess of ingredients. 

TBM: Orlando is currently the 9th seed, they have a chance to leap up into at least 7th I think...talk about the Lions playoff scenarios and if there's any chance you could survive a series against Nashville or Miami.

BM: Somehow, 7th is indeed still on the table. Orlando would need to win, hope Cincinnati loses, and Columbus either loses or draws, and it would leapfrog both teams due to having one more win than FCC. It can finish eighth by winning, and Columbus losing or drawing while Cincy picks up at least a point. Both teams have tricky matchups on paper, with Cincy hosting Nashville and Columbus on the road against Chicago, but frankly I think Orlando picking up a win is the most unrealistic part of this scenario. True, the team is better at home, rested, and is getting David Brekalo back in defense, but now Iago will be missing due to yellow card accumulation so it'll probably be either Nolan Miller (a rookie), Adrian Marin (a right back), or Wilder Cartagena (a midfielder) next to him. On the whole, I think holding fast in 9th looks likely.

When it comes to Orlando's chances against Nashville or Miami...woof. True, the Lions beat Nashville back in early August, but that was a heavily neutered version of the Shield winners due to a number of injuries, and they could have put 10 past the Lions during March's game up in Tennessee, but were merciful enough to settle for five. While I do believe this version of Orlando is better than the pre-WC iteration, I don't think its capable of getting at least a draw on the road against Nashville. Miami is more interesting. They beat the Lions in Orlando just a couple games into the season when Oscar Pareja was still head coach, but that 4-2 game didn't get out of hand until late, and Orlando blew a 2-0 halftime lead. Then the Lions came back from 3-0 down and beat the Herons 4-3 in Nu Stadium in May.

These teams haven't seen each other in a long time, and both are different entities than they were before the World Cup break, plus there's almost always volatility and unpredictability when they get together. That said, I still don't think Orlando has enough to get by them in a three game series, the Lions are just way too fragile at the back and don't control the midfield well enough to shield that questionable back line. I think they could steal a game against both teams, but in the end I don't think either series would be particularly close.

Lineup/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.

As far as I know, Griffin Dorsey will still be out with a back injury that's kept him out since early September, Tyrese Spicer and Robin Jansson are out with season-ending foot injuries. Iago will be unavailable due to yellow card accumulation, but I think those should be the only absences. Center back is the big question so this prediction could be way off, but I'll go with a lineup of:

Maxime Crepeau; Vinicius Nogueira, David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, Zakaria Taifi; Martin Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Braian Ojeda, Ivan Angulo; Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis.

New England wins this one 3-2.