The New England Revolution hope to be at full health ahead of their first playoff appearance since 2023.
A victory against Orlando City SC on Saturday would've secured second place in the Eastern Conference for the Revs if Inter Miami CF had drawn or lost to Charlotte FC, but game stakes and player availability had to be considered.
With Miami winning 3-0 at halftime and the Revs losing 1-0, head coach Marko Mitrovic replaced Ethan Kohler with Joshua Wynder. In the 60th minute, Brooklyn Raines and Alhassan Yusuf entered for Carles Gil and Dor Turgeman while Miami led Charlotte 3-2. Matt Polster made way for Diego Fagundez in the 74th minute.
The Revs ultimately lost 1-0, while a 90th-minute goal from Rodolfo Aloko meant that Miami and Charlotte each got a point. Miami finished second in the East, while the Revs were third.
"I think having all the players available for the playoffs, for us, is more important than what position we're going to have," Mitrovic explained. "As I said, the last couple of weeks, we started to pick up small injuries, and we just didn't want to take any extra risk with Ethan, Josh, Carles, and Dor.
"Also, with some of the guys that also accumulated a lot of minutes, like Matt Polster recently, and we have that small injury that Peyton [Miller] picked up. So, on one side, you want to compete, but then you don't want to go in the playoffs now and be so vulnerable because of the injuries.”
Mitrovic later specified that they "strongly believe that [Miller] will be ready for the first game.”
The club could also welcome back Jack Harrison, with Mitrovic saying on Thursday, "If everything goes well, he'll be available for the first game of playoffs."
Leo Campana is also a possibility, as the head coach explained on Thursday, "I hope that Leo will get some playing time in playoffs, but we still have to go week by week with Leo."
MLS will take a break before post-season play to observe the international window. The Revs will then face the Philadelphia Union in a best-of-three series happening between Nov. 20 and Dec. 2.
"For us, it's very important to recover our guys, first physically and emotionally, and go into the [playoff] games against Philadelphia," Mitrovic said. "It's going to be a great competitive matchup in the playoffs.
"Obviously, we have a lot of international guys. I think [about] 10 guys are going to be away, and we're going to closely monitor their games, their performances, and hopefully we'll get all of them healthy and ready for the playoffs."
