Really, though, Toronto FC should have made a tie out of this thing. The Reds were up 1-0 at halftime of the second leg thanks to a perfectly weighted header from Jordan Hamilton, but really could have, should have been up by more.

Basically, TFC was caught with its pants down, and decided not to even try and pull them back up.

After nearly a decade of suffering, I have come to the conclusion that there’s a TFC fan who watched Tuesday’s game knowing full well that (s)he has made a deal with the devil.

Osorio with the wonderful through-the-legs back-heeled effort off a pass from Sebastian Giovinco, then Mavinga with the game-saving lunge. On a pockmarked winter-scored pitch in Toronto, Wednesday night was a time for heroes.

So, what to do for an encore? The 2017 Canadian Championship final will go down as one of the best in the history of this tournament. And, for the second year in a row, Toronto FC won the championship on a last-gasp goal.

History has shown us that teams that get to championship games and lose, well, they tend to really struggle the year after that. Statistically speaking, Toronto FC’s season was doomed before it even began. So, how do the Reds buck the trend and make it back to MLS Cup — and win?