Now, there are a lot of factors to why the 2016 game did better than 2017; cord-cutters, the move to an afternoon game and the fact that 2016’s game was one of most boring things ever, maybe that scared a fraction of the audience away for 2017 (“fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you”). The fact that Toronto FC put up one of the most incredible seasons in MLS history didn't help increase the reach of the big game.  

Based on the run of play, the chances created, the scoreline should have been far more severe than 2-0. Really, 6-0 or 7-0 would have been fair.

The truth is, 2018 will be a low point for men’s soccer in Canada. Boy, is it going to suck. It will be ultimate in lame-duck years. Canadian jobs will dwindle. We’ll have fewer teams to support. And even in TFC beats Seattle 10-0 on Saturday, that’s not going to change a thing.

Make no mistake, one shot on goal over 180 minutes is embarrassing. It’s as bad as losing 10-0.

So, as the JAMC drove through an ear-splitting main-set closer of “Reverence,” the bright lights reducing them to shadows on stage, I checked Twitter to see that, yes, the Whitecaps and Sounders had played to a scoreless draw.

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?

For the better part of a decade, supporting Toronto FC was an exercise in futility. But, after getting to within one Stefan Frei fingertip from winning MLS Cup, expectations are high in Canada’s largest city. Where do the Reds go from here?

The fact that MLS Cup was able to beat hockey on a Saturday night – well, that's an impressive feat for a sport we're used to seeing getting pre-empted by late-running curling matches.

Stefan Frei, drafted by Toronto FC in 2009, may have dreamed back then about winning an MLS Cup at BMO Field. He probably didn’t imagine at the time that he’d do it as a member of the Seattle Sounders.

Lodeiro and the Sounders may feel like a Cinderella story; but, really, it would be absolutely incorrect to call them that. Really, they are yet another example of the kind of team that usually wins MLS Cup. They have all the ingredients of teams that have won previous titles; they were highly rated in preseason, struggled to start the season, tinkered and tinkered, finally found a rhythm, then scrambled just to make the post-season and then stayed hot once the playoffs started.