Red Bulls and Columbus by the Numbers

Matt Miazga (Photo by Catalina Fragoso – DoubleGSports)

Usually, when it comes to two teams meeting in the Eastern Conference Finals, the cliché is, throw out the numbers, as they don’t mean anything now. But because there’s not much else to talk about before both teams take to the pitch in Columbus on Sunday evening, let’s look at stats to help break down the upcoming series to determine who will represent the Eastern Conference in MLS Cup.

The two sides are pretty evenly matched for all time in the regular season — the Red Bulls have a slight edge at 28-26-9. But when it comes to the playoffs, the Crew has the decided edge. Columbus has never lost to the Red Bulls; their record is 2-0-1, including a victory over the Red Bulls in MLS Cup back in 2008.

Oddly enough, due to the MLS playoffs being seeded a little differently back then, the Red Bulls entered the championship round as the Western Conference champions. If they are going to win their first ever Eastern Conference title, they’ll have to find a way to beat the Crew for the first time in the post season.

The Red Bulls will hope that the three regular season matchups, in which the Red Bulls captured two out of the three meetings, will be indicative of the playoffs. The Red Bulls won once in Columbus at MAPFRE Stadium and once in New York at Red Bull Arena, both by the same score of 2-1.

There’s only a slight all time home field advantage as the Red Bulls have a 16-10-5 all time record at home against the Crew but just a 3-2-2 record at Red Bull Arena. At MAPFRE Stadium, the Crew is 16-12-4 all time against the Red Bulls.

If these numbers tell us anything it is that this will certainly be a tight series between two clubs who know each other very well. It’s going to be close, it’s going to be exciting, and if the Red Bulls pull it out, it will be well deserved.

These stats courtesy of Benjamin Baer of MLSsoccer.com.