Inside the Union: The stakes are getting higher as MLS season dwindles

Union team manager John Hackworth said there will be a "playoff feel" when his team visits the New England Revolution in Sunday's Major League Soccer game at Gillette Stadium.

Don't be surprised if he makes that comment quite a bit between now and the end of the regular season in the last week of October.

Entering the weekend, the Union (10-7-8, 38 points) remained just one point out of first place in the Eastern Conference, where five teams will make the playoffs.

The Union, however, are also just five points ahead of the sixth-place team, which happens to be the Revolution. Not only that, but New England (9-9-6, 33 points) has a game in hand on the Union.

So things are awfully tight in an Eastern Conference where eight of the 10 teams have a legitimate chance to earn a postseason berth.

Then again, last week's scoreless draw against the host New York Red Bulls didn't feel like a basic regular-season matchup, either.

"Everybody from both sides was [geared] up, and I think you will see that in this game," Hackworth said. "Particularly in the Eastern Conference when things are so close with us and New England, it will have a huge implication as we get closer to the end of the season."

The MLS season is 34 games long, and it's drawn out, but now teams can start seeing the finish line. The Union have nine games remaining, and only two are against teams (Toronto and D.C. United) that appear out of realistic playoff contention.

And even those two games will be challenging. The last time the Union met Toronto, the teams played to a 1-1 draw. And the most recent game with United was a 2-0 Union victory that was misleading, one in which the winners didn't put it away until Conor Casey scored his second goal of the game in the 75th minute.

So it's safe to say that no game in the final nine will be a gimme for the Union. In addition, eight of the nine are against Eastern Conference teams. The lone exception is a game against a San Jose team that is seriously fighting for a Western Conference playoff spot.

This is not to suggest that games in March and April aren't intense, but like in any sport, as the playoffs are around the corner - and in MLS, two months is considered around the corner - the matchups seem to take on a greater urgency.

One thing that will help the Union is that they have been competitive on the road. This year the Union are 4-4-4 away from PPL Park.

As a comparison, when they made their lone playoff appearance in 2011, the Union were only 4-7-6 on the road.

Entering the weekend the Union and Sporting Kansas City were the only Eastern Conference teams that were .500 or better on the road.

The Union have shown confidence on the road, which is why they won't be overwhelmed at what will be a difficult task: attempting to earn a point or three in New England in a playoff-type setting.