The moment is finally here. For the first time in 2,922 days, the Chicago Fire are back in the postseason. Their opponent, for the first time in the postseason, is Orlando City, a team that unlike the Fire, have a coach now in his sixth season with the team and that are looking for a standard of success that the team has yet to find in their decade long history in the league

The Fire will be picking up exactly where they left off – SeatGeek Stadium, the site of their last playoff game in 2017.

None of the current Fire squad remain from that game eight years ago, but that doesn’t mean that none were there. Asked to reflect on the moment, Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady said “I reflect on it myself, I think a lot to the last game we played in the postseason. I was there. I was in the stands. We went as a team in the academy, I think I was 13 or 14. It's crazy to think that that would have been the last time up until now we'd appear. And yeah, I think that little bit of realization is crazy to me, that now I'm in this position where I can help this team and this Club do something incredible.”

Doubtless, by “something incredible” he meant more than just winning against Orlando, but that would still be more than the team achieved at SeatGeek – then Toyota Park – eight years ago. And there’s reason for optimism. Despite a season that was often better on the road than at home, the Fire were undefeated at SeatGeek, with two wins and a draw during the regular season and a win in their only home U.S. Open Cup match.

Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter also noted his team’s positive play at the Fire’s former home, saying “I think about some of the most memorable moments of the season, you know, some of them come with SeatGeek. And we've had some great games there, great crowds there.”

Series History

All time: 6W-8D-8L (all regular season)Last match: May 3, 2025: Chicago Fire 0-0 Orlando City at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

What to Expect

Orlando City SC

A common playoff sports cliché (or so I’ve heard, not having personally had much experience with teams I cover or watch in the playoffs lately) is “peaking at the right time.”

Nothing could be a less accurate description of the way that Orlando City are entering the postseason. Across all competitions, Orlando have just one win in their last 10 matches, a 3-2 victory against Nashville, who were playing on short rest after beating the Philadelphia Union in the U.S. Open Cup during the week.

Some of that is competition – it includes a loss in the semifinals and third-place match of the Leagues Cup – but by both metrics and the eye test, Orlando City do not look like the dynamic, high-scoring team that they had been earlier in the season.

In their Decision Day matchup against Toronto FC, with the ability to stay out of the wildcard on the line, goalkeeper Pedro Gallese had one of his worst performances in his six years in MLS, El Pulpo looking like all eight of his hands were tied.

Despite their recent form, Orlando, now in their sixth consecutive year in the postseason, should not be underestimated. “We know they’re a good team,” Berhalter said of the team from central Florida. “We know they have threats that we’re going to have to take care of. You know, they compete. I know Óscar [Pareja] very well. I have a ton of respect for him and what he's done over this last decade and a half, excellent coach. And he'll have them prepared.”

Many of Berhalter’s previous encounters with Pareja on the have come when Berhalter was coaching the Columbus Crew and Pareja was head coach for FC Dallas. Then, as now, Pareja’s teams have had a reputation for performing, especially in the regular season, but the demands he put on players often made his teams fade away in the postseason.

Orlando has plenty of attacking talent, led by Martín Ojeda, whose 15 goals and 16 assists in the regular season give him one more goal contribution than Philip Zinckernagel, the Fire’s leader over the campaign.

Helping Ojeda in the midfield for much of the season has been Eduard Atuesta, playing slightly deeper and setting up others in a pass-before-the-pass role. With injuries deeper in the midfield, however – Wilder Cartagena is missing the 2025 season due to injury, and César Araujo’s time has been limited due to injury down the stretch – Atuesta has had to play deeper, limiting his – and the squad’s – effectiveness. With Robin Jansson, the team’s best center back, also expected to miss the game with injury, Orlando will have a number of key absences on the pitch.

Still, the most dangerous animal is often a wounded one, and despite their slide down the stretch, Orlando still made the postseason – and improved on their point total from last year, despite sliding from 4th place in the conference in 2024 to ninth this year.

Chicago Fire

Regardless of what happens on Wednesday, this has to be considered a successful first season for the team under Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. The Fire finished with 23 more points than they had in the previous season. That was just good enough for eighth place in the Eastern Conference this year, but would have surpassed Orlando for fourth place last year. In 2023, the first year of the current playoff format, the Fire's point total would have put them ahead of the Seattle Sounders for second in the Western Conference. The progress can't just be measured by the improved results, but rather, from the way the team has played and the growth the squad has shown throughout the season.

Berhalter noted that “I think that we've made progress this year, certainly across the board. We set a number of Club records, which is great: away wins, most goals in a season, most away goals. So there's a lot to be proud of, but having said that, I think there's still a ways to go. And we still want to keep improving.”

Some of that improvement will be necessary. When André Franco left the pitch against Inter Miami with an ACL tear, a key part of the Fire’s September surge left with him. Since then, the team has struggled to replace what the Portuguese midfielder brought to the squad, giving up a lead for the first time in over 270 minutes in the team’s next game against Toronto, and then conceding late in each of the last two games.

Asked about the “slow start” in the team’s Decision Day clash against New England, Berhalter said that was an “understatement,” with his team “conceding in the first minute.” Still, Berhalter has said that’s part of the learning process. “Everything happens for a reason,” he said, “and we're in this position for a reason, when I think about the Toronto last kick of the game, when I think about the first kick of the game in New England, we've learned from that. And now it's about applying all these lessons that we've learned throughout the season into one game, and hopefully more, this season.”

The feeling of progress, of this year being a building block to something greater, sets the 2025 squad apart from the last Fire team that made the playoffs. Brady says that for those that “remember that result, I think it's an opportunity for us to flip the script a little bit. But I feel the energy is a lot different around this team than it was back in, in 2017. And I feel like everything's a little more positive and guys are flying right now. So, I think that'll impact the result of this game, the outcome of this game. And I think, yeah, I mean, for those of us who have been here long enough to remember that, I think we definitely want to make sure that something like that doesn't happen. But again, we're not looking back too much. We're looking forward.”

In 90 minutes – plus potential penalty kicks if the score is level, which will occur immediately after the full-time whistle – we’ll learn if the Fire’s season will continue forward past Wednesday.

Projected Starting XI

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Wednesday, October 22, 2025, 7:30 PM CTForecast: Cloudy with temperatures around 50°F at kickoff Location: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, Ill.TV: Apple TV – MLS Season PassRadio: wlsam.com (English), Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).