Playoff Chase: Inter Miami tries to rebound with a home match against hapless Toronto; could move to 12th with win

A Messi-less Inter Miami looked lost for most of a 5-2 loss Saturday at Atlanta, but scoreless draws between Charlotte and D.C. United, the New Yorks, and Montreal and Chicago kept the damage to a bare minimum. D.C. United, in ninth with 35 points, gained a single point on the Herons. La Rosa Negra have 28 points, but they have seven league matches left, two more than United, which currently holds the last Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Losses by the Red Bulls and New York City FC, with a Miami win, would let the Herons leapfrog the New Yorks into 12th place (Inter Miami and the Pigeons would each have 31 points, but NYCFC has played two more matches, giving the Pink the tie-breaker on points per game).

Each match day, the stakes get higher. Here’s who Herons fans need to cheer on Wednesday:

Toronto (15th, 22 points) at Inter Miami (14th, 28)

Inter Miami. If you’re going to have a stinker, like Inter Miami did Saturday in Atlanta, the Reds are who you want coming to your place the next time out. Toronto (4-14-10) averages a League-worst 0.79 points per match and has the second-worst goal-differential (-17) in the league. Interim coach Terry Dunfield is in charge until former Canada Men’s National Team coach John Herdsman takes over Oct. 1. He replaces three-time MLS Coach of the Year Bob Bradley, fired in June after failing to lift Toronto into contention despite featuring Italian DPs Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne. The Reds’ mess continues despite splurging on a high-profile coach and expensive foreigners. Toronto FC is living the nightmare I feared for Miami when I heard the Messi rumors. A natural pessimist, I’m really happy to have been wrong…so far.