iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I updated my site to let folks play around with different scenarios to see what might be needed to make the playoffs: playoffs.alisongale.com

playoffs.alisongale.com

NWSL Playoffs Explorer

Play around with how the NWSL standings will look for different game outcomes in the final weeks.

0266

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 15h

This weekend San Diego and Washington have a chance to clinch a playoff spot and Gotham can secure a home playoff match

San Diego Wave clinches a playoff spot with:
SD win
SD draw + one of:
SEA win
LOU win + BAY win
Washington Spirit clinches a playoff spot with:
WAS win + one of:
SEA win
LOU win + BAY win
Gotham FC clinches playoff hosting with:
GFC win
GFC draw + one of:
LOU win
BOS win/draw

Houston Dash are eliminated from the playoffs with:
HOU draw/loss
SEA win + KC win + LA win/draw
Orlando Pride are eliminated from the playoffs with:
ORL loss + SEA win + KC win + LA win/draw

0104

Reposted by Alison Gale

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

San Diego moves into 2nd and Seattle is back in 8th as the playoff race tightens. Louisville, Boston, and Bay FC are all eliminated from playoff contention as of this week

Week 23 bump chart. San Diego is now in 2nd spot. Seattle moved back into 8th with a win as North Carolina falls out. Bay moved up into 13th.

05511

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

San Diego moves into 2nd and Seattle is back in 8th as the playoff race tightens. Louisville, Boston, and Bay FC are all eliminated from playoff contention as of this week

05511

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's time for more NWSL playoff scenarios. This weekend, Washington Spirit have a chance to clinch a playoff spot and three teams risk elimination

Washington Spirit clinches a playoff spot with:
WAS win + BOS win/draw + one of:
UTA win
DEN win + NC win

Racing Louisville are eliminated from the playoffs with:
LOU loss/draw
SEA win
KC win/draw
Boston Legacy are eliminated from the playoffs with:
BOS loss
BOS draw + KC win + LA win/draw

Bay FC are eliminated from the playoffs with:
BAY loss + one of:
SEA win
KC win/draw
BAY draw + SEA win + one of:
KC win
DEN win + LA win/draw
DEN win + NC win/draw
LA win/draw + NC win/draw
BAY draw + KC win + LA win/draw

13613

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Lots of movement among teams fighting for playoff spots while Gotham has become the first team this season to clinch a playoff spot

Week 22 bump chart. Gotham and Spirit are still 1 and 2 but there was shuffling in every spot from 3rd through 9th. Angel City jumped up and Seattle fell out of playoff contention

0337

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This weekend, Gotham has a chance to lock in the first playoff spot 👀

Gotham FC clinches a playoff spot with:
GFC win + SD win + one of:
DEN draw + LA win or
DEN win + LA win/draw

Racing Louisville are eliminated from the playoffs with:
LOU loss + KC win/draw + one of:
SEA win
LA win or
LOU loss + SEA win + LA win or
LOU draw + KC win + POR win/draw + NC win/draw + SEA win or
Bay FC are eliminated from the playoffs with:
BAY loss + KC win/draw + one of:
SEA win
LA win or
BAY loss + SEA win + LA win or
BAY draw + KC win + POR win/draw + NC win/draw + SEA win

0325

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In Week 21, Chicago has been eliminated from the playoff race and Utah moves back into 3rd in the table

Week 21 bump chart has Utah move back up to 3rd place and San Diego back to fourth. Boston moved up to 13th with a win

14210

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's time to start following the NWSL playoff implications this weekend. No teams can clinch a playoff spot yet but Chicago could be the first team eliminated

Chicago Stars are eliminated from the playoffs with:
CHI loss or
CHI draw + one of:
LA win
DEN win
SEA win/draw or
LA win + KC win/draw + SEA win

2215

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

North Carolina moved up to 3rd in week 20 with some shuffling below the playoff line as well

Gotham is still in first. North carolina moved above Utah and San Diego to take 3rd. Below the playoff line Orlando and Boston both moved up

13611

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Utah, San Diego, and Denver were the only teams to move up in week 19 as we get closer to the playoffs

Week 19 NWSL bump chart. Gotham is still on top. Utah and San Diego moved up to 3 and 4, respectively. Denver moved up to 10th. Otherwise there was no change in the table

1266

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Portland moved back up to third place in week 18. The rest of the movement was in the bottom half of the table

Week 18 bump chart for the NWSL. Gotham remains in first. Portland continues to climb up. The rest of the movement was in the bottom half of the table with Houston, Orlando, and Bay moving up

1173

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Most of the movement was in the bottom of the table again. With midweek games this week, games played will start evening out a bit

Week 17 NWSL bump chart. Gotham remains in first. Portland moved back up to 4th. Seattle moved up in to 8th. Houston and Louisville both moved up from close to the bottom of the table

0357

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The top and bottom of the table remained steady in week 16 with just a bit of movement in the middle. Teams are still very uneven in games played

Week 16 NWSL bump chart. Gotham remains on top. There was no movement in the top 4 or bottom 5. Only gains were from Portland, North Carolina, and Denver.

1216

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Better late than never 🎉

Tweet from Alex Azzi about Google showing WNBA standings by conference

Screenshot of wnba standings where all teams are shown in the same list

2150

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Gotham is now atop the #NWSL table for the first time this season! Lots of movement elsewhere and many mid-table teams have 2 games in hand so things will stay interesting

Week 15 NWSL bump chart. Gotham jumped over Washington to take first place. KC moved above Portland into 5th. North Carolina moved up into 7th. And Louisville is no longer on the bottom of the table.

43911

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Utah moved back into third place this weekend and Orlando got back into a playoff position. Much of the table remains tight so expect lots of movement in the coming weeks!

Week 14 NWSL bump chart. Utah moved up into 3rd place. Orlando moved up into 7th place. Washington and Gotham are still 1st and 2nd while Chicago and Louisville remain on the bottom.

1368

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Lots of movement at the top of the table in NWSL week 13 as Washington and Gotham take the top two spots

Week 13 bump chart for the NWSL. Washington Spirit claimed the top spot for the first time this season, followed by Gotham in 2nd which is the highest they have been. San Diego and Portland fall to 3rd and 4th.

2726

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The top of the table remains tight after week 12, but San Diego remains on top. Spirit and Gotham both moved up with wins this weekend

Week 12 bump chart for the NWSL. San Diego is still in first. Washington jumped above Portland into 2nd. Gotham jumped from 7th to 4th but is tied on points with 2 other teams. Boston and Chicago flipped spots at the bottom of the table

0214

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

NWSL returned from the summer break with plenty of goals! Lots of movement at the top of the table and with unequal numbers of matches played, the top spots are very much up for grabs

Week 11 bump chart after a break. San Diego remains in the top spot while Portland and Washington moved above Utah. Angel City also jumped up with a win.

0213

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

A draw in the top of the table clash allowed San Diego to sneak ahead in week 10. Here is how the NWSL table stands as we head into the summer break

Week 10 NWSL bump chart. The only movements were San Diego jumping over Utah and Portland and Denver moved up from 12th to 9th place

0346

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Utah Royals continue their ascent up the table in week 9. Lots of shifting in the middle of the table which remains tight

Week 9 bump chart for the NWSL. Utah takes the top spot on goal differential over Portland. Racing Lousiville falls to the bottom. Lots of shifting in the middle of the table (positions 7-13)

14512

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

San Diego re-takes the top spot and Utah continues climbing up the table into 3nd. Meanwhile both expansion teams and NC moved up with wins during the last week.

Week 8 NWSL bump chart. San Diego is back at #1 after dropping to 3rd for two weeks. Utah is now second after slowly rising up the table. Denver, North Carolina, and Boston all had good weekends where they moved up the table with Chicago now sitting in last

2212

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Utah moves back into the top 4 while Kansas City and Orlando jump way up the table with big wins in NWSL week 7

Week 7 NWSL bump chart. The top 3 of Portland, Spirit and San Diego remain the same. Utah moved up to 4th and KC and Orlando moved way up the table into 6th and 7th position. Louisville moved from 13th up to 12th with a big win.

3334

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Portland takes the lead in the NWSL week 6 table. Washington and Gotham also moved into the top 4. Many mid-table team have matches in hand which will shift things in coming weeks

Week 6 NWSL bump chart. Portland took the top spot while Spirit jumped to 2nd on goal differential. Gotham also was a big winner, jumping to 4th place. Boston is still at the bottom but got their first win.

1265

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Haven't had much time to create new graphics this offseason due to birds taking up so much time but I'll definitely continue with the bump charts and playoff scenarios. In case you are into birds, here are some of my favorites: photos.alisongale.com/birds-of-2026

Photo of a marsh wren gathering fluff from a cattail plant to build a nest.

Photo of an Osprey perched on the top of a birch snag with some trees in the background. Its looking off to the right.

2151

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Bringing back the bump chart for the 2026 NWSL season and so far its been a lot of chaos. Some teams have a game in hand.

2026 season bump chart showing how NWSL standings have changed. Some teams have played 5 games while others have played 6. Lots of movement so far but San Diego has been in 1st the last two weeks and Portland in Second. Utah jumped over Seattle with a win. Louisville and Boston are at the bottom but Kansas city sits just above them.

69318

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

NWSL kicks off tonight! This offseason there was lots of player movement through trades and free agency as two new teams joined the league

Chart showing where players moved in the offseason and how many moved between teams or entered/exited the league. Portland, Orlando, and Seattle retained the most players while Kansas City, Lousiville, North Carlina and San Diego retained the least. Denver and Boston relied heavily on external players joining the league.

1348

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Updated the map of which #NWSL team is closest to each point in the US. Boston fills in New England and Denver fills the large gap between Utah and Kansas City

Map of the contiguous US with concentric circles marking the locations of all the NWSL teams. It highlights for each point which team is closest to those folks. With Boston and Denver added, some of the big gaps were filled.

36312

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Happy Superb Owl Sunday to all who celebrate!

Picture of a short eared owl flying towards the camera with its wings out in front of a frosty field

0416

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Burn It All Down was my favorite podcast and now more than ever I miss their smart commentary and sharp critiques. Check out their Kickstarter so we can hopefully get more great content!

183

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Taking a look at the distribution of NWSL games this season. An early break for the Men's World Cup but then an uninterrupted break until October

Chart showing a heatmap of when games are. There is an international break in early april and october. And then a lone break in June for the men's world cup. Not too many Wednesday games, so most are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

0126

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

The top goalscoring teams from 2024 all scored fewer goals while the bottom all scored more to make this a competitive season

Chart comparing goals scored in the NWSL by teams between 2024 and 2025. THe top 3 teams from 2024 all scored fewer goals this season while the bottom teams all scored more goals. Kansas City is still on the top for goals scored.

2101

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Here is how each teams' goal differential compared to last season. Kansas City pulled way ahead of all other teams

Chart showing NWSL team goal differential between 2024 to 2025. KC improved by 10 and was 25 higher than the next highest team. The other teams were pretty close but Chicago was the lowest with -22 followed by Bay FC with -15. Gotham, Spirit, and Orlando all saw drops in goal differential while San Diego and Seattle saw strong improvements.

0236

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Comparing #NWSL points between 2024 and 2025. Seattle Reign and San Diego Wave saw the biggest improvements while Orlando and Gotham fell the furthest

Chart comparing nwsl points between 2025 and 2024. Kansas City increased form 55 to 65 points. Spirit, Orlando, and Gotham all fell a bit while Portland, Seattle, San Diego, and Lousiville improved which led to a tight middle of the table.

3346

Reposted by Alison Gale

Burn It All Down, the podcast @burnitalldownpod.com · 10/12/2025

As you'll hear on today's episode, we are working towards a relaunch next year. To that end, there are 3 things we'd love from our listeners: 1) Fill out our BIAD listener survey and let us know what you'd like from a BIAD re-launch: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Burn It All Down Listener Survey - Potential Return!

Hi Flamethrowers, we miss you, and we want to come back! We're trying to figure out a model that could make the show financially possible. Stay tuned for more, but the first step is hearing from you -...

11714

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Here is the updated #NWSL point spirals after the 2025 season. It really shows how quickly Kansas City took the lead without any other team coming close. Remaining teams were pretty tight on points

Point swirl visualization showing all teams in the NWSL and how teams cumulative points increased. In 2024 there were 4 teams at the top and then the rest were much lower. In 2023 all teams were very close. In 2024, Kansas City is far above all other teams, but the other teams are reasonably close.

2416

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Here are what the #NWSL tables look like when split into the first half of the season and the second half. Kansas City is consistent, while Utah and Houston wish we could have skipped the first half

0309

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Corrected version of 5-game moving average of points for all #NWSL teams. Deleted the previous post after I realized it had cut off the last few points of each chart and the sorting was slightly off. Some teams really turned it around in the last 5 games while others struggled.

Moving window points to highlight trends over the season. KC was pretty constant. Orlando had a big dip but then recovered. Utah had a huge climb and then fell later. Louisville struggled but then came back. Teams like Angel City and Bay FC were declining towards the end.

1194

Reposted by Alison Gale

The Women's Game @womensgamemib.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Louisville head coach Bev Yanez officially becomes the first person to make the NWSL playoffs as both a player and coach 👏 📸: @racingloufc.com

011210

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Louisville makes the #NWSL playoffs (and 7th seed) for the first time with a win. Two other playoff teams won this weekend: KC continued their dominance and Portland jumped to 3rd

Week 26 NWSL bump chart. KC remains on top. Portland jumped over Orlando, Seattle, and San Diego. Louisville jumped over Gotham. The bottom of the table remained unchanged.

0326

Reposted by Alison Gale

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Heading into the final weekend, spots 3-8 are very much up in the air. Louisville and North Carolina are fighting for the final playoff spot. * Note that some of these finishes would require 10-0 score lines so possible does not mean probable

Chart showing where teams can finish. Spots 3-8 are up in the air with Orlando, Reign, San Diego, Portland, and Gotham fighting to host a playoff game. Louisville and North Carolina are fighting for the last playoff spot.

0377

Reposted by Alison Gale

Steve Voght @voght.org · 20/10/2025

For Reign fans there are four decision day games that matter for seeding and first-round playoff opponent (Reign/Pride; Wave/KC; Thorns/Dash and Gotham/Courage), so 81 possible W/L/D outcomes among those four. If the Reign win they finish third; any other outcome could see them drop as low as 7th.

2113

Reposted by Alison Gale

Jenna Tonelli @jennatonelli.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Gotham can clinch a top 4 spot with a win next week combined with a loss/draw for San Diego AND Portland. Since Reign and Pride play each other, as long as Gotham picks up the 3 points they’re guaranteed to leapfrog one of them on goal differential.

0241

Reposted by Alison Gale

Keeper Notes @keepernotes.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Portland clinches 9th straight NWSL playoff spot with 2-0 win at Angel City. Thorns have made playoffs every year but 2015. 1 spot left — either North Carolina or Louisville. We'll know on Decision Day Nov. 2!

0121

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

0377

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Gotham fell from 4th to 7th with only a draw this weekend. Houston pulled out a big win but it wasn't enough to keep them in the playoff race

Week 25 bump chart. Seattle, San Diego and Portland jumped ahead of Gotham in the standings. Houston jumped over Angel City. OTherwise things stayed the same

0112

Alison Gale @agale.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Quick update on the status of playoff clinching as we head into the last game. Portland can be the 7th team to clinch a playoff spot with a win. Houston and Angel City are both eliminated due to Louisville getting a draw

Seattle Reign clinches a playoff spot
Gotham FC clinches a playoff spot
San Diego Wave clinches a playoff spot
Portland Thorns clinches a playoff spot with:
POR win

Houston Dash are eliminated from playoffs
Angel City are eliminated from playoffs

0253