Is the bounce back real?

That loss sucked. Positives were pretty hard to find. The second half went better than the first. There were some intriguing moments in build-up, the possession was pretty solid and Eddie Johnson was a force. But it still ended as a four-goal loss, it was another blowout (third of the year). Sigi Schmid said in the halftime quotes that he had to start looking ahead to the final matches of the season.

"Well some of the subs we made in the second half were just to save some legs on people. Mauro Rosales was playing well but we've got two other games this week. So we've got to live to fight another day," he explained about subbing out Rosales, Hurtado and Alonso.

Is this the type of team that does fight another day? Or are these crushing losses spiritually debilitating?

There are five years of data to browse. When looking at all MLS regular season losses over the last five seasons of two goals or more with three or more goals given up (that's quick and easy way to define a blowout) Seattle Sounders FC fare surprisingly well in their next four games.

In fact their bounce back is better than their regular season performance over the life of the club.

Since 2009 there were nine other times that the team lost by those conditions. In those next four games they went a stunning 21-7-8 +24 or 1.97 PPM. There is a slight lean toward road matches within that data.

Now, there were two negative stretches in that time. In 2012 after getting pummeled by Montreal the club only went 0-1-3. The home/away split was 1/3. That's rough. That isn't going to be good enough for the Shield nor the Cascadia Cup (it could win it back if the draws were against both Cascadia teams).

In 2010 there was a double stumble. After losing to the Union 3-1 Seattle then lost 3-1 to the Galaxy. But, they fared quite well in the rest of the matches after LA. The four matches after the Union they went 2-1-1 +0. The four after the LA loss they went 3-0-1 +3.

That loss sucked. But there's some evidence that Sigi has the team learn from their ass kickings, to use his words.

"No, it's good to get your ass kicked at this time of the year, just to remind you that this is the real thing and if you don't come out completely prepared mentally and ready to give everything you have, you're going to get your ass kicked."

They got their ass kicked. If they learn the lessons they've learned in the past there is still a strong shot at getting both a major and minor trophy before the MLS Cup Plaoyffs even start.