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It was the 2015-16 season, and the City SC center back was in Germany, playing for VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, and was on his way to finishing the season with nine wins, 19 losses and six ties, for 33 points. City SC goes into its game with Dallas on Saturday at Energizer Park with a record of 5-17-6, putting it second-to-last in Major League Soccer, two points ahead of the last-place Los Angeles Galaxy with the very real possibility of dropping into the bottom spot if City SC were to lose and the Galaxy were to win on Saturday.

The big difference is this: No matter what happens, City SC will be in MLS next season.

That wasn鈥檛 the case for Baumgartl in 2015-16. VfB Stuttgart finished 17th in the 18-team Bundesliga and the team was relegated to the second division for the following season. Talk about high stakes.

鈥淭here was a lot of pressure,鈥� he said. 鈥淥n the one hand, there鈥檚 a pressure from the fans. I remember we lost an away game, and then, like, 6 or 700 guys came with a mask on to meet us (on their return to the stadium). That鈥檚 different. It鈥檚 a different attitude there. At the end, there are a lot of people in Germany which are related to this situation, and when we鈥檙e going down, when we get relegated, they get fired, and always having that in my mind. It鈥檚 horrible when fathers of a family are losing their job because of us. That鈥檚 hard, and that鈥檚 why there鈥檚 so much more pressure in that situation. As a professional athlete, you want to win. You don鈥檛 want to be last. I think that every player here should have their own approach to say, I don鈥檛 want to be last, I want to be as good as possible in the last six games to make it out of this, I would say, horrible season, a bad season for us, and then refocus on the new season. That鈥檚 our task for the last six weeks, to figure out also for the next season, our way to play. I think that鈥檚 important to see, and we need some success, and we need some progress forward.鈥�

Second division clubs, in Germany and elsewhere, have smaller budgets than first division teams. TV revenue goes down, ticket sales drop, sponsors drop out. With less money coming in, teams cut player payrolls and staffs. But, like in every other American sport, that doesn鈥檛 happen in MLS, which isn鈥檛 likely to adopt the system any time soon.

City SC midfielder Alfredo Morales has been through relegation too in Germany, in 2016-17 with FC Ingolstadt and then in 2019-20 with Fortuna Dusseldorf. Both teams finished 17th and got sent down. As bad as this season for City SC, it鈥檚 not relegation.

鈥淵ou cannot compare these,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 totally different. Totally different. I don鈥檛 even know how to put it in words. It鈥檚 very miserable, to be honest. Very tiring mentally, physically, there鈥檚 a lot on the line, not only obviously individual performances. You have goals that you want to achieve as an individual, but also, obviously, for the club. It has a major effect if you get relegated. Financially, it has a major effect for the region, the community, the city, or whatever team it is, it can have major effects on staff, people who work in the office, the medical staff. So it鈥檚 a lot on the line. This is not how it is here, so you cannot really compare. It鈥檚 a totally different game with this type of competition, relegation, promotion. Not that I say I enjoy (this), because obviously we don鈥檛 want to be in the situation we鈥檙e in and it鈥檚 not a great season, we all know that. But it is very different somewhere else.鈥�

Promotion and relegation is a feature of most leagues around the world, usually with the bottom three teams in the higher division moving down while the top three teams in the lower division moving up, though the system may vary. But in America, it鈥檚 unlikely there would have been the large investment in soccer without assurances of teams staying in the first division. Would San Diego investors have paid a $500 million expansion fee or would City SC have built a $450 million stadium with the knowledge that the team is one bad season away from being in the second division?

But not facing the collateral damage of relegation doesn鈥檛 make this season hurt less, or change the team鈥檚 approach to the final six games of the season.

鈥淚t should come from the inside of every player to be focused, to say, we want to win this last six games,鈥� Baumgartl said. 鈥淲e want to have as many points as possible. Because on the one side, we didn鈥檛 deliver. We didn鈥檛 deliver for our fans. It was a bad year for us. We should avoid a horrible year to be last in the table. I think that should be our goal, to climb as high as possible in the table. Six games is 18 points. At the end, when you look back at this season, there鈥檚 a lot of difficult situations, for the club, for everyone here, but this shouldn鈥檛 be an excuse. It鈥檚 on us players to get these last six games right, trying to get as many points as possible, and then looking forward to next season. That鈥檚 the only thing we can do, developing for next season. I guess a lot of players have their contracts ending. There will be a new team, I guess, for next season. So yeah, we need to look forward. We need to build on that. We need to try and get these six games as good as possible.

鈥淏ut at the end, being nearly last in the table is a bad feeling, a horrible feeling. Now we have to fix it the last six games to get as many points as possible, because getting out of the season with last place, that would be horrible.鈥�

McSorley joins first team

Forward Brendan McSorley, one of the top scorers with City2, signed a first-team contract for the remainder of the season Friday, with options for the following two seasons. McSorley has eight goals and a City2-high eight assists. City SC is low on forwards at the moment with Cedric Teuchert hurt and Sangbin Jeong and Mykhi Joyner on international duty; McSorley has already used his allotted two callup appearances this season, so the only way for the team to use him was to sign him to a first-team contract.

City SC has also loaned defender Joey Zalinsky to Indy Eleven of the USL Championship for the remainder of the season.