Hot times for Chicago in MLS.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Michelle Kaufman

MIAMI _ Halloween is over, which means it's time to start paying attention to Major League Soccer. The seemingly endless season is down to its final month, Chicago appears the team to beat, and there are plenty of story lines worth following.

The Fire entered the playoffs with the best record (15-7-8) and the most compelling story. Coach Dave Sarachan, Bruce Arena's former right-hand man, took over a team that was expected to be rebuilding. The team traded Hristo Stoichkov, Dema Kovalenko and Josh Wolff in a cost-cutting move during the offseason. And Peter Nowak, the heart of the Fire the past few years, retired.

No problem. Zach Thornton is a rock in goal, and the back line of Carlos Bocanegra (perhaps the league's top defender), C.J. Brown and Jim Curtin is tough to penetrate. Chris Armas and DaMarcus Beasley are U.S. national team veterans. Up front, Ante Razov teamed with rookie Jamaican sensation Damani Ralph, who led MLS rookies with 11 goals and six assists. Ralph played at Connecticut and was drafted in the second round at the urging of Sarachan's teenage son, Ian, who saw him play.

The Fire's first-round opponent is D.C. United, which squeaked into the playoffs with a sub-.500 record. D.C., led by former Fusion coach Ray Hudson, is 2-1-1 against the Fire this season and held Ralph scoreless in those games. The biggest challenge for D.C. will be goalkeeping. Nick Rimando broke his foot late in the season, and the remaining goalies, Doug Warren and Clint Baumstrak, are a combined 0-5. Stoichkov will be looking to impress his former team, and with Hudson's passionate speeches, anything is possible.

The other Eastern semifinal is New England against New York/New Jersey, which, in MLS terms, is like the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. New England is missing its top goal scorer, Taylor Twellman, who has a broken foot, but the Revolution managed to end the season on a 6-0-1 roll. Rookie Pat Noonan has stepped up in Twellman's place, scoring 10 goals this season.

Out West, San Jose is the top seed and faces the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy, the hardest team to figure. The Galaxy didn't win a road game all season and finished 9-12-9. The team opened with an eight-game winless road streak while awaiting completion of The Home Depot Center. Then, Carlos "El Pescadito" Ruiz announced midseason that he wanted to go to Europe, and he also has been questioning coach Sigi Schmid's tactics. Former Fusion star Diego Serna, a late-season acquisition, has not panned out.