The tackle that drew only a yellow card on Decision Day has now cost Jackson Ragen two games. The MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended the Seattle Sounders center back and fined him an undisclosed amount for serious foul play in the 76th minute of Seattle's 2-1 win over LAFC on Nov. 7, the hit that left Jacob Shaffelburg with multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung.

What the ban covers

Ragen will serve the first game on Nov. 19, when Seattle host Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Wild Card match. That game is a single 90 minutes, with penalties if it ends level, so there is no second leg for the Sounders to recover a reshuffled back line.

The second game depends on the result. If Seattle beat RSL, Ragen also misses Game 1 of their best-of-three Round One series against the Vancouver Whitecaps. If they lose, the league said the suspension carries over to Seattle's first game of the 2027 regular season, which means a wild-card exit would leave him banned for an opener months away.

A referee's yellow, an office's verdict

Referee Filip Dujic showed Ragen a caution on the field, one of four Seattle bookings in a physical game. The committee used its power to add a suspension the referee never gave, a decision Brian Schmetzer had been waiting on all week. "We're sitting on pins and needles," the Seattle coach said before the ruling, according to Sounder at Heart's reporting from the club's training ground in Renton.

The play happened with Seattle leading 2-0. Shaffelburg had come on in the 72nd minute, and he left on the 79th with help before being taken to a local hospital. LAFC have given no recovery timeline for the Canadian winger, whose availability for their Nov. 23 series opener at St. Louis CITY looks highly unlikely, according to Rotowire. TSN reported he was also ruled out of Canada's Nations League quarterfinal against Guatemala.

Suárez fined again

The same set of rulings included a fine for Inter Miami's Luis Suárez for simulation and embellishment in the 82nd minute of Miami's game against Charlotte FC on Nov. 7. It is his second violation of that policy this season, though it carries no suspension, so he is available when Miami open their title defense against the Columbus Crew.

For Seattle, the math is now seperate from the soccer. Beat Real Salt Lake and Ragen is back for Game 2 against Vancouver. Lose, and the club's most important defender starts 2027 in the stands.