(Photo credit: Joe Puetz)

St. Louis City will try to continue their climb in the Western Conference standings on Saturday night when they visit the New York Red Bulls in Harrison, N.J.

St. Louis (12-6-8, 44 points) is unbeaten in 16 MLS matches (11-0-5) and 18 games across all competitions, a run that's taken manager Yoann Damet's side up to third in the West.

Summer signing Rafael Navarro has already scored four goals in four appearances since completing a $12 million cash trade move from Colorado.

St. Louis has scored multiple goals in six consecutive league matches, despite not yet having a single player with 10 or more goals. Simon Becher holds the club lead with eight. (Navarro has 14 goals total, including the 10 he scored for Colorado).

But what might be most impressive is the mentality at a club that had finished well outside the playoff picture in 2024 and 2025.

'I look at these guys, they've been the same since January,' Damet said. 'Concern has never been a thing. Focus and preparation has been a thing since the start of the year. I think every new day is a new day to get better and prepare for our next game. And I think those guys, they've been like that since Day 1. So this week has been no different.'

The visitors will miss one player to international duty, attacker Damion Downs.

Conversely, the Red Bulls (9-11-6, 33 points) will have to endure the absence of a league-high 10 call-ups for the September/October international window as they try to hold on to their slim edge in the jostling for the last Eastern playoff positions.

That includes team-leading goal scorer Julian Hall and midfielders Ronald Donkor and Adri Mehmeti, manager Michael Bradley's three minutes leaders among non-goalkeepers.

'It's not worth spending two seconds worrying about it or complaining about it because ... it is what it is,' Bradley said. 'And so we have focused from the beginning this week of making a really good training week with the players that are here.'

Bradley's group enters the weekend in eighth, but with only five points separating seventh place from 12th.

The Red Bulls have earned consecutive 1-0 victories over New York City FC and Columbus, with Hall and Donkor scoring in those respective games.

--Field Level Media