The Colorado Rapids had a tall task in front of them. To go into the building of the top team in MLS, during a midweek game that included a trip all the way across the country.

Despite showing signs of life throughout the match, they weren’t up for the task and lost to the New England Revolution 1-0.

The Revolution earned their 73rd point of the season, setting the all-time MLS record for points in a season.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday night’s match:

The Rapids show they’re a top team

Sure, they lost. And sports are about getting results. There shouldn’t be any moral victories for a team trying to win the MLS Cup.

This team needs to find belief more than anything. They have struggled against top teams throughout the season. They weren’t able to beat either of the top two teams in the Western Conference (Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders) in any of their six matchups with the two squads.

“We need to consider ourselves a top team in the league,” Mark-Anthony Kaye said. “I think after tonight’s performance you can see that we can do the things we want to do against any team, play our style of football.”

They currently sit in third in the West and had a chance to move up on Wednesday night but they are talked about like they are a tier below the top two teams.

The Rapids rotated their squad, giving players minutes that don’t usually play and they hung in their toe-to-toe with the Revolution who didn’t rest their top players.

“At the end of the day, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the result that we wanted coming here but very proud of the way the guys played,” Kaye said. “Again, New England is a top team in the league and we went toe-to-toe with them, so that means something for us.”

They didn’t win but they certainly showed something.

Why rotate the squad against the top team in MLS?

So the fair question to ask is why didn’t the Rapids play their top players against the top team in MLS?

Head coach Robin Fraser has been making small changes to his squad when they have had midweek games in the past. But this was more than just a few small changes. Fraser made six changes to the lineup that beat Portland 2-0 over the weekend.

“Some lessons learned,” Fraser said after the game. “Never too late to learn lessons, even this late in the year. Things that’ll certainly help us down the stretch.”

Fraser appears to be saving some of his players for the playoffs and trying to become fully fit for the playoffs.

Michael Barrios, who has arguably been the Rapids’ best player this season, has come off the bench in the last two games.

The other side of that is they are also dealing with some injuries. Kellyn Acosta, Younes Namli and Keegan Rosenberry were all listed on the injury report before the game. Namli and Rosenberry were listed before the Portland game and Acosta has recently been added.

They will need all three to be healthy for the playoffs. Rosenberry and Acosta are important pieces for the squad and Namli, as the team’s only designated player, provides an offensive threat that will be much needed during crucial games.

Missing elite finishing

The Seattle Sounders have Raúl Ruidíaz (16 goals this season), Sporting Kansas City has

Dániel Sallói (16 goals on the season), the New England Revolution have Adam Buksa (16 goals) and Gustavo Bou (15 goals).

The Rapids have, well, goal scorers by committee. Barrios currently leads the team in goals with eight and the next closest both have five goals.

The Rapids don’t win games by scoring a bunch of goals. But they need someone that can score a goal when the team really needs it.

They created enough opportunities to score some goals against the Revolution on Wednesday night but they lacked an elite finisher that can get one for them.

It could be Dominique Badji that steps up for them in the playoffs or even Diego Rubio. If they’re going to make a run, they will need someone.

And if no one steps up, it will be obvious what they have to go after in the offseason.