The off-season began with D.C. United announcing that they would not pick up options or renew a number of contracts for players on the 2018 roster, including striker Darren Mattocks, one of the team's leading scorers in 2018.

Veteran defender Kofi Opare moved on to a new club, Travis Worra retired, and David Ousted was released to free up cap space and in international roster spot.

A golazo by Lucas Rodriguez on a corner kick served by Rooney was the newcomer's first goal for the club, and Ulises Segura finished off the scoring.

On the heels of a great performance by Toronto FC in the debut of their new Designated Player Alejandro Pozuelo, D.C. knew they had to get points in a road game in Orlando to maintain their top position in the Eastern Conference.

Things got off to a rough start as the Rapids' Benny Feilhaber was left unmarked on a corner kick and beat Hamid to put the home team in the lead.

D.C. finally broke through with Acosta scoring on a blast from about 12 yards, assisted by a slight header touch-on by Donovan Pines getting his first minutes in an MLS match.

Five minutes later, "Titi" Rodriguez did the business all by himself, picking up a loose ball, charging through the Rapids' defense and then touching it past Howard to put the visitors up 3–1 before halftime.

Then, in the last minute of first half stoppage time, another check of VAR led to a handball call and a penalty kick for D.C. Rooney scored the PK to put D.C. up 2–0.

Recent signing Marquinhos Pedroso was forced into the starting lineup at left back, as D.C. kicked off a stretch of 3 games in 7 days, beginning with a Sunday evening match against Sporting KC at Audi Field.

The visitors were struggling through even more injuries than D.C., bringing only 13 field players, but fought D.C. to a standstill until Arriola broke through with a curler for the game's only goal in the 79th minute.

Durkin made a rare start before heading to join the United States Under-20 World Cup team, and Zoltan Stieber and Quincy Amarikwa led the attack, such as it was.

The following week D.C. hoped to get back on the winning track with a road game against a New England Revolution side which was between managers, with Bruce Arena preparing to take over.

United's sputtering offense wasn't helped by the man advantage, but a VAR decision to award D.C. a penalty kick in stoppage time, enabled the team to salvage a point on Rooney's ensuing PK goal.

However, the Fire salvaged a draw in stoppage time, when Bastian Schweinsteiger played the ball into the box with an overhead bicycle kick that found the head of Francisco Calvo, who deflected it past the onrushing Hamid.

The visitors dominated the next half-hour, but against the run of play, United struck when a long ball from Segura found Rooney, who took it off his chest and beat NYCFC's goalie to give D.C. a lead in the 32nd minute.

The win proved somewhat costly, as Mora's return to MLS play from his broken jaw was cut short because he suffered an ankle sprain likely to keep him out for weeks.

Mora's absence created additional issues for Head Coach Ben Olsen, who didn't have a lot of great options at fullback and midfield.

Those moves proved fateful in the 19th minute, when Toronto FC midfielder Richie Laryea was able to get around Stieber along the end line and past McCann to set-up Nick DeLeon for an easy tap=in to give the visitors an early lead.

Rooney coolly scored the penalty kick to give United a 1–1 draw, and second place in the Eastern Conference table, one point off of Philadelphia Union's pace.

That ended the scoring, but things went from bad to worse for D.C. United when Acosta picked up a red card as he clumsily attempted to step over a fallen opponent.

Playing a new formation in Acosta's absence, United was out of sorts defensively and fell behind 2–0, before Jara restored some order, finishing on a cross from Arriola just before halftime.

United made a couple of personnel moves, signing former University of Maryland star Gordon Wild, and releasing their own top pick, Akeem Ward to make room.

D.C. was only able to secure a road draw thanks to Hamid's usual strong goalkeeping and some surprising defensive brilliance from Brillant, whose interventions denied three certain goal-scoring opportunities.

The lead grew to 3–0 in the second half, before Brillant knocked in a loose ball to get United's only goal in a match that would end up a 5–1 drubbing by the conference-leading Philadelphia Union.

Olsen also kept Lucho Acosta out of the starting lineup, which left a sell-out crowd expecting another thrashing by a more potent visiting club.

Ola Kamara notched his first goal in a D.C. United uniform with a stunning curler in the 55th minute and momentum seemed to be heading in the home side's direction.

With Rooney again out of the lineup, United didn't figure to feature much offense in a trip to Montreal, but the team showed unusual clinical finishing in a 3–0 road win.

Thanks to a goal-line clearance by Brillant and a spectacular save by Hamid, the team secured a scoreless draw and held on to the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference, heading into the final weekend.

On the final day of the regular season, United's position was boosted by Montreal Impact taking an early 2–0 lead over the Red Bulls, but when Toronto F.C.

went ahead of Columbus Crew, D.C. still needed a win against the league's worst team FC Cincinnati to gain the home-field advantage in the opening playoff match.