The eight-match month of May is coming to an end and New York City FC has a chance to close out their springtime run through the gauntlet on a high note.

Chicago Fire FC proved no match for New York City on Matchday 15 at Yankee Stadium, and there's now one home and one road match left, against Houston Dynamo FC and at Nashville SC, before a much-deserved break in MLS action.

We begin Episode 40 by revisiting New York City's 3-1 win over Chicago, a topsy-turvy one that saw the Fire take an early lead but then throw the game away thanks to a Brian Gutiérrez elbow to Aiden O'Neill's face and an ensuing red card.

New York City had a man advantage most of this match but still got three different goal scorers and dominated Chicago, so hosts John Baney and Mark Radigan and producer Andrew Leigh have lots of positive thoughts on what the result said about non-Alonso Martínez attackers like Hannes Wolf, Mounsef Bakrar, Julián Fernández, and even substitute Agustín Ojeda.

Speaking of substitutes, New York City will soon need to rely on a few more of them thanks to the looming Concacaf Gold Cup, and the call-ups coming for Matt Freese from the USMNT and Alonso Martínez from Costa Rica. We go through the United States roster situation Freese faces as he joins their June training camp, and also discuss the signing of 17-year-old striker Seymour Reid to a Homegrown contract with the New York City First Team as a likely hedge against Martínez absences while with Costa Rica.

Our final segment in this episode is a double-preview of sorts, looking ahead to the midweek meeting with Houston followed by the quick turnaround on Saturday afternoon in Nashville. How will New York City handle two very different opponents, and will they end their busy May on the highest possible note?

Listen to Episode 40 to find out how we think it will go, and then find all of our coverage by following Hudson River Blue on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads, and by reading all our work at HudsonRiverBlue.com.