On Dec 18, the Timbers officially announced former New York Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese as the team's new head coach. Despite starting the 2018 season without a win in their first five games, Savarese and the Timbers finished their campaign strong, and earned their second trip to the MLS Cup on December 8, 2018, where they would be defeated 2-0 by Atlanta United.

The Timbers played their first MLS game on March 19, 2011, against reigning MLS champions Colorado Rapids, but lost 3-1.

According to a March 9, 1975, story in The Oregonian, Pioneers was the most popular entry in a naming contest. Of the 3,000 entries submitted by Portland area residents, 157 were for Pioneers. But the 39 stockholders of Oregon Soccer Inc. passed on the mascot because it was also the name of Lewis and Clark College's athletic teams.