CHESTER — There were dark moments along the road for Tai Baribo. Certainly, in the absence of game action, there was ample time for them. The Israeli striker was signed by the Union on Aug. 2, 2023. With only a reserve role then available and youth on his side at 25, he expected to wait. But by start of the summer of 2024, no end was in sight. Baribo had started once in 10 months. He played 151 minutes to end 2023, then was an unused sub for the first 11 games this season. He hit the nadir April 30, entering the resumption of a rained-out game against Seattle as an injury replacement and immediately subbed off in the sixth minute for tactical reasons. “It’s now easy to say that you need to keep your head up, but when you are inside it and don’t see the light, it’s very difficult,” Baribo said. “But you have to see the light.” Baribo has fought back to daylight and intends to stay there. The monumental turnaround strains belief: After 161 minutes in all competitions in his first 10 and a half months with the Union, Baribo has scored 15 times in 17 matches. He’s the biggest factor in resuscitating a flagging Union season that can take a big step toward a playoff spot Sunday with a visit from D.C. United (6 p.m., FS1). Baribo’s excellence is a testament to his faith and tenacity, to take an opportunity he waited so long for. It took the sale of Julian Carranza to Dutch club Feyenoord to free Baribo from his purgatory of sparse sub appearances — ones Baribo admits “I don’t count as playing.” The frustration was enough to ponder if a transfer away might be in his best interest. “It was a very difficult, difficult time for me, and also for my family, because my father really lives soccer, and he lives my career all the time,” Baribo said. “So for him, it was very difficult. But again, I believe in God, and I believe that everything happens for a reason. And sometimes we don’t know the reason.” Baribo’s track record indicates he was capable of this. He scored 13 goals — 11 in the league — for Austrian Bundesliga club Wolfsberger AC in 2021-22, then 16 league goals and 24 in all comps in 2022-23. The 15 in 17, the hottest streak of his career, validates his faith to stick it out during bleak times. “You need to work hard,” he said. “You need to continue to believe in God, continue to believe in yourself. We all the time said, ‘OK if I don’t play here, maybe I need to go,’ but it’s easy to give up. It’s easy to find another team. And maybe if I had moved, you never know. But I believe that everything happened for the best.” Baribo scored twice on June 19 in his first start in Cincinnati, which cued an avalanche: A hat trick against New England to end a 10-game winless streak. The only goal in a Leagues Cup win over Charlotte. Two against Montreal, then two more in Cincinnati. He earned the Leagues Cup Golden Boot with a brace in the third-place game against Colorado, despite a bogus red card in the quarterfinal that cost him a game and a half. Since MLS has returned, he’s scored in wins over New York Red Bulls and NYCFC, the latter with an assist. The Union are 6-2-1 when he scores. He’s contributing on both ends of the field, which was for manager Jim Curtin what most limited his minutes. “I really love Tai’s contributions even outside the goals and the assist,” Curtin said after the NYCFC win. “I really like that he works back and tracks and covers … He’ll defend on set pieces for his life. That’s rare for a striker, so all the little intangibles, Tai is has done and then some. Really proud of him, his mentality and professionalism through what was a tough first several months here, and to persevere and now hit the back of the net, I think the hard work is the reason.” Baribo has enlivened the Union attack. The 5-1 win over New York City was the first time the rebuilt attacking triumvirate of he, Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre scored in the same game. It’s the third time they’ve all had goal contributions in the same outing. That connection predates Baribo’s ascent to the lineup. “When you play with people you like, I think you can see this,” he said. “Everybody wants to give passes to everybody, and you know that if he’s scoring and you give the assist, it’s like you scored. And I think this is a very important thing for the team, that all the strikers on the field want to help the team and not think only about themselves.” Baribo is focused on the Union’s playoff chase, first and foremost. It’s why his memories of the first brace in Cincinnati, which came in a loss, are dimmed. The intensity of the playoff chase has helped him unlock new levels. In turn, he’s lifted the Union (8-12-9, 33 points) to ninth in the East, ahead of D.C. United by a tiebreaker ahead of Sunday’s key clash. Baribo can finally see the path forward. And he can see how vital the tribulations of the past were. “I’m happy for this time that I didn’t play, and I’m happy for the time that now I play,” he said. “I hope to continue to score and help the team to qualify to the playoffs.”