MLS Soccer Playoff System

Posted November 2011 by Dan

The MLS Cup 2011 match will be played Sunday the 20th of November, just around the corner, featuring the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo.  I expect LA will take it but with soccer anything is possible.  The Western Conference of MLS is far superior to that of the Eastern Conference.  Here’s the table from the 2011 results.

Eastern Conference

# Club PTS GP W L T GF GA GD Home Away Last 5
1 Sporting Kansas City 51 34 13 9 12 50 40 10 9-2-6 4-7-6 T-W-T-W-W
2 Houston Dynamo 49 34 12 9 13 45 41 4 10-3-4 2-6-9 W-W-T-W-W
3 Philadelphia Union 48 34 11 8 15 44 36 8 7-1-9 4-7-6 W-T-W-T-L
4 Columbus Crew 47 34 13 13 8 43 44 -1 9-3-5 4-10-3 L-L-W-W-L
5 New York Red Bulls 46 34 10 8 16 50 44 6 8-3-6 2-5-10 W-T-W-L-W
6 Chicago Fire 43 34 9 9 16 46 45 1 6-3-8 3-6-8 W-T-L-W-W
7 D.C. United 39 34 9 13 12 49 52 -3 4-5-8 5-8-4 L-L-L-T-L
8 Toronto FC 33 34 6 13 15 36 59 -23 5-4-8 1-9-7 W-L-T-T-T
9 New England Revolution 28 34 5 16 13 38 58 -20 4-7-6 1-9-7 L-L-L-L-T

Western Conference

# Club PTS GP W L T GF GA GD Home Away Last 5
1 LA Galaxy 67 34 19 5 10 48 28 20 12-0-5 7-5-5 W-W-L-W-L
2 Seattle Sounders FC 63 34 18 7 9 56 37 19 9-4-4 9-3-5 W-W-L-W-W
3 Real Salt Lake 53 34 15 11 8 44 36 8 10-3-4 5-8-4 L-L-L-T-T
4 FC Dallas 52 34 15 12 7 42 39 3 9-5-3 6-7-4 L-L-W-W-L
5 Colorado Rapids 49 34 12 9 13 44 41 3 6-2-9 6-7-4 L-T-W-T-W
6 Portland Timbers 42 34 11 14 9 40 48 -8 9-5-3 2-9-6 L-W-L-T-T
7 San Jose Earthquakes 38 34 8 12 14 40 45 -5 5-4-8 3-8-6 T-T-W-L-W
8 Chivas USA 36 34 8 14 12 41 43 -2 5-7-5 3-7-7 T-W-T-L-L
9 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 28 34 6 18 10 35 55 -20 6-6-5 0-12-5 L-W-W-L-L
Here’s the playoff standings, as  you can see, the top 3 teams in the league are all on one side:
Western Conference PTS GP GD
ss- LA Galaxy 67 24 20
x- Seattle Sounders 63 34 19
x- Real Salt Lake 53 34 8
Eastern Conference PTS GP GD
x- Sporting KC 51 34 10
x- Houston Dynamo 49 34 4
x- Philadelphia Union 48 34 8
Wild Card Race PTS GP GD
x- FC Dallas 52 34 3
x- Colorado Rapids 49 34 3
x- Columbus Crew 47 34 -1
x- New York Red Bulls 46 34 6
z- Chicago Fire 43 34 1
z- Portland Timbers 42 34 -8
z- D.C. United 39 34 -3
z- San Jose Earthquakes 38 34 -5
z- Chivas USA 36 34 -2
z- Toronto FC 33 34 -23
z- New England Revolution 28 34 -20
z- Vancouver Whitecaps 28 34 -20

ss – clinched Supporters’ Shield
x – clinched playoff spot
z – eliminated from playoff contention
Enter MLS Cup playoffs as Top 3 conf. finisher
Enter MLS Cup playoffs as wild-card finisher
Did not qualify for MLS Cup playoffs
  • The top three finishers in each conference, based on regular season points (six automatic berths)
  • The next best four clubs based on regular season points, irrespective of conference (four wild cards)
    • The four wild cards will play single elimination games against each other, with higher seeds hosting (1 vs. 4; 2 vs. 3). These play-in games are part of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
    • After the two play-in games conclude, the lowest remaining seed will face the Supporters’ Shield winner in the Conference Semifinals; the other will face the No. 1 seed in the opposite conference from the Supporters’ Shield winner.

For complete playoff format and tiebreakers, clickhere.
So the question is why not have just a single table and the top 8 teams go on to the playoffs and have a bracket seeding system?  It makes sense to me but the folks at MLS seem to think that they need to keep it like the “rest” of the American playoff sports.  Never mind that the top teams have already played.  It’s time to change it Don. Change it so that we get to see the top teams in MLS in the final.

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