From shootouts to best-of-three: The evolution of the MLS Playoffs
By Sean McGuffin - @SeanMCG704
Major League Soccer is unique from most professional soccer leagues in that the League's champion is decided after a postseason playoff tournament. Like other professional American leagues, the playoff format has evolved over the years, from eight to eighteen teams, from double-legged fixtures to best-of-three; the MLS playoff format has seen more changes than any other league.
The original playoffs
The early years of MLS looked much different than the product we see today. The original ten teams played with a winding-down clock, no draws, and a hockey-style shootout to resolve tied games. Eight teams made the postseason, with only two in contention for the wooden spoon. The first two rounds would be settled in a best-of-three series, with matches going to shootouts if they finished with a tie. The Championship round would only be one match to settle the champion. This format would last from the League's inception in 1996 to 1999.
With the turn of a new millennium, the format saw its first changes in 2000. Most notably, the League adopted traditional association football rules with an upward-ticking clock as well as points distributed for wins, losses, and newly allowed draws. The point system was even integrated into the postseason, with the eight teams playing a best-of-three series in which teams needed five points to win the series. Two wins or a win and two draws would lock a team in for the next round. If the points were tied after three games, the third game would go to a golden-goal-style overtime. The Championship deciding round would once again be one match.
The Two-Legged Years
The postseason points format was confusing to many and only lasted from 2000-2002. In 2003, MLS would introduce its longest-lasting format to date. Drawing inspiration from European tournaments like the Champions League, the new playoff format would utilize two-legged fixtures. For the first round, two matches would be played. The score of the first would carry over to the second, with the higher-seeded team playing at home in the second match of the fixture. The conference final and championship would both be decided with one match. By 2011, the league had added eight teams and added a play-in round, expanding the field from eight to ten. This wild card round would only have one match.
This format would stay mostly the same until 2015, when 12 teams would earn postseason berths. The 3-6 seeds would all play one match in the first round, with the ten remaining teams using the same format as before.
Covid Chaos
The League would introduce an entirely new format in 2019, with 14 teams making the postseason. Doing away with double-leg fixtures, this new format gave the top seven teams in each conference a playoff berth, with the top seeds getting a bye. The tournament would be single-elimination for the entirety of the postseason. The COVID-19 pandemic would throw a wrench in the 2020 postseason, forcing the league to adopt a last-minute playoff format. For one season only, 18 teams would see postseason soccer with seeding decided by points-per-game. 7-10 seeded teams would face off in a play-in round, with the higher seed getting home-field advantage for the first three rounds. The League would revert to the 2019 format until introducing the current playoff format in 2023.
The Current Format
With 29 teams in the league, MLS decided to bring back the 18-team postseason seen during the pandemic. Each conference has a single-game play-in round, with the first round being a best-of-three series. All ties in the first round end with a shootout to settle the match. Whichever team wins two matches moves on to the rest of the tournament, up to the championship game, being single-elimination, with a 15-minute extra time period being played after tied games. The MLS Cup Final is hosted by whichever team had a higher place in the Supporters' Shield standings.
As the MLS has found its identity both as a major domestic sports league and the nation's top flight of soccer, the postseason format has seen nonstop change, and as the league grows, another playoff shakeup could be around the corner.
