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With the new season starting in five days, Major League Soccer has finalized a new format for its postseason. Nine teams from each conference will qualify for the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, according to league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak to Athletics before an official announcement. Here’s what you need to know:
- Nine teams per conference will be the most playoff teams in a “normal” season yet, surpassed only by the makeshift 10-per-conference model during the 2020 season shortened by COVID-19.
- The opening wild-card round will see the teams that finished the regular season in eighth and ninth place play a single match at the venue where the top division will take place.
- The “first round” will follow with the seed no. 1 will face the wild card winner, 2 will face 7, 3 will face 6 and 4 will face 5. The round will be a best-of-three series, with the highest seed hosting the first games and (if necessary) the third. These games cannot end in a draw; the first team to win two games advances to the conference semifinals.
- Conference Semi-Finals, Conference Finals and MLS The cup will revert to the usual one-off format, with the highest seed remaining.
AthleticsInstant analysis of:
Is this the first time the league has revised its postseason format?
Far from it. The league’s playoff format has changed many times over its 27-year history. During its early years, when the league was struggling for relevance and financially weak, eight of the league’s 10 teams made the playoffs. The league used a “first to five points” best-of-three format for the conference semifinals and finals. He revised that format in 2000 when he split the league into three divisions—at that point, the league’s top eight teams, regardless of division, made the postseason. The league eventually switched to a two-legged “home-away” system. In 2019, MLS went to its latest iteration, the single-elimination format that it stayed with until the 2023 season. – Maurer
Why is the MLS changing the format now?
On the face of it, the MLS Cup Playoffs were among the least troublesome components of the league’s sporting operation. like Athletics has been reported numerous times since the start of 2023, however, MLS’ new broadcast deal with Apple has increased the desire to pack more playoff games into the year-end schedule in hopes of sweetening the deal for new paying subscribers . Additionally, it would ensure that every qualifying team (with the exception of the loser of the wild card round) would host at least one playoff game, increasing match revenue for the owners.
A league source noted that discussions about a possible format change began in 2021, before Apple’s deal was in place, however. – Rueter
Does this format improve the quality of the postseason?
At first glance: difficult.
Often the best MLS Cup playoff games take place after the first round: specifically, the conference semifinals, conference finals, and finals. In those stages, the best teams or those who made early shocks are separated from the group and are playing in high-intensity matches. The previous format (which was all single-elimination) had the first seed bye in the first round with 2 7-seeds, 3 6-seeds, and 4 5-seeds. In 2022, only one lower-seeded team (FC Cincinnati) let out a grunt.
While clashes between teams closer in the table can be compelling, it is difficult to predict that The crew of Columbus (which finished eighth in the East in 2022) or Charlotte (who finished ninth) would have made a big challenge for the no. 1 Philadelphia. – Rueter
Required reading
(Photo: Robert Hanashiro / USA Today)
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