Why the MLS Playoffs Refuse to Follow the Table

In most leagues, the regular season tells you who is good. In MLS, it tells you who gets to host the game they are about to lose. The table is a list of who was best from late winter to October. The playoffs care about a handful of nights in late fall, and those turn out to be two different sports.

The Record Breakers Who Went Home

Start with the teams that were not just good, but historically good.

In 2019, LAFC set the league record for regular-season points with 72. They lost the Western Conference final at home to Seattle, who went on to win MLS Cup.

In 2021, the New England Revolution broke that record with 73. They lost in the conference semifinals, at home, on penalties, to NYCFC.

In 2024, Inter Miami broke it again with 74, with Lionel Messi in the lineup. They lost a best-of-three first-round series to Atlanta United, the ninth seed in the East, a team that had to win a wild-card game just to get in.

Three record-setting seasons. Not one of them reached the final.

The Shield Problem

The Supporters' Shield goes to the team with the best regular-season record. In theory it is the purest prize in the league, earned over months, not minutes. In practice, it has become a warning label.

Look at how the Shield winners did from 2018 through 2024:

• 2018, New York Red Bulls: lost the East final to Atlanta
• 2019, LAFC: lost the West final to Seattle
• 2020, Philadelphia Union: lost their first playoff game, to New England
• 2021, New England: lost in the conference semifinals to NYCFC
• 2022, LAFC: won MLS Cup
• 2023, FC Cincinnati: lost the East final at home to Columbus
• 2024, Inter Miami: lost in the first round to Atlanta

Six of seven did not even make the final. Between 2012 and 2024, only two clubs pulled off the Shield and Cup double: Toronto in 2017 and LAFC in 2022. And LAFC only got there because Gareth Bale headed in an equalizer deep in extra time, and a backup goalkeeper won the shootout.

Seattle 2016: From the Bottom

If you want the full shape of an MLS playoff run, start in Seattle in the summer of 2016.

The Sounders were near the bottom of the West in July. They fired Sigi Schmid, the only coach they had ever had in MLS, and handed the job to his assistant Brian Schmetzer, a Seattle native. Around the same time they signed Nicolás Lodeiro, a Uruguayan playmaker who changed the team almost overnight. They lost Clint Dempsey for the rest of the season with an irregular heartbeat and kept climbing anyway.

They snuck into the playoffs. Then they beat Sporting Kansas City, beat FC Dallas, that season's Shield winners, and beat Colorado to reach MLS Cup in Toronto. The final finished 0-0 after 120 minutes. Seattle did not put a single shot on target all night. Stefan Frei made a ridiculous save on a Jozy Altidore header in extra time, and Román Torres scored the winning penalty.

From near last in July to champions in December, without a shot on goal in the final. That is MLS.

Portland and NYCFC Did It on the Road

Portland in 2015 came in as the third seed in the West. They needed a penalty shootout to survive the knockout round against Kansas City, then beat Vancouver and Dallas, the top two seeds in the conference. In the final, in Columbus, Diego Valeri scored inside the first minute after Crew keeper Steve Clark's clearance was blocked. Portland won 2-1 for the first MLS Cup in club history.

NYCFC in 2021 were the fourth seed in the East. They beat Atlanta, then went to Foxborough and knocked out the record-setting Revolution on penalties, then beat Philadelphia. The final was in Portland, in cold December rain. Felipe Mora equalized for the Timbers deep in stoppage time, and it went to penalties. Sean Johnson made the saves, and NYCFC had the first trophy in their history.

Why It Keeps Happening

There is no single answer, but the pieces are not hard to see.

The league is built for parity. Salary rules keep rosters closer together than in most top leagues, so the gap between first and fifth is thin. Since 2019, the playoffs have mostly been single-elimination games, and one game is a small sample. A deflection, a red card, a goalkeeper having the night of his life, and a season's worth of points means nothing.

Timing matters too. A Shield winner often banks its points in spring and summer. By November, the teams with the momentum are often the ones who scrapped to get in. Nobody gave Seattle a chance in July of 2016. By December, the books had stopped laughing.

The regular season is a marathon. The MLS playoffs are a bar fight in a parking lot. Being the best runner has never helped much in a bar fight.