The play-off format is an imperative part of American sporting culture, and the MLS is no different.
Basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball all use a form of play-off system to determine an eventual national champion at the end of each season, with the emerging MLS quickly following suit.
As the current season draws to a close and the MLS play-offs get underway, here's a look at everything you need to know.
MLS play-offs: Explained
Format
The MLS season is split between regular-season and post-season, with regular season consisting opf a traditional league format before the post-season action sees the break away into the play offs.
Leagues are split into Eastern and Western conferences, largely due to the sheer size of the country, with the Eastern conference consisting of 15 teams, while the Western features just 14.
The top nine teams from each league take part in the play off series through different stages: the wild-card round, round one, conference semifinals, conference finals, and the MLS Cup.
Each of these rounds, but one, are single-match eliminators with matches drawn based on the performance of each team in the regular season (better performers are rewarded with home advantage). Meanwhile round one is a 'best-of-three' series with the best performers in the regular season playing two of the three games at home.
Teams 1-7 in each league advance straight to round one, while sides 8 and 9 in each division face off for the two remaining spots in the preliminary wild-card round.
Wild-card winners face the best-ranked team in Round One while the other six teams play each other using the highest v. lowest matchups: 2 v 7, 3 v 6, and 4 v 5 -similar to the system used in the Football League play offs.
From there, the tournament becomes a simple one-leg knockout tournament up until the MLS Cup, in which the side with the better regular season record host the one-legged final to crown the season champions.
2024 favourites
Ahead of this season's play-offs, Inter Miami hold the best regular-season record having picked up 74 points across their 34 matches, 10 points more than LAFC who lead the opposing Western Conference.
The Lionel Messi-inspired side head to the play-offs for just the second time since their arrival on the scene in 2020, while fellow former Barcelona heroes Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba have seen the pink-clad side race to the top this season.
Key teams and players
Outside of Miami, the league is littered with talent.
The Los Angeles duo LAFC and LA Galaxy both offer a serious threat heading into the play-offs, having tied at the top of the Western Conference, while Columbu Crew's tally of 66 points in the Eastern would have been enough to finish top of the opposing league.
DC United's Christian Benteke topped the regular-season scoring charts, while Cincinnati's Argentine playmaker Luciano Acosta racked up 19 assists across the campaign, more than any other player across the two divisions.
Past winners
Reigning champions Columbus Crew defeated LAFC in last season's final, preventing the Los Angeles outfit from becoming back-to-back champions.
It is, however, LA Galaxy who have dominated the competition since it's inception, lifting the MLS Cup on five separate occasions, closely followed by DC United with four titles.
New England Revolution hold the unwanted record of the most final appearances without victory, failing to win any of their five appearances so far.
Record holders
It will come as little surprise that USMNT hero Landon Donovan tops the all-time scoring charts in MLS play-offs with 25 goals, helping LA Galaxy to four of their five titles.
Elsewhere, the New York Red Bulls hold the record for both the most pay-off appearances (25) and the most consecutive play-off appearances (15), a streak which will continue this year.
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This season's wild-card round is already underway, with Atlanta seeing off Montreal Impact to set up a Round One tie with Inter Miami, while Vancouver Whitecaps beat Portland Timbers 5-0 top book their spot in the next round.
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