The end of season play-offs.
A major part of American sporting culture and the wider season, but yet something that never feels quite at home in football, or soccer, at least not to us in Europe. Now the latest team left questioning the competition format are Inter Miami.
After topping the Eastern Conference they were knocked out by Atlanta United in the first round of the play-offs. This left Miami's Jordi Alba questioning the tournament. "It's a bit unfair," he said. "It's been done for many years but I think it should be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other to make it as fair as possible."
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Inter Miami have every right to feel hard done by. One of the big pre-season favourites, they topped the Eastern Conference and only lost four games out of their 34 regular league fixtures.
Yet all they have to show for their season is the Supporters' Shield. In a best-of-three decider Atlanta stole a 3-2 win after Bartosz Slisz's winner, in a major upset.
Lionel Messi was on the scoresheet for Miami, his 21st goal of the season, but it was not enough. His absence from the rest of the play-offs along with the likes of Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez will be a blow to league chiefs hoping to attract larger television audiences.
But there are still plenty of big names fighting it out for the trophy, with just under a month until the MLS Cup final.
With eight teams left in the mix, next up is the Conference semi-finals. And unlike the first round of the play-offs, the rest are all one-off ties rather than best-of-three series. The Eastern Conference sees Atlanta host Orlando City, plus a Hudson River Derby between New York City and New York Red Bulls.
Atlanta are skippered by former Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan, who made a couple of crucial saves from Messi in the first round. The Red Bulls' side features former RB Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg and Scotland international Lewis Morgan.
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Over in the Western Conference half of the draw there is a meeting between two sides with connections to Premier League striking greats. LAFC, with Olivier Giroud leading the line this season, face Seattle Sounders, previously home to a certain Obafemi Martins.
The LAFC side also features on-loan Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O'Brien and former Arsenal forward Carlos Vela. The other semi-final sees Minnesota United FC, who have only previously reached this stage once, taking on David Beckham's former club, LA Galaxy.
Galaxy are captained by defender Maya Yoshida, formerly of Southampton, and can call upon Borussia Dortmund legend Marco Reus who joined in August after 12 years at Signal Iduna Park.
The four winners of these ties progress to the Conference finals, set to be held on the weekend of November 30/December 1. The two teams that progress will compete in the final, with the host team determined by who finished higher in the regular season standings. That takes place on December 7.
