Talk:MLS Cup Playoffs

Playoffs Qualifications - Top 3 from each conf?

In 2008, the top-3 teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, followed by the next 2 teams with highest points total regardless of conference, right? In this case the article needs to be updated (although the official site still shows the 2007 criteria). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Henryong (talk • contribs) 08:59, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Language

A shoot-out after regulation time has expired (and teams are still tied) is called "kicks from the mark", not "penalty kicks", as no penalty has occurred. (Fifa Laws of the Game)

Redundant tiebreakers

After head-to-head result, total GD and total goals scored, the next tiebreaker is results in away games only (points, GD, total goals), then results in home games only. But if teams are equal on points, GD and total goals in all games, and they're equal on points, GD and total goals in away games, how could they possibly not be equal in home games? Am I missing something, or is there absolutely no point in including the home-games-only part in the tiebreak procedures? LarryJeff (talk) 21:45, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

History?

this article need look more like NBA_Playoffs#History, showing how the system change by the years, just do some copypaste, recopilation of the diagrams from every year page--Feroang (talk) 06:22, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

History

2007

• 2007: The playoffs...

	Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup 2007
	E1	D.C. United	0	2
	E4	Chicago Fire	1	2
							E4	Chicago Fire	0
	Eastern Conference
							E2	New England Revolution	1
	E3	New York Red Bulls	0	0
	E2	New England Revolution	0	1
												E2	New England Revolution	1
												W2	Houston Dynamo	2
	W1	Chivas USA	0	0
	W4	Kansas City Wizards1	1	0
							W4	Kansas City Wizards	0
	Western Conference
							W2	Houston Dynamo	2
	W3	FC Dallas	1	1
	W2	Houston Dynamo (aet)	0	4

¹ The Kansas City Wizards earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Western Conference qualified for the playoffs.

2008

• 2008: The playoffs...

	Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup 2008
	E1	Columbus Crew	1	2
	E4	Kansas City Wizards	1	0
							E1	Columbus Crew	2
	Eastern Conference
							E2	Chicago Fire	1
	E3	New England Revolution	0	0
	E2	Chicago Fire	0	3
												E1	Columbus Crew	3
												W4	New York Red Bulls	1
	W1	Houston Dynamo	1	0
	W4	New York Red Bulls	1	3
							W4	New York Red Bulls	1
	Western Conference
							W3	Real Salt Lake	0
	W3	Real Salt Lake	1	2
	W2	Chivas USA	0	2

¹ The New York Red Bulls earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Western Conference qualified for the playoffs.

2009

• 2009: The playoffs...

	Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup 2009
	E1	Columbus	0	2
	E4	Salt Lake	1	3
							E4	Salt Lake (AET) (PEN)	(0)5
	Eastern Conference
							E2	Chicago	(0)4
	E3	New England	2	0
	E2	Chicago	1	2
												E4	Salt Lake (AET) (PEN)	(1)5
												W1	Los Angeles	(1)4
	W1	Los Angeles	2	1
	W4	Chivas USA	2	0
							W1	Los Angeles (AET)	2
	Western Conference
							W2	Houston	0
	W3	Seattle	0	0
	W2	Houston (AET)	0	1

¹ Real Salt Lake earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Western Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Eastern Conference qualified for the playoffs.

2010

• 2010: At the 2010 season's end, the top two teams of each conference will make the playoffs; in addition the clubs with the next six highest point totals, regardless of conference, will be added to the playoffs. In the first round of this knockout tournament, aggregate (total) goals over two matches will determine the winners; the Conference Championships will be one match each, with the winner of each conference advancing to MLS Cup. In all rounds, the tie-breaking method will be two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used.

	Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup 2010
	E1	New York	1	1
	E4	San Jose	0	3
							E4	San Jose	0
	Eastern Conference
							E3	Colorado	1
	E2	Columbus	0	2
	E3	Colorado (5–4, PSO)	1	1
												E3	Colorado	2
												W3	Dallas	1
	W1	Los Angeles	1	2
	W4	Seattle	0	1
							W1	Los Angeles	0
	Western Conference
							W3	Dallas	3
	W2	Salt Lake	1	1
	W3	Dallas	2	1

2011

• 201: The playoffs...

	Knockout round					Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup 2011
						E1	Sporting Kansas City	2	2
	8	Colorado Rapids	1			WC	Colorado Rapids	0	0
	9	Columbus Crew	0			Eastern Conference						E1	Sporting Kansas City	0
												E2	Houston Dynamo	2
						E2	Houston Dynamo	2	1
						E3	Philadelphia Union	1	0
																	E2	Houston Dynamo	0
																	W1	LA Galaxy	1
						W2	Seattle Sounders FC	0	2
	7	FC Dallas	0			W3	Real Salt Lake	3	0
	10	New York Red Bulls	2			Western Conference						W3	Real Salt Lake	1
												W1	LA Galaxy	3
						W1	LA Galaxy	1	2
						WC	New York Red Bulls	0	1

Note: The LA Galaxy, as MLS Supporters Shield winners, were assured of playing the lower seeded Wild Card series winner (New York Red Bulls) in the Conference semifinals, while Sporting Kansas City would play the higher seeded Wild Card series winner (Colorado Rapids).

the base is ready--Feroang (talk) 19:53, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

References

Outdated (again)

The playoff format has changed again for 2012...

1. The top five teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs—no more wild cards.
2. The conference brackets are now completely separate—the potential "crossover" has been eliminated.
3. The first round in each conference will be a one-off match between the #4 and #5 teams, hosted by #4.
4. The conference semifinals remain two-legged, and the conference finals will also be two-legged.
5. The MLS Cup Final is now hosted by the top surviving team, based on regular-season table points.

By the way, I really like the history idea—the article NEEDS to discuss all the formats that have been used throughout MLS history. — Dale Arnett (talk) 02:10, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Agreed that this arcitle should better cover history. Here is a good source to get started: MLS. BLAIXX 16:42, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 31 July 2024

• MLS Cup Playoffs → MLS Cup playoffs
• 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2007 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2008 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2009 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2010 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2011 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2012 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2013 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2014 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2015 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2016 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2017 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2018 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2019 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2020 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2021 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2022 MLS Cup playoffs
• 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs → 2023 MLS Cup playoffs

– Here "MLS Cup" is a proper name, but the playoffs are just the playoffs, except when in the context of the sponsorship name, e.g. "Audi MLS Cup Playoffs". Sort of like how Stanley Cup playoffs has always been. Dicklyon (talk) 00:59, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

• Some data – It's not common enough to show up in n-gram stats, but we can see how other Cup playoffs are styled (mostly lowercase). Some books that use lowercase include these: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9] (some of which are books for juveniles). In sports news, ESPN uses lowercase; also these: The Tennessean and The Cincannati Enquirer. Dicklyon (talk) 01:18, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
• Oppose: ESPN defaults to downcase on almost all common words, even if they're proper names. These are events which appear to be mostly consistently capitalized in relevant national sports sources. There's always going to be outliers when a name includes common words, but we should focus on relevant sources as opposed to the totality of sources which would include those less familiar with the subject that would inherently default to lowercase because they're unaware of it being a proper name. It appears to be a proper name (of an event) and we should treat it as such. Hey man im josh (talk) 01:45, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

  ESPN's style in indeed the most like WP's. MOS:CAPS says we "avoid unnecessary capitalization". They do the same. Dicklyon (talk) 18:18, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

• Note: This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of association football-related page moves. GiantSnowman 18:53, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
• Support per nom, following example of Talk:1872 FA Cup final#Requested move 5 January 2023, which I opposed, but I accept the consensus and it should be applied elsewhere. GiantSnowman 18:55, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
• Support. Same as all the previous cases. The proper name here is "MLS Cup" (or "Major League Soccer Cup" in long form). Individual bracket segments or rounds of competition ("playoffs", "last-16", "semi-finals", "finals", etc.) are not proper names, and tacking one onto a proper name does not magically form a new, bigger proper name. MOS:CAPS: only words and phrases that are consistently capitalized in a substantial majority of independent, reliable sources are capitalized in Wikipedia [emphasis in original]. Since this is not consistently capitalized in indy RS, then it is given in lowercase on WP. See "news" results here. As in the previous cases of things just like this, non-independent sources (the league itself, websites of teams in the league, and fansites of the league or a team within it) tend to over-capitalize for emphasis or promotion (as do others with a fiduciary interest, including ticket sellers, sports gambling sites, and promotional websites run by muncipalities hosting the events), while independent news sources like US Today, TechRadar (which covers "sports and the Internet" material a whole lot), ESPN, Sporting News, Fox Sports, SportsNet, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Kansas City Star, The Columbus Dispatch, The Salt Lake Tribune, CBS Sporots, Boston Herald, Cincinnati Enquirer, Axios, etc. do not (outside of title-case headings). As usual again, there are exceptions in both directions, e.g. NBC Sports and St. Louis Magazine capitalizing, but fandom sites like World Soccer Talk, Goal.com, Pro Soccer Wire, Sounder at Heart (Seattle Sounders FC fansite), etc. lower-casing (same with some of the city sites, including Boston.com). Even a few of the team sites don't do it consistently, e.g. that of Atlanta United FC. In short, this is demonstrably nowhere near the MOS:CAPS standard. The most that can be said is that promotionalism usually capitalizes it, and independent reportage rarely does.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  00:27, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
• Support—"Cup" is part of the proper name; "playoff" or "final" or "semi-final" are not. Tony (talk) 07:17, 1 August 2024 (UTC)