Major League Soccer: regular season and Cup Playoffs

In this guide

Two conferences feed the play-offs Round One is a series of match wins Later rounds return to one-match elimination Do not read a series as an aggregate tie

Major League Soccer distinguishes its regular-season achievement from its championship play-off tournament. The Supporters’ Shield recognises the best regular-season record, while MLS Cup is decided at the end of the Cup Playoffs.

The 2026 play-offs use more than one match format. A wild-card match, a Round One best-of-three series and a conference semi-final do not resolve the same way. The round name is therefore an essential part of a useful programme description.

Two conferences feed the play-offs

Nine clubs from each conference enter the play-off route. Seeds one through seven go directly into Round One; eighth and ninth contest a wild-card match. The wild-card winner meets the conference’s first seed.

Round One is a series of match wins

Round One uses best of three: the first club to win twice advances. It does not add goals across the matches. The higher seed hosts the first and, if required, third game; the lower seed hosts the second. A tied game goes directly to penalties without extra time.

Later rounds return to one-match elimination

Conference semi-finals, conference finals and MLS Cup are single-match contests. If level after normal time, they use extra time and then penalties if required. A programme’s tie-resolution expectation therefore changes after Round One.

Stage	Progression unit
Wild card	One match; direct penalties if level
Round One	Two match wins in up to three games
Conference semi-final onward	One match; extra time if level

Do not read a series as an aggregate tie

A large win in one Round One game still counts as one win. A third match is conditional on the clubs splitting the first two games. Keep the game number with a recording so that a possible Game 3 is not treated as a guaranteed fixture. The regular-season table supplies seeding and hosting context, while the play-off bracket supplies the route to the championship.