How to Fix the MLS Playoffs

The MLS Playoffs have always been controversial. Many US soccer fans feel the league should scrap the playoffs and have the winner of the Supporters Shield be crowned the MLS champion like in European Leagues. This is to reward the best team over the stretch of the season, instead of the best team in a playoff competition.

In the 2010 NFL season, the 8th best team of the regular season, The Green Bay Packers, beat the 4th best team in the Superbowl. The playoffs represent not only the best team down the stretch, but the team that preforms the best in high pressure situations. They pit the best of the best teams against each other in a loser goes home situation. In football though, one mistake may send the better team home.

In baseball, hockey and basketball, the playoffs involve seven game series to demonstrate which team is best over the course of many games. If the better team has an off-night and loses one game they have the ability to rebound in the next game and demonstrate their superiority.

The MLS playoffs involve a one game wildcard match, a two-game semifinal's series determined by aggregate goals, and then a conference finals and a championship match of one game each. Each series has different rules. Plus the many times the best teams in the league play each other early in the playoffs, which doesn't allow them to meet in the finals. Many times teams from the western conference ends up playing in the eastern conference's playoff bracket or vis verse. This can give a team from one conference an advantage because had they played in the other conference they would have finished the season ranked higher. For example the western conference is usually much better than the eastern conference and the fourth ranked team in the west may be better than the first ranked team in the east.

With all this confusion in the MLS Playoffs there's no wonder why there is so much controversy.

The MLS does need a playoff system for two reasons. First, many American fans will not understand the appeal of giving the best team in the league at the end of the season the championship. All our other sports have playoffs and soccer should have one too. Second, the US is a big country and MLS is expanding. It will not be possible to play a balanced schedule much longer because it would require too many games and too much travel. This means that every team in the league will not play every other team.  If two teams never meet in the regular season I don't think it's fair to give the championship to the team with the best record.

Many people have begun to recommend a World Cup type system for the MLS playoffs, and I fully support this. In this system the top four teams in each conference would move on to the playoff tournament and be placed in two groups:

Group A	Group B
West 1	East 1
East 2	West 2
East 3	West 3
West 4	East 4

Each team would play every other team in their group once. The first ranked team plays all three games at home. The second ranked team plays two of three games at home...etc. This gives the higher seeds home-field advantage.

The two teams in each group who have the most game-points move on to a semi finals round that looks like this:

Semi Finals 1	Semi Finals 2
Group A 1 vs. Group B 2	Group B 1 vs. Group A 2

In the semis the top seed from each group plays the second seed from the other group. This forces them to play a game against a new team and still allows the best two teams in the league (who may have originally been in the same group) to be able to meet in the finals match. The semi-finals would be played as a home-away series, with the top seed playing the second leg of the series at home.

Finally, the winners of each series would move on to the MLS Cup finals, a one game winner takes all competition.

Had this system been in place this year, my Colorado Rapids would not have made the playoffs. But I still think it's the best system for US Soccer. This is what the Group Stage of the playoffs would have looked like this year under this proposed system:

Group A	Group B
1. LA Galaxy (67pnts)	1. Sporting KC (51)
2. Houston Dynamo (49)	2. Seattle (63)
3. Philadelphia Union (48)	3. Real Salt Lake (53)
4. FC Dallas (52)	4. Columbus Crew (47)

Now The Rapids finished the season with 49 points, for 5th place in the Western Conference. Had they played in the East, they would have finished 2nd with 49 points and made the playoffs in this system. Sure there will be people who say it's unfair because Colorado is a better team than Columbus. Why do they have to miss the playoffs? I don't like seeing the Rapid's out of the playoffs, but the same happens in other sports playoffs systems.

Last year in the NFL the Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs with a record of 7-9 to become the first playoff team in history with a losing record. New York and Tampa Bay both missed the playoffs last year with a 10-6 record, one that is much better than the Seahawks. Yes, the NFL playoffs system probably needs reforming too. But this is just an example that not all playoffs are fair. However, this proposed system seems to be the best and fairest way of hosting a playoff tournament when MLS moves to an unbalanced schedule.