With just two games remaining until the MLS Cup Final, and it increasingly looking like the last two seeds will be playing in it, debate about MLS’ season format continues.
The hardcore football fan has always had trouble wrapping their head around the fact that the league names it champion through a playoff. Soccer fans rightfully point out that MLS is far from the only league in the world that uses a playoff and, in fact, the biggest and most popular club football competition – the UEFA Champions League -- in the world is, in fact, a playoff.
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Still, the football fan is unconvinced. What better way to determine the best team in a league than a grueling 34 game schedule. The champion is the team that proves it can bring its game up to a high level most consistently.
A playoff is a lottery, they argue. One bad call, one injury and eight months of hard work go out the drain.
The soccer fan counters that a playoff forces teams to step their game up on a day. It’s the mark of a true champion to demonstrate that they can play their best when the game means the most.
The truth is there is merit in both systems, which is why most leagues in the world play a combination of the two systems. The FA Cup may have less meaning to some fans today than it once did, but it still serves to allow a knock-out competition (which is all a playoff is) in England. There they have decided that it’s the second most important domestic competition to play for.
Here the knock-out is the thing, with the round-robin competition (which is all a regular season is) secondary.
Again, both are legitimate. The key is that it’s understood what is more important in the respective countries.
It’s almost philosophical, but all that matters is that all teams are on the same page. In MLS every single player, manager, owner and media member understands that the MLS champions are the team standing in confetti after the MLS Cup Final. It’s only the most stubborn fan that argues the point.
The hard truth for those fans is this: The Supporter’s Shield isn’t as important. It isn’t because no team has a goal of winning it. Sure, it’s a nice bonus, but not so much that clubs will sacrifice setting themselves up for the playoffs – players will be rested or not hurried back from injury as fast as they can be. Friendlies are scheduled in the season. Teams are always looking long-term, while occasionally making short-term sacrifices. Not to mention that in most single table leagues the clubs are competing for Champions League spots and to stay out of the drop zone. Very few games are meaningless in the way that they would be if first place were the only goal.
That means that, in MLS, the regular season isn’t a pure competition – especially when, like this past year, the schedule isn’t balanced. So, it’s fiction to suggest that this year’s Supporter’s Shield winners, the San Jose Earthquakes, are somehow the “real” champions.
There will be no Supporter’s Shield parade in the Bay Area.
It does kind of suck for them though to go out in just two games and there are ways that MLS could better balance the season with the playoffs.
With 10 of 19 teams making the post-season MLS does invite too many teams to the dance. And, it doesn’t do enough to give an advantage to the top teams in the regular season.
As has been argued in this space in the past, a system that reduces the playoff teams to the very top (let’s say six) and gives a second chance to the top two sides would be preferred. Yes, anything that deviates from the norm would be bound to cause some to be confused (like the crossover games of the last couple years. Seriously people it wasn’t that complicated or confusing), but MLS should trust that its fans are smart enough to figure it out.
The curling/A-League model remains my preferred playoff. In it the No 1 and No 2 teams play each other for a straight berth into the final, with the No 3 and No 4 playing each other for a berth in the semi-final against the loser of the No 1 v No 2 game. To reflect the larger size of MLS I’d add a round before between No 3 and No 6 and No 4 and No 5 with the two winners advancing to play in the quarterfina*l.
Under that system the No 6 seed could win the MLS Cup, but it would need to win four games to do so. The No 1 seed might only need two games and it, along with the No 2 seed would have one mulligan. That puts a greater value on regular season games, but still keeps more teams in with a chance.
*The A-League actually does go with the six team format proposed, whereas Canadian and world curling events use the four team "page playoff" format.