The MLS Cup Playoffs are not hard to qualify for. Much like the NHL and NBA, if you’re basically in the top half of teams, you’re in. And to make things even less difficult, Major League Soccer and the National Basketball Association have both adopted a “play-in” format for those who don’t make the postseason cut, to thus back door their way in.
The Eastern Conference of MLS has 15 teams, the top 7 get in to the MLS Cup playoffs.
And just to reward mediocrity even more, slots #8 and #9 go to a play-in in order to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs. But MLS isn’t alone in having a postseason that resembles a participation trophy. College basketball now has four consolation brackets for the NCAA Tournament.
What is unique, about MLS, is their Eastern Conference where “seniority rules” is a principle that’s completely inverted.
Now that’s look at the Eastern Conference teams who were founded in 1994 and thus around for the inaugural season that was created in the wake of hosting the World Cup:
DC United 14th, NY Red Bulls (then the New York/New Jersey Metrostars) 10th, New England Revolution 11th and Columbus Crew 8th. And the Chicago Fire (founded in 1997) are 9th.
The current playoff teams in playoff position, with the years they were founded in parentheses
1. Philadelphia Union (2008), 2. FC Cincinnati (2018), 3. Charlotte FC (2019), 4. NYCFC (2013), 5. Inter Miami CF (the only franchise in the league with a semblance of legitimate mainstream popularity- 2018), 6. Orlando city (2013) and 7. Nashville SC (2017).
The pattern is obvious, it’s dominated by recent expansion teams. It demonstrates a lot of social mobility, while at the same time conveying how being long established doesn’t guarantee you anything.
D.C. United are in a bad spot, and they are a franchise that has really been doing very poorly for awhile now. Even D.C. goalkeeper Luis Barraza admits that this is lost season for them.
“At this point, we’re playing spoiler,” he said in an interview with R.Org. “We’re going to play teams that are trying to get into the best playoff spot possible, and we have a duty and a responsibility to carry this out until the end of the season in the best way possible.
“We have to look at these last four games as a precursor to next year.”
As for the Fire, bringing in Gregg Berhalter has at least elevated them from just awful to truly mediocre, which is something.
But of course that is obviously not the ultimate goal. It’s only because of the expanded and diluted postseason that we’re even talking about the Fire’s season right now.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter