Major League Soccer's 2024 Competition Guidelines revealed no new changes to the postseason format that was implemented last season.
Look away, MLS fans. The league announced Tuesday afternoon that there will no changes to the best-of-three series in the first round of MLS Cup playoffs in 2024.
Many were expecting MLS to change the playoffs format again since they tend to shake things up quite a bit for postseason action. MLS teams are already playing a 34-game regular season coupled with Leagues Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup for some clubs - with US Open Cup involvement still in the air.
"At the end of the MLS Regular Season, the top seven teams from each conference will automatically qualify to the Round One Best-of-Three series while the next two teams in each conference standings will qualify for a single-elimination Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card match. The winners of each Wild Card game will earn a spot in the Round One Best-of-Three series," the league said in a release.
A best-of-three series taking place in the first round makes little sense and fans might be more open to a similar setup later on in the playoffs or a standard two-leg matchup.
Last year's first-round action saw Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, FC Cincinnati and LAFC sweep their opponents, while Houston Dynamo, Dynamo Seattle Sounders and Columbus Crew prevailed in game three in their respective matchups.
The 2024 edition of MLS Cup playoffs begin after Decision Day's results October 19, with the postseason leading up to MLS Cup on December 7.