By AVI CREDITOR
The Los Angeles Galaxy won the Supporters' Shield, amassing the most points over the course of the MLS season, thus earning any and all advantages heading into the postseason.
Their reward: two cross-country trips in a four-day span for a two-legged tie against the only team in the league that can go head-to-head in a bare-knuckles payroll battle.
And while it's not in the Galaxy's control that it was the New York Red Bulls that captured the league's final playoff berth and won their wild card match Wednesday night to get placed in the Western Conference bracket, the fact remains that the ever-changing MLS playoff system is still very much a work in progress. The other Western Conference semifinal pits Seattle and Real Salt Lake, the second- and third-best teams in the league all season, against each other while five other teams with lower point totals duke it out elsewhere.
"No, I don't agree with the system, but I also accept what it is and recognize that I don't get to make those decisions, so we'll deal with it the best way we know how," Real Salt Lake manager Jason Kreis said on Wednesday.
In theory, Los Angeles is supposed to have the advantage by watching its next opponent have to play an extra game. In reality, that advantage is minimalized by the travel required on its part for the first leg in addition to the short rest in between a second cross-country trip back to the West Coast for the second leg.
Seattle and Salt Lake, meanwhile, might have been better off finishing fourth or fifth in the conference and falling to the wild card round, where the possibility of getting shifted to the Eastern Conference bracket — like where MLS Cup champion Colorado ended up last year and could again with a win over Columbus Thursday night — would make for a more advantageous playoff road.
"After the season that (the Sounders have) had, to turn around and have to play us as opposed to a wild card team is a poor place to be," Kreis said.
There's no simple solution as long as the league continues to maintain its stance on separate conference brackets. Unbalanced conferences happen from year-to-year in all sports, so uneven playoff roads are bound to be a casualty of the process. But when the integrity of a league's playoff system continues to get called into question season after season by pundits, coaches and players, it's a sign that more significant changes to that system may be necessary.
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Do you think Los Angeles got a raw deal by having to travel cross-country for its conference semifinal series? What changes would you make to the playoff system? Do you agree with Kreis' comments?
Share your thoughts below.
i thought the tie breaker was goal differential? … Houston has a +4 and Colorado has +3
Keep the same system, just make it top 5 from each conference, with 4 vs. 5 seed for playoff game. In that case houston would have played new york in the first wild card, and colorado would have played dallas in the other. Fair is fair. Western might be stronger than Eastern, but the AL has been stronger than the NL for years. Same in the NFL, as the AFC was long dominant over the NFC.
That would eliminate the long plane travel, which is really LA’s only real legitimate complaint.
keep it the same BUT the ss winner gets every playoff game at home.
Right. Totally don’t get the criticism here. I guarantee that with Donovan, Beckham and Keane all nursing injuries, LA was totally OK with the trade off of having to fly a couple hours longer (the day is basically blown with travel even if they’d only had to fly to Dallas) to not have to play mid week.
“Or unbalance the schedule to play more games against teams in your conference. I wouldn’t even mind if MLS went to divisions within the conferences to build rivalries.”
+1!
I can imagine it working very well, for example, with 2 conferences or 3-4 divisions, geographically oriented (I guess), and more games within those than elsewhere. You could still make sure each team played every other team outside its conference at least once during the year (leaving only the location as a variable). Would probably work wonders at rivalry development, which the league appears to really want.
But be internally consistent: either keep the conferences and do that or keep the overall balanced schedule and jettison the conferences.
If conferences are ignored when it comes to the playoffs, then the only possible reason to have conferences would be un unbalanced schedule focused on those conferences. But people don’t want that, either, it seems. And otherwise, conferences have no purpose whatsoever (except to make it hard to read the table).
Got no problem with that system, although it should be
6 – Colorado – 49 pts
7 – Houston – 49 pts
unless you’re swapping the head-to-head and GD tie-breakers. So it would actually be Houston playing NYRB for the right to play Seattle (and interestingly, Colorado playing RSL in the following stage).
But are the following stages all single elimination or home-and-home series or a mix or…?
not unprecedented, no, but the most successful and popular leagues all award crowns to regular season excellence and have relegation.
Seattle would have been better off falling to 4th or 5th and playing the East, huh ?
Someone tried that. How did that work out for Dallas in the one game playoff game last night ?
I would rather Seattle plays two against a better team in Salt Lake than some one game mid week game followed up by the “easier” East coast trip. Which includes playing away in the conference finals, probably against KC.
Can hardly wait for tonight and Saturday ! Dallas out, 9 more to go…..GO SOUNDERS !
With a balanced schedule, East/West conferences are meaningless and shouldn’t be a factor in the playoffs. But they are.
Either play 1v10, 2v9, etc. with a balanced schedule.
Or unbalance the schedule to play more games against teams in your conference. I wouldn’t even mind if MLS went to divisions within the conferences to build rivalries.
This bastardized system is bush league.
MLS already limits the number of charter flights for regular season play. It is unclear whether or not that limit extends to the playoffs… I can’t locate the MLS rulebook anywhere, though. I should think that limit would only apply to the club itself. Should the players wish to charter a flight together, I can’t see what’d stop them aside from the poverty of half the roster.
I have to agree with Joamiq on this one, and I think that this is unfortunately a point that is often overlooked. This mixing of single game knockout and home-and-home series and back again is lousy, and does in fact feed the upset machine (with the outcomes many people complain about). Plus you’d get more playoff matches if you just make everything, or about everything, a 2-game series. Maybe just top 8 teams do that from the start, and keep doing it, at least until the final match.
Disagree with that. He wrote: “Plus, MLS needs to eliminate the home-and-home series, it is pointless.”
And I just realized that 10th best is also 8th worst in MLS. God, I hate the playoffs.
Yeah, that needs to change too. CCL ticket needs to go to the Supporter’s Shield runner-up, not the MLS Cup loser, who in all likelihood could be the 10th best MLS team.
That makes too much sense.
4 step process to fix the playoffs, assumes 20 teams-
a) Single Table-solves part of the randomness of the current setup by accurately having the best teams play the worst teams, accurately rewarding them for the regular season. Feasible if 20 teams, unbalanced only is necessary if it’s 19 teams like next year.
b) Decrease number of playoff teams from 10/18 to 7/20-the relatively small amount of teams that can make the playoffs now prevent a team from sleepwalking( a la NYRB) and then catching fire-makes it so that only good teams make it from the get go. Values the Supporter’s Shield by giving them and only them a first-round bye.
c) Award the MLS Cup hosting location to the Supporter’s Shield recipient at the time they clinch the shield, regardless of whether they participate or not-Another way of making the SS more important, rewards them if they make it to the MLS Cup by giving them home-field in a 1 off, even if they don’t it’s still a nice gesture. Solves Garber’s concerns about ‘festivities’ and the ability to sell tickets in advance by choosing the game at least a month ahead of time, probably sooner.
d) this is the big one-increase the number of games played in the quarterfinals and semifinals from 2 to 3-the 2 legged ties are specifically designed to NEUTRALIZE any home-field advantage, the tiny benefits the higher seed has now are semantic and inconsequential. this would be a best out of three series, where draws are possible, most points @ end wins. If a team wins both the first two games, game 3 doesn’t occur. Higher seed gets 1 and 3-gives the higher seed a material advantage they don’t have now, and provides another check against randomness while at the same time providing great competiton. Makes regular season far more valuable, difference between 4 and 5 is huge, etc. No ‘it would take too long’ issue-we eliminate the play-in games that exist now, game 3 isn’t guaranteed, and can take other measures to ensure a comparable time schedule. If at the end of regulation time in game 3 both teams have the same amount of points, goes to overtime then PK’s.
NBA does East and West conference playoffs …
#2 having to play #3 in the 1st round is ridiculous. In an 8-team playoff it would be bad, but in a 10-team playoff is inexcusable.
Luckily Seattle has played RSL pretty well for the most part and that was when RSL was in good form. But, I would still obviously rather be playing a Casey-less Colorado.
+1. Though apparently MLS has restrictions on how many chartered flights a team could take a year, so maybe not?…
There should be a group stage and then knockout round to MLS playoffs just like Champions League or the World Cup system. Not only is it more fair and could focus on regions rather than conferences, it is more recognizable to a soccer-savvy public and could have more credibility.
If ownership can afford it, why not?
Oh, you know what I didn’t realize they did single game conf champ games (as well as final). Yeah, do away with that then.
I guess no one else caught you crowning the Red Bulls western conference champions already. Shame on you. Although last year the Galaxy got beat up by fc dallas, everyone forgets that the galaxy step up to a new level during the playoffs. Just watch what the Galaxy do to the Red Bulls you will have no doubts after this series.
I think the biggest problem is not the conferences. There will never be a single table regular season. That is fine. Let there be two conferences and two teams a year can put placks on their wall, as champions. The real problem is taking the conference idea into the playoffs. Single table in the playoffs. Just like the NBA. Seems so easy. Does Don Garber make it so out of wack, just to get everyone talking and arguing. Kind of like the BCS. If so, then I think that is a mistake. The system needs validity. Not debate, to win over fans.
Right, but his point was about home field advantage specifically. In a home and home series, there really is none. I don’t think there should ever be a point in any playoff series where the team with the lesser record has played more games at home than the team with the better record.
i Like how this article fails to mention that NY had to fly to Dallas, play, and then fly home to play LA, then fly to LA to play again. They’re acting like NY is just sitting at home waiting. And NY had to play an extra game.
Sure, except from that whole “playing a team that had a worse record” thing. (Not including the weird stuff necessary when you have conferences).
Not if you have a fully balanced schedule across divisions. But if you balanced within a division, and had limited interdivision play, that could be the case.
There are plenty of other leagues that hold playoffs. Our neighbors to the south have the liguilla. Brazil has playoffs. It’s hardly unprecedented.
That is the best idea I’ve heard all day. And I’m a DC United fan.
Possibly, but staying hot for 7 games is much tougher than staying hot for 4 or 5. The more games you play, the more likely it is that the cream will rise to the top. Single elimination and 2 legged ties make it much easier for a lesser team to win. Group play makes it far less likely. There will still be some unexpected results, but with far less frequency.
…and everyone gets a participation trophy.
I think it has to do with getting better at the right time. The hottest team at the end of the season would probably still be hot during the extra 2 games.
I’m always surprised that more MLS fans don’t feel the same and justify this crappy system
Does anyone know if teams are able to charter flights during the post season?
Although I guess the NHL is at that point still with 16 out of 30 making the PO’s.
I don’t know in all honesty. I don’t follow the NBA.
That has nothing to do with his point. If each team gets one home game, the team with the better record doesn’t really have any advantage.
Longer playoffs would be a good thing. Short playoffs are part of the reason lesser teams run off with the Cup so often.
You make too much sence. The current system guarantees this year the fifth seed or worse qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League.
+1
i agree with Joe^^^ it’s really not that hard. travel isn’t a big deal. take the nba, Celtics/Lakers do it in the finals back n forth and back again and those are always pretty exciting games imo. What many of us want is just to see the best 2 teams in the final game, and given the current structure that is not allowed.
exactly. Garber says the fans care about division trophys but its so not true.
2 things matter if playoffs are in place, supporters shield and mls cup champions.
Single table, rank ’em for the playoffs, DONE!
+1!!! Yes, you are correct, not one member of the Galaxy has said a word about this.
Isn’t that how it is in the NBA?
And Donovan is not manly enough to play in Europe!
#bitterSBIreadersReunion
How about you tell what Whal’s solution was, Pete.
I’ll bite…
What is Grant Wahl’s solution? Free tickets for bald men who dress a little too nice to be sports reporters?
I mean the only real solution is do the playoffs as a straight table for a certain number of teams like such: (and for the record i think it should be 8 teams only, but thats another debate)
1- LA: 67 pts
2 – Sounders – 63 pts
3 – Salt Lake – 53 pts
4 – FC Dallas – 52 pts
5 – KC – 51 pts
6 – Houston – 49 pts
7 – Colorado – 49 pts
8 – Philly – 48 pts
9 – Columbus – 47 pts
10 – Red Bulls – 46 pts
Colorado plays Red Bulls at Colorado in a 1 off with winner playing Seattle
Philly plays Columbus at Philly in 1 off with Winner playing LA
Play the rest of the the tournament out from the quarterfinal stage as a normal bracketed tournament would go
Theres no point in keeping the East/West format in the postseason (or regular season if you ask me) if you’re going to get wildcard teams from the East in the West and visa versa … there is literally no point to it … my drunk college friends drew up better playoff brackets back in the day for the Beer Olympics than these idiots at MLS can do.