As the youngest of the five major American professional sports leagues, Major League Soccer (MLS) is constantly changing. Since 2015, the league has expanded from 20 teams to 29, with San Diego FC set to make it 30 in 2025.

With this rapid expansion, MLS has wrestled with several different playoff formats in the last few years. The number of teams that qualify for the postseason changes seemingly every year, as does the overall format of the competition. For 2023, MLS once again announced a new-look postseason.

Brace yourself, because it’s pretty complicated.

Eighteen teams qualify for the playoffs: nine in the Eastern Conference, and nine in the Western Conference.

There are five different rounds: the Wild Card round, Round One, the Conference Semifinals, the Conference Finals and the MLS Cup Final. The eighth and ninth seeded teams in each conference take part in the Wild Card round, which is a single-elimination match. Round One is a best-of-three series, but each round after that is single-elimination again.

I have a problem with nearly every aspect of this playoff format. I’ll start with the number of teams that get in. Eighteen teams out of 29 is way too many. That’s 62%, which is more than any other American sports league. There is some thinking behind this decision from MLS. They want to keep as many fanbases engaged in the season for as long as possible. MLS doesn’t have the luxury that Major League Baseball has, where even teams that have absolutely nothing to play for will still draw large crowds on a daily basis. So by having this many teams, you ensure that a large portion of the league’s fanbase has a reason to keep showing up late into the fall.

But the playoffs are supposed to be a reward. In other sports, the organizations who invest more into their teams and make the correct managerial decisions are rewarded with both the financial and sporting prestige of postseason play. Teams who don’t make the playoffs face the consequences. In MLS, below-average teams are able to hide their problems by sneaking into the last few playoff spots.

Next, both the best-of-three and single elimination formats are problematic. MLS likes the dramatic appeal of single elimination, but a one-and-done format results in fewer games than the traditional two-legged aggregate series that was abandoned by the league a few years back. So in order to lengthen the playoffs and increase revenue, MLS turned to a best-of-three system in Round One.

The way the MLS has set up their best-of-three system leaves plenty of room for issues. If a match is tied after 90 minutes in Round One, it goes directly to penalties. So theoretically, a team could advance to the Conference Semifinals by bunkering down and playing for penalties for 90 minutes in two straight matches. How is that entertaining? MLS will argue that you can’t play 30 minutes of extra time with three matches in such a short span, which is also true. But that’s why there shouldn’t be a best-of-three series anyway. No other soccer league in the world has this format, and it’s weird that MLS employs it for only one round.

Single elimination makes it difficult for the best teams in the regular season to be rewarded. A team could dominate the league for 34 matches in the regular season, but a bad bounce in the playoffs could lead to their elimination. If the purpose of the MLS Playoffs is to crown the best team in the league, then you can’t have single-elimination. But if the purpose is to make the most money and create the most entertaining spectacle, then more recognition should be given to the season’s Supporter’s Shield (trophy given to the team with the best regular season record) winners. They should be recognized not just as Supporter’s Shield winners, but as MLS Champions entirely. You can then have a separate trophy for the winner of the playoffs, but a clear distinction needs to be made.

In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with the two-legged aggregate system that the league previously employed. That’s how it’s done in the Champions League, the Europa League and nearly every other major league in the world. It ensures that the best teams in the regular season get a fair shot in the playoffs. If a great regular season team is bounced in a two-legged tie by a lower seed, then so be it. The lower seed deserves to advance. A two-legged series is the fairest way to decide playoff victories.

There is no easy solution to the problem of the MLS Playoffs. The league is still so young in comparison to other leagues, meaning it has to worry about things that the NFL and the MLB do not. Prioritizing revenue over a playoff format that works best from a sporting perspective is a fair stance to take when you’re a league that is still trying to firmly establish itself on the American sporting landscape.

But, I think the current playoff format involves way too many teams, is needlessly confusing and doesn’t lead to the best team being crowned as MLS Champions.