Los Angeles FC captain and star forward Carlos Vela was quick to criticize the newly instituted format of the upcoming MLS Cup Playoffs – just before the start of the first round this weekend.

The new format sees the introduction of a best-of-three series that drastically draws out the competition compared to previous seasons.

Vela, who led LAFC to its first MLS Cup title last season, said that the change was confusing after a close and competitive finish to the campaign in 2022.

‘The league decided and we can only try to win the first two [games] to have time to prepare better for the next round.’ 

LAFC captain Carlos Vela said that MLS changing its playoff format ‘doesn’t make sense’

Vela is not the only member of the reigning league champions to be critical of the new format.

LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo dropped a scathing critique of the new system of deciding a champion earlier this week.

‘You sacrifice a fluid playoff system like we had last year, which everybody was very pleased with — the first time in 19 years the top seed in each conference played each other in the final,’ the manager said.

‘You couldn’t have planned it any better, you got a fantastic game in the end, so it makes perfect sense to go change everything.’

Earlier in the season, when the format change was announced, Philadelphia Union manager Jim Curtin also came out against the format.

‘It’s best to have [the] regular season mean as much as possible to teams,’ Curtin, who coaches last year’s Eastern Conference champions, said when the change was announced. 

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‘The more you can incentivize having a good season and earning those home games, I think, the better.’

This new format makes advancement to the next round a best-of-three format. A ‘best-of’ series is common in other American sports leagues, but this is the first time since 2002 that MLS is doing this.

Granted, when this was last used, MLS only had ten teams in total and eight teams advanced to the playoffs.

LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo was also critical of the playoff format earlier this week

Philadelphia’s Jim Curtin believes better teams should benefit from regular season success 

It will drastically change the way teams approach each game – and part of that is owed to the rules governing advancement.

There is no aggregate goal score in this format. In this best-of-three series, there will always be a winner of each game. If the match ends in a stalemate after 90 minutes, the match will go straight to penalty kicks to determine who advances.

In his critique of this format, Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, ‘That’s an open invitation for teams to make these games as low-scoring and defensive as possible, then ride their luck in penalties. If a team forces two scoreless ties and wins both shootouts, it wins the series.’

He adds, ‘For a league that fights every day to convince soccer fans across America that it’s as entertaining as the rest of the world, that’s a recipe for big trouble.’

This format also produces some quirks. LAFC played the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw on the final day of the season. Now, they face Vancouver again and could possibly play them four times in a row thanks to this new format. 

So why did MLS adopt this format? There are two likely main reasons. The first surrounds its new broadcast rights deal with Apple TV+. By making this a best-of-three series, you guarantee at least one (possibly two) extra games for the service to put on its airwaves.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of this expanded format is new broadcast partner, Apple TV

The second reason is to appease teams that made the playoffs but did not get to play them at home. This format that goes home-away-home – with the higher seed playing more home games – ensures that everyone gets to put on a show in front of their fans.

That goes for the teams that advanced via the Wild Card too (the New York Red Bulls in the East, Sporting Kansas City in the West).

Yep, that’s right. Despite RBNY only winning eleven of its 34 games and finishing 26 points behind FC Cincinnati – the Eastern Conference winners and their upcoming opponent – they will be hosting a playoff game.

Thankfully, the chaos only stops in the first round. The Conference Semifinals, Conference Finals, and MLS Cup Final all remain single-elimination games (with extra time before penalties if needed).