MLS playoffs grow to 18 teams — Major League Soccer on Tuesday, Feb. 21 announced its playoff format for 2023.
It’s one that, in our opinion, will test the mental and physical health of players and one that will test the commitment of fans during the regular season.
We get it: putting 18 of the 29 clubs into the postseason tournament is about generating revenue and getting as much content for Apple on the new MLS Season Pass streaming service.
We also realize that by expanding the playoff field from seven teams in each conference to nine, MLS is not unique. In the NBA, 20 of 30 teams make the playoffs. MLB in recent years has expanded its playoffs to 12 of its 30 teams. The NFL expanded its playoffs in 2020 to 14 of its 32 teams.
But, just because we understand the rationale doesn’t mean we like it.
As Timbers assistant coach Carlos Llamosa tweeted (with a quizical emoji): “The new playoffs will nearly be 2 months long and teams could potentially play the same team 6 times in one year. ... How fun.”
Here’s the rundown: The MLS Cup Playoffs start with one game between seeds 8 and 9 in each conference (Oct. 25-26). The first round (Oct. 28-Nov. 12) will be a best-of-3 series with the higher seed playing the first match and the third (if needed) at home. The first-round pairings are 1 vs. 8/9 winner, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. The last three playoff rounds are all single-elimination hosted by the higher seed. The conference semifinals and finals will happen between Nov. 25 and Dec. 3, with the MLS Cup Final on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Sure, there will be drama, especially with every tied match in the wild-card and first round going straight to penalty kicks if tied after 90 minutes. But why should we invest ourselves in the regular season? If a team can’t finish among the top nine in its conference, it’s probably not worth a lot of attention. And, taking away the bye for the first-place teams in each conference diminishes the value of finishing first (though the Supporters Shield to the overall best record is still the hardest trophy to win).
We can see a winner of the 8/9 “wild-card” match riding momentum to a win in Game 1 at the No. 1 seed and heading into a home match where a team that wouldn’t be playoff worthy in past seasons has a real shot to knock out a legitimate title contender.
• Also Tuesday, in the run-up to the MLS season openers this coming weekend, the league unveiled a 3D billboard in Times Square to promote MLS Season Pass. Former Timbers great Diego Valeri, who will be a Spanish language studio analyst for the Apple TV+ service, was among those on hand for the promotional event.
Winterhawks — After a 1-0 loss in a shootout on Monday at Prince George — despite a shutout effort from goalie Dante Giannuzzi — Portland will try to get its offense back on track in a rematch at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Prince George.
OSU gymnastics — Jade Carey has been named Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week for the fifth time this season after the Olympian scored an Oregon State record, and NCAA-leading 39.875 all-around score in the Beavers Feb. 18 win over Arizona. Carey scored perfect 10s on the vault and floor exercise.
PSU basketball — Esmeralda Morales, a sophomore guard who leads the Vikings’ women in scoring, has been selected to the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Team. She has a 3.72 GPA in Public Health Studies: Community Health Promotion.
The final home games for both the Viking women and the Viking men can be heard on AM 620. Those games are the 1 p.m. Saturday women’s game against Montana State and the 7 p.m. Monday men’s game against Sacramento State.
UP women’s tennis — Iva Zelic was named WCC Women’s Tennis Singles Player of the Week after helping the Pilots beat Idaho and Eastern Washington.