Playoff System
Since 2012, the top five teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs, in which the two brackets are entirely separate. The First Round of each conference is a one-off match between the 4th- and 5th-place teams, with the 4th-place team hosting. The First Round winner advances to play the conference's top seed in the Conference Semifinals.
Conference Semifinal series are conducted in a home-and-away, aggregate-goal format. The lower-seeded team in the Conference Semifinal hosts the first game. The winners of those four series advance to the home-and-away, total-goals Conference Championships that will determine the MLS Cup finalists.
The team that scores the most goals in the home-and-away series advances to the 2-game, total-goals Conference Championship. Like the previous round the lower-seeded team hosts Game 1, and vice versa. If the teams are tied after two games (180 minutes) in the Conference Semifinal or Championship series, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by kicks from the penalty spot, if necessary.
In the case of ties after 90 minutes of regulation in the First Round and MLS Cup, 30 minutes of extra time (divided into two 15-minute periods) would be played followed by penalty kicks, if necessary, to determine the winners.
Read more about this topic: MLS Cup Playoffs
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