Wednesday 28 October 2015 09:17, UK
The MLS play-offs have arrived. Here's all you need to know about them...
Who made the play-offs?
It will be the first time in MLS history that three Canadian teams will be a part of the post-season with Didier Drogba and Sebastian Giovinco likely to play a significant part for Montreal Impact and Toronto FC respectively when they face each other on Thursday night. Vancouver Whitecaps, managed by former Wolves defender Carl Robinson, completes the trio from north of the border.
Bradley Wright-Phillips will be in with a chance of securing his first MLS Cup at New York Red Bulls - the team with the lowest salary expenditure in the entire league. Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and Giovani Dos Santos will all be looking to secure LA Galaxy's fifth MLS Cup, and their third in four years.
There are plenty of British players involved in the play-offs. Dom Dwyer for Sporting Kansas City, Liam Ridgewell at Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders' Tyrone Mears are just a few names set to make appearances.
FC Dallas and Columbus Crew occupy the second seeds in each conference, while D.C. United and New England Revolution took the fourth and fifth spots in the east.
The format
Unlike previous seasons, the MLS play-off format has changed in 2015 as a sixth play-off spot has opened up in each conference to cater for the league's expansion to 20 teams. The number of knockout games has risen from two to four, so two knockout rounds in each conference.
This season, the team who finishes third in each conference will play the sixth seeded side in one single elimination game while the fourth and fifth seeds play in the other. This means Drogba could face an early exit from the play-off race should Montreal lose to Toronto FC. Similarly, Gerrard, Keane and Co could face a similar fate when they play Seattle Sounders away - the Galaxy have managed just two wins on the road in the last 14 months.
The teams to reach the conference semi-finals and championships will be re-seeded to make sure that the team who finishes first plays the lowest rank knockout side. This year, the top seeds will be New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas.
The eastern and western conference semi-finals and championships will take place over two legs as usual, with the lower seed hosting the first leg and the higher seed hosting the second leg.
The MLS Cup final will be a single match hosted by the finalist with the most regular season points.
Who are the favourites?
Recent history has favoured LA Galaxy after winning three of the last four MLS Cups, but more teams and a higher calibre of players across the whole of the league could make for a harder challenge this year. LA's fifth-placed finish is the lowest they've been since 2008 when they finished sixth. Seven years ago, fifth or sixth did not mean qualification.
New York Red Bulls have topped the eastern conference, also making the second most play-off appearances than any other team in MLS history behind LA Galaxy with 14. Despite making the cut, they have never won MLS Cup. It is a record head coach Jesse Marsch and the front office will want to see put right this time around.
Similarly Toronto FC will want to put history out the window as they have failed to even make an appearance in MLS Cup after being in the league for nine years until now. After two years of significant investment into player acquisitions that sees Michael Bradley and Sebastian Giovinco both at the club, they may be one of the front runners.
But it can be difficult to guess the winner of a league built on competitive balance. MLS has had nine different winners of the cup since the inaugural season in 1996 - five more teams than the number who have won the Premier League in the same time period.
Regular season form and positioning is not always what dictates who will win the cup. In fact, stats show that number two seeds have had the most success. Four of the past 10 MLS Cup champions have been seeded number two as well as nine of the 20 finalists, a record Columbus Crew and Vancouver Whitecaps may be pleased to know.
Two number one seeds have won the final during that time whilst four have made the final. Teams seeded fourth in the playoffs have won three titles in the last 10 years.
With such unpredictability, expect some exciting contests ahead.
What are the dates?
Knockout round
October 28: DC United (4) v New England Revolution (5) (23.30) Seattle Sounders (4) v LA Galaxy (5) (02.00)
October 29: Montreal Impact (3) v Toronto FC (6) (23.00) Portland Timbers (3) v Sporting Kansas City (6) (02.00)
Eastern conference semi-finals
First leg: November 1 - New York Red Bulls (1) v lowest seeded knockout round winner
Second leg: November 8 - Columbus Crew (2) v other knockout round winner
Western conference semi-finals
First leg: November 1 - FC Dallas (1) v lowest seeded knockout round winner
Second leg: November 8 - Vancouver Whitecaps (2) v other knockout round winner
Conference finals
First leg: November 22
Second leg: November 29
MLS Cup
December 6 - 8.00pm kick-off
Where can I watch the play-offs?
Follow the play-offs live on Sky Sports, starting with DC United v New England Revolution from 11.30pm on Sky Sports 2 HD on Wednesday.
Check out when all of the upcoming live MLS action is on Sky Sports at skysports.com/watch/football-on-sky
