The Galaxy have been out of the postseason so long the playoff format has completely changed since their last visit.
That statement is totally true. But it’s also a bit unfair since the one constant about the MLS playoffs is change.
The format the league is using this year is the third since 2018 and the 10th in the league’s 29-year history. It is also, by far, the most confounding. For starters, 18 of the league’s 29 teams made the postseason, meaning MLS played an eight-month, 34-game regular season to eliminate just 11 teams.
Only the NBA, which allows 20 of its 30 teams into the postseason, has a lower bar.
Then there’s the format itself. For the second year in a row the tournament began with single wild-card games in each conference, followed by best-of-three first-round series in which draws go directly to penalty kicks. The final three rounds — the conference semifinals, finals and the MLS Cup final — will all be single games with extra time, if needed.
Can you spot the round that doesn’t belong?
For much of its history, MLS used a two-leg, home-and-way format for the early rounds of its playoffs, with the winner advancing on aggregate goals, or one-game knockout rounds. Those are familiar formats, ones used in championships around the world. The unwieldy best-of-three format, on the other hand, fits like a square peg in a round hole.
“Don’t like it,” LAFC captain Aaron Long said after his team opened its best-of-three series with Vancouver with a 2-1 win Sunday. “We just don’t like the best of three. I think both other options are better. Most of the guys go that way.”
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Galaxy coach Greg Vanney agreed.
“To be honest, I was always a big fan of the home and away and the aggregate score,” he said.
With reason. After last Saturday’s 5-0 blowout of the Colorado Rapids in their playoff opener — matching the most one-sided playoff result in the franchise’s storied history — the Galaxy would have to lose by six goals in the second game Friday in suburban Denver to avoid advancing to the next round under the old format.
The Galaxy have never lost a game by six goals.
But rather…