MLS since its inception has implemented rules to try to 'Americanize" soccer. During the early years, MLS used a descending clock rather than the traditional ascending one. MLS regular season games used to go to penalties*, but they did away with that. Then they just had a golden goal period after regulation to determine a winner, but that was done away with as well. Draws may be irrationally loathed by an Americans who are unfamiliar with Soccer and used to American Football and Basketball, but they are an important part of soccer and MLS realized that in 2004. Over the years MLS has also made its rules more lax in regards to roster slots for Foreign Internationals.
MLS has moved away from trying to make the game more palatable for the vaunted, largely mythical "American" sports audience and it has improved the quality of the league incredibly. If one could somehow put any MLS team from 1996 onto a pitch with any of today's teams, a 2011 MLS team would do better than what the Sounders did to my beloved Crew yesterday. However there is still something that rather bothers me about MLS. It's that there are playoffs.
Virtually every American sports league has a regular season that is used to determine the positioning for the teams that qualify for the post season. Playoffs by nature always have the risk of being inequitable. In one off scenarios, strange things happen and the better team doesn't advance. I feel that it is particularly unfair to have the league champion in MLS determined by playoffs rather than regular season results.
MLS has the most fair regular season in all of American sports. It is, as in Europe, a complete round-robin in which every team plays every other team at home and away. At the end of the MLS season there is little doubt that the team at the top of the overall table has had the best season. Having a post-season to determine which team gets MLS Cup is unfair to the team that showed itself to be the best in the grueling 6-month schedule.
If the playoffs were to start today, the Columbus Crew would start off the plays in the same standing as the LA Galaxy despite the Galaxy being top of the table and Seattle, Dallas and Colorado having more points, because of the conference alignment used to determine playoff seeding. Given the nature of the MLS schedule the Crew shouldn't be given a fresh start with equal chance at the Cup in late October.
Playoff soccer, while very exciting, is also a problem in determining which team truly is best. Goals can be hard to come by in soccer. An inferior team can "pack it in" for an entire game and, with luck, prevent a superior team from scoring. It is very common to see that style adopted during important games and playoff matches. A team who is playing entirely defensively only need to be able to spring a single counter-attack that results in a goal and they could advance knocking out perhaps a team that is more deserving of the Cup. Playoff soccer is in essence a crapshoot and it is no way to determine which team gets the MLS Cup.
I'm not opposed to all playoff soccer. It's exciting and there are competitions already established that use that format. The U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League each use playoffs at least to some degree and MLS teams participate.
MLS does deserve credit for having a trophy for the regular season champion, the "Supporter's Shield," which also gives a place to the winning side in the Champions League. Also, while I don't think any playoff system should be used, the system adopted by MLS is unique and more fair than in most sports. It places importance on both conference and overall point total.
Perhaps the primary issue is that teams simply play to get into the playoffs and will take their chances in the tournament. The system makes games in October more important than the ones in April. The champion of the league should reflect which team has been the best through the long season not the team that gets hot late. MLS could still have a playoff to determine a Champions League spot at the end of the season to reward a team that is coming into form late, but it shouldn't determine who gets the trophy.
Thanks for reading and please comment
-Michael
*MLS penalties were not the traditional penalties either. They were much more akin to Hockey.
