San Diego FC started players from the United States, Sweden, Ghana, Finland, Denmark, Panama and Norway on Saturday, when they beat the Portland Timbers 4-0 to secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the upcoming Major League Soccer playoffs.
It may have taken a little time — and a few languages — to explain to the players what they had just accomplished … and what it means.
The MLS differs from much of the world’s leagues in that, well, there’s a playoff at all. The world’s top European leagues do not hold championship tournaments at the end of their seasons, choosing instead to honor the teams with the best regular-season records as champions.
MLS presents a Supporters’ Shield trophy to the best regular-season club, but the MLS Cup playoffs — complete with drama, win-or-go-home tensions and, the league hopes, big-match television ratings — are the thing.
How American.
“I don’t agree with that,” said SDFC forward Amahl Pellegrino, a 35-year-old Norwegian making his MLS Cup playoff debut. “It’s harder to be more consistent for the longer period … the Supporters’ Shield. I generally think that’s the bigger thing.”
Not to say that Pellegrino and his teammates aren’t fired up for SDFC’s first-ever playoff run, which begins Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium. San Diego has already set MLS records for regular-season wins (19) and points (63) by an expansion club; now, it will try to become the first one to win the MLS Cup championship since the Chicago Fire in 1998.
“Everybody wants to be a champion,” Pellegrino said. “When you’re in there, you’re going to be doing everything you can to win.”
The first round of the MLS Cup playoffs is a best-of-three format, with the higher seed hosting Game 1 and the if-necessary Game 3.
Then comes a two-week international break, followed by single matches to decide the conference semifinals (Nov. 22-23), conference finals (Nov. 29-30) and MLS Cup championship (Dec. 6). It takes two playoff wins to advance past the first round … and just three more to win the whole thing.
The format lends itself to a certain amount of unpredictability.
This marks the 30th season of MLS, and just eight teams have won both the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup in the same season. Since MLS changed the playoff format in 2023, expanding the field and introducing the best-of-three format for the first round, the MLS Cup has been won by the No. 3 seed in the East (Columbus Crew, 2023) and the No. 2 seed in the West (LA Galaxy, 2024). The Supporters’ Shield winners the last two seasons, FC Cincinnati (2023) and Inter Miami (2024), were eliminated in the conference final and first round of the playoffs, respectively.
This is not a bug unique to soccer: the baseball team with the best regular-season record has won just seven World Series since 1995. This year’s Fall Classic pits the team tied for baseball’s third-best regular-season mark (Blue Jays) against the team with the fifth-most wins during the regular season (Dodgers).
Head Coach Mikey Varas of San Diego FC celebrates after clinching the top spot in the Western Conference following an MLS match against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Oct. 18, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)
For MLS, the funky format may be more of a feature than a bug. Playoffs make for compelling TV, and the debate over everything from pairings to individual award-winners brings some buzz.
MLS analyst Bradley Wright-Phillips noted last week how hard it is to post the best regular-season record in a 30-team league, like the Philadelphia Union did this season. In the next breath, he said: “What’s important in this world is getting yourself an MLS Cup, getting yourself a ring.”
Fellow analyst Dax McCarty won Supporters’ Shield trophies in 2013 and 2015 with the New York Red Bulls. But, he noted: “You don’t get a ring for a Supporters’ Shield. I would trade a Supporters’ Shield for an MLS Cup. I would. You’re a champion if you win.”
Plus, these are the rules. All MLS teams push to be at their best by the time the playoffs start.
In the case of San Diego FC, it’s good timing. Saturday’s win over the Timbers marked the club’s largest margin of victory since May 3.
SDFC’s players remained on the field after the victory. When Dallas then beat Vancouver, giving San Diego the No. 1 seed in the West, they celebrated like they knew exactly what it meant.
“I think everybody is really excited. It adds a little bit of special feeling to the games,” coach Mikey Varas said. “And, you know, maybe if they haven’t been involved in playoffs, they’ve been involved in qualifiers, for example, or they’ve been involved in tournaments. They’ve been involved in relegation or promotion battles, and all of those have the same feeling.
“So all these guys are well equipped to step up.”
Originally Published: October 22, 2025 at 4:11 PM PDT