With the Major League Soccer regular season winding down, the MLS Cup playoffs are right around the corner and New York City FC is close to clinching a first-ever postseason berth.
The top six teams in each conference make the playoffs with teams that finish 3-6 meeting in a one-game knockout round match with the higher seed hosting. That game will be either October 26 or 27.
The top two finishers in each conference earn a bye into the two-legged conference semifinals. The first leg is October 30, with the second leg being played Nov. 6.
The winners then advance to the two-legged Eastern Conference finals, with the first leg Nov. 22 and the second leg Nov. 30.
Each conference champion will compete for the MLS Cup Dec. 10 at the site to be determined based on regular season points total.
With four games remaining, NYCFC is currently tied on points with the Red Bulls, two points behind the pace set by Toronto FC with 47 points. But the Red Bulls have the goal differential tiebreaker and are in second, while NYCFC is currently in third.
The Philadelphia Union is fourth with 41 points, the Montreal Impact are fifth with 38 points and the New England Revolution are the final team above the playoff line in the East with 36 points, two points ahead of both DC United and Orlando City SC.
If the regular season ended before this weekend's games, NYCFC would finish third and host New England in a knockout round match, while Philadelphia would be home against Montreal in the other elimination game. If both home teams were to win, it would pit the Red Bulls against NYCFC and Toronto FC against Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
According to the ESPN Soccer Power Index, NYCFC has a 99.93 percent chance of making the playoffs, third to Toronto FC (99.99) and the Red Bulls (99.96). The ESPN SPI also gave NYCFC’s chance of finishing in the top two in the East and earning the bye into the conference semifinals at 39 percent, again behind Toronto FC (92) and the Red Bulls (54).
