MLS Decision Day 2026: the East's nine playoff clubs are set and Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Columbus and Orlando chase the last two direct Round One places, while six West clubs from the Galaxy on 44 to Minnesota on 41 fight for three spots

One game left. All 30 MLS clubs have played 33 of their 34 regular-season games, 495 games in all. In the Eastern Conference the nine playoff clubs are already known; in the West six clubs go into Decision Day, the last day of the regular season, chasing three places. On Saturday, November 7 in the US, eight games (seven in the East plus Montreal against Vancouver) kick off together at 06:00 KST on Sunday, November 8, and the seven West games kick off together at 09:00 KST.

Every figure here comes from the table with every club on 33 games. The table is the licensed BALLDONTLIE MLS standings, and the Decision Day pairings were checked on November 6 against the licensed TheStatsAPI fixture data behind this site's schedule page. The top nine in each conference reach the MLS Cup Playoffs; places one to seven go straight to Round One and places eight and nine play a one-game Wild Card at the eighth-placed club. A clinch number, or magic number, is the fewest further points that guarantee a place even if every rival wins every game it has left, and a level points total is counted against the club. A tragic number is the further games without a point after which a place is impossible. With one game left, a win adds 3 points, a draw 1 and a defeat 0, so every path can be checked by hand.

The East is done. The top nine are Nashville (74 points), Inter Miami (59), New England (58), Chicago (55), Charlotte (53), Philadelphia (47), Cincinnati (46), Columbus (44) and Orlando (43). Below them the Red Bulls, NYCFC and Toronto (39), Atlanta and D.C. United (33) and Montreal (26) are eliminated: ninth-placed Orlando are four points clear of tenth, more than one game can make up. The top five have also clinched a direct Round One place. Nashville (22-8-3) have first place in the East sewn up, and their 74 points are more than any of the other 29 clubs can reach with a final-day win. The next-highest ceiling is Vancouver's 64, so Nashville will also finish with the most points across both conferences. Miami will finish second or third, New England second to fourth, Chicago third to fifth and Charlotte fourth or fifth, and Miami host Charlotte on the final day. Round One is a best of three with Games 1 and 3 at the higher seed, so this order decides who gets the extra home game.

The open question in the East is the last two direct places, sixth and seventh. Philadelphia, on 47, have a direct clinch number of 1: a home draw with Toronto takes them to 48 and into the top seven. Columbus top out at 47 and Orlando at 46, so only Cincinnati can still finish above that. A win takes Philadelphia to 50 and sixth place; a defeat leaves them on 47, and other results could push them as low as eighth. Cincinnati, on 46, have a direct clinch number of 2, so they need to beat Nashville at home (49) to clinch on their own. A draw takes them to 47, and if Columbus win at Chicago they are level on 47 too, which goes to the tiebreakers: wins, then goal difference, then goals scored. Philadelphia and Columbus have 13 wins each, Cincinnati 12. A defeat leaves Cincinnati on 46, with ninth the lowest place still possible.

Columbus, on 44, and Orlando, on 43, cannot clinch a direct place on their own. A draw would leave Columbus on 45, below Cincinnati's floor of 46, so they have to win. If they win and Cincinnati lose, Columbus are in the top seven; if Cincinnati draw or Philadelphia lose, there is a tie on 47 and the tiebreakers decide. Orlando have only one route to seventh: beat New England at home to reach 46, see Cincinnati lose to sit level on 46, see Columbus fail to win, and then come out ahead of Cincinnati on the tiebreakers. The two clubs that miss the top seven meet in the Wild Card as eighth and ninth. Orlando, Cincinnati and Columbus can all still finish as low as ninth.

The top of the West is settled too. Vancouver (61 points) have first place, since FC Dallas can reach no more than 58. Dallas (55) will finish second or third, San Jose (52) second to fifth, and St. Louis and Houston (51 each) third to fifth; Houston host St. Louis on the final day. Son Heung-min's LAFC (47) have already clinched a direct Round One place and will finish sixth or seventh; they play at Seattle on Decision Day. San Diego (38), Austin (34) and Sporting Kansas City (23) are eliminated.

Six clubs chase the last three places, seventh to ninth: the Galaxy on 44 (11 wins, goal difference -6), Portland on 43 (12 wins, -1), Colorado on 43 (12 wins, -1), Seattle on 43 (11 wins, -3), Real Salt Lake on 42 (12 wins, 0) and Minnesota on 41 (10 wins, -4). Portland and Colorado are level on points, wins and goal difference and are split only by goals scored, 60 to 46, which puts Portland eighth and Colorado ninth; Seattle are tenth on fewer wins. The range still open is sixth to twelfth for the Galaxy, seventh to twelfth for Portland, Colorado, Seattle and Real Salt Lake, and seventh to thirteenth for Minnesota.

Only the Galaxy can clinch on their own. Their clinch number is 3 for both the playoffs and a direct place, so a win at Real Salt Lake takes them to 47 and into the top seven, because the five clubs below top out at 46 (Portland, Colorado, Seattle), 45 (Real Salt Lake) and 44 (Minnesota). A draw takes them to 45: if Portland, Colorado and Seattle all win, the Galaxy drop to tenth behind three clubs on 46, and if any one of them fails to win, the Galaxy are in the top nine. A defeat leaves them on 44 with Real Salt Lake above them on 45, and as low as twelfth still possible.

Portland, Colorado and Seattle have no clinch number. A win takes each of them to 46, but the Galaxy can reach 47 and the other two can reach 46 as well. So there is exactly one way to win and still miss out: the Galaxy win and all three of them win, leaving three clubs on 46 for eighth and ninth, to be split by the tiebreakers. None of the three has a tragic number either, but a defeat leaves them on 43, and from there every route into the top nine goes through the tiebreakers. On the final day Portland play at Austin, Colorado at Dallas, and Seattle host LAFC.

Real Salt Lake and Minnesota have a tragic number of 1, so a defeat ends their season. Real Salt Lake host the Galaxy. A win takes them to 45 and leaves the Galaxy on 44, which puts them in the top nine unless Portland, Colorado and Seattle all win. A draw leaves them on 43, level with where Portland, Colorado and Seattle already are, so any place they reach from there goes through the tiebreakers. For Minnesota even a draw is not enough: 42 would leave them below the Galaxy (at least 44) and Portland, Colorado and Seattle (at least 43), four clubs, so tenth at best. They have to beat San Jose at home. Even at 44 they need at least two of Portland, Colorado and Seattle to drop points, and any tie on 44 goes to the tiebreakers. This site's numbers do not look at who plays whom, so keep in mind that head-to-head pairs such as Real Salt Lake and the Galaxy cannot both win.

If the season ended today, the East's Wild Card would be eighth-placed Columbus against ninth-placed Orlando, and Round One would be Nashville against the Wild Card winner, Miami against Cincinnati, New England against Philadelphia and Chicago against Charlotte. The West's Wild Card would be Portland against Colorado, and Round One would be Vancouver against the Wild Card winner, Dallas against the Galaxy, San Jose against LAFC and St. Louis against Houston. Apart from Nashville and Vancouver, every seed can still change.

How to read these numbers. A clinch number is the fewest further points that guarantee a place even if every rival wins every game it has left; a tragic number is the further games without a point after which a place is impossible. Zero means it is done, and a blank means arithmetic alone cannot settle it. A level points total is always counted against the club, so a clinch here can come later than the league's own announcement. Our tables order clubs as MLS does by points, wins, goal difference and goals scored; the later tiebreakers, from disciplinary points down, are not modelled. Every club's numbers are on the magic numbers page, the playoff format with today's bracket and dates on the playoff page, the conference tables on the standings page, the final-day kick-off times on the schedule page and the working on the methodology page. Club pages: the Galaxy, Portland, Real Salt Lake, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Columbus.