# 2017 MLS Cup playoffs

The 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2017 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) began on October 25 and ended on December 9 with MLS Cup 2017, the 22nd league championship match for MLS. This is the 22nd version of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. Twelve teams, the top six of each conference, compete in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The first round of each conference has the third-seeded team hosting the sixth seed while the fourth-seed hosts the fifth seed in a single match to determine who advances to the Conference Semifinals. In the Conference Semifinals, the top seed plays the lowest remaining seed while the second plays the next-lowest. The winners advance to the Conference Finals. Both the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals are played as a two-legged aggregate series. The winners advance to the MLS Cup, a single match hosted by the participant with the better regular season record.

## Conference standings

The top six teams from each conference advance to the MLS Cup playoffs. Chicago and Portland won seeding tiebreakers over Atlanta and Seattle, respectively, based on total wins.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | Pts |
| 1 | Toronto FC | 34 | 69 |
| 2 | New York City FC | 34 | 57 |
| 3 | Chicago Fire | 34 | 55 |
| 4 | Atlanta United FC | 34 | 55 |
| 5 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 54 |
| 6 | New York Red Bulls | 34 | 50 |
| 7 | New England Revolution | 34 | 45 |
| 8 | Philadelphia Union | 34 | 42 |
| 9 | Montreal Impact | 34 | 39 |
| 10 | Orlando City SC | 34 | 39 |
| 11 | D.C. United | 34 | 32 |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | Pts |
| 1 | Portland Timbers | 34 | 53 |
| 2 | Seattle Sounders FC | 34 | 53 |
| 3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 34 | 52 |
| 4 | Houston Dynamo | 34 | 50 |
| 5 | Sporting Kansas City | 34 | 49 |
| 6 | San Jose Earthquakes | 34 | 46 |
| 7 | FC Dallas | 34 | 46 |
| 8 | Real Salt Lake | 34 | 45 |
| 9 | Minnesota United FC | 34 | 36 |
| 10 | Colorado Rapids | 34 | 33 |
| 11 | LA Galaxy | 34 | 32 |

## Bracket

| Knockout round | Knockout round | Knockout round | | | Conference semifinals | Conference semifinals | Conference semifinals | Conference semifinals | Conference semifinals | Conference finals | Conference finals | Conference finals | Conference finals | Conference finals | MLS Cup December 9 – Toronto, Ontario | MLS Cup December 9 – Toronto, Ontario | MLS Cup December 9 – Toronto, Ontario |
| | | | | | E5 | Columbus Crew | 4 | 0 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | | | E5 | Columbus Crew | 4 | 0 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | October 26 – Atlanta, Georgia | | | E2 | New York City FC | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| E4 | Atlanta United FC | 0 (1) | | | E2 | New York City FC | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| E5 | Columbus Crew (p) | 0 (3) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| E5 | Columbus Crew (p) | 0 (3) | | | | | | | | E5 | Columbus Crew | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
| Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E5 | Columbus Crew | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
| Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E1 | Toronto FC | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | E6 | New York Red Bulls | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | | | E6 | New York Red Bulls | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | October 25 – Bridgeview, Illinois | | | E1 | Toronto FC | 2 | 0 | 2 (a) | | | | | | | | |
| E3 | Chicago Fire | 0 | | | E1 | Toronto FC | 2 | 0 | 2 (a) | | | | | | | | |
| E6 | New York Red Bulls | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| E6 | New York Red Bulls | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | E1 | Toronto FC | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | W2 | Seattle Sounders FC | 0 |
| | | | | | W4 | Houston Dynamo | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| October 26 – Houston, Texas | October 26 – Houston, Texas | October 26 – Houston, Texas | | | W4 | Houston Dynamo | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| October 26 – Houston, Texas | October 26 – Houston, Texas | October 26 – Houston, Texas | | | W1 | Portland Timbers | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| W4 | Houston Dynamo (a.e.t.) | 1 | | | W1 | Portland Timbers | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| W5 | Sporting Kansas City | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| W5 | Sporting Kansas City | 0 | | | | | | | | W4 | Houston Dynamo | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
| Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W4 | Houston Dynamo | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
| Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W2 | Seattle Sounders FC | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | W3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | | | W3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | October 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia | | | W2 | Seattle Sounders FC | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| W3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 5 | | | W2 | Seattle Sounders FC | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| W6 | San Jose Earthquakes | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Knockout round
### Summary

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Eastern Conference |||
| Chicago Fire (E3) | 0–4 | New York Red Bulls (E6) |
| Atlanta United FC (E4) | 0–0 (1–3 p) | Columbus Crew SC (E5) |
| Western Conference |||
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC (W3) | 5–0 | San Jose Earthquakes (W6) |
| Houston Dynamo (W4) | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Sporting Kansas City (W5) |

### Matches
## Conference semifinals
### Summary

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Eastern Conference |||||
| New York Red Bulls (E6) | 2–2 (a) | Toronto FC (E1) | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Columbus Crew SC (E5) | 4–3 | New York City FC (E2) | 4–1 | 0–2 |
| Western Conference |||||
| Houston Dynamo (W4) | 2–1 | Portland Timbers (W1) | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC (W3) | 0–2 | Seattle Sounders FC (W2) | 0–0 | 0–2 |

### Matches

2–2 on aggregate. Toronto FC won on away goals.
Columbus Crew won 4–3 on aggregate.
Seattle Sounders FC won 2–0 on aggregate.
Houston Dynamo won 2–1 on aggregate.

## Conference finals
### Summary

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Eastern Conference |||||
| Columbus Crew SC (E5) | 0–1 | Toronto FC (E1) | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Western Conference |||||
| Houston Dynamo (W4) | 0–5 | Seattle Sounders FC (W2) | 0–2 | 0–3 |

### Matches

Toronto FC won 1–0 on aggregate.
Seattle Sounders FC won 5–0 on aggregate.

## Goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Clint Dempsey | Seattle Sounders FC | 3 |
| 2 | Jozy Altidore | Toronto FC | 2 |
| 2 | Will Bruin | Seattle Sounders FC | 2 |
| 2 | Nicolás Mezquida | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 2 |
| 2 | Daniel Royer | New York Red Bulls | 2 |
| 2 | Víctor Vázquez | Toronto FC | 2 |
| 2 | David Villa | New York City FC | 2 |
| 2 | Bradley Wright-Phillips | New York Red Bulls | 2 |
| 9 | Harrison Afful | Columbus Crew SC | 1 |
| 9 | Artur | Columbus Crew SC | 1 |
| 9 | Alberth Elis | Houston Dynamo | 1 |
| 9 | Sebastian Giovinco | Toronto FC | 1 |
| 9 | Ola Kamara | Columbus Crew SC | 1 |
| 9 | Sacha Kljestan | New York Red Bulls | 1 |
| 9 | Justin Meram | Columbus Crew SC | 1 |
| 9 | Fredy Montero | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 |
| 9 | Víctor Rodríguez | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 |
| 9 | Andraž Struna | New York City FC | 1 |
| 9 | Gustav Svensson | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 |
| 9 | Cristian Techera | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 |
| 9 | Gonzalo Verón | New York Red Bulls | 1 |
| 9 | Kendall Waston | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 |