With the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes dropping points on Wednesday evening, the Seattle Sounders have qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs for an 11th consecutive season.
The 11 playoff berths in a row sets a new league record for successive appearances in the playoffs, surpassing the L.A. Galaxy’s ten-year run from 1996-2005.
Under the new playoff format, the Western and Eastern Conferences will each compete in a fixed-bracket, single-elimination format with the higher seed hosting every match.
There will be no reseeding, so if the No. 7 seed upsets the No. 2 seed, they'll still play the winner of No.