 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Dates | October 31 – December 8 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Defending champions | Toronto FC (did not qualify) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Atlanta United FC (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Portland Timbers |
| Semifinalists | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 17 |
| Goals scored | 52 (3.06 per match) |
| Attendance | 494,421 (29,084 per match) |
| Top goal scorer(s) |  Josef Martínez Diego Valeri(4 goals each) |
The 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2018 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) began on October 31 and ended on December 8 with MLS Cup 2018, the 23rd league championship match for MLS. This was the 23rd version of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. Twelve teams, the top six of each conference, competed in the MLS Cup Playoffs.[1]
The first round of each conference had the third-seeded team hosting the sixth seed while the fourth-seed hosted the fifth seed in a single match to determine who advanced to the Conference Semifinals. In the Conference Semifinals, the top seed played the lowest remaining seed while the second played the next-lowest. The winners advanced to the Conference Finals. Both the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals were played as a two-legged aggregate series. The winners advanced to the MLS Cup, a single match hosted by the participant with the better regular season record which was played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.[2]
Toronto FC were the defending MLS Cup champions, but failed to qualify for the playoffs. Atlanta United FC won their first MLS Cup title.
- ^ "Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs schedule revealed, final to be played on Dec. 8". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. September 8, 2018. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
- ^ Baer, Benjamin (November 11, 2018). "Red Bull Arena or Mercedes-Benz Stadium to host 2018 MLS Cup". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.