MLS Playoff Tiers, Decision Day Edition: Nashville Stand Alone
With the regular season in the books, every playoff team gets sorted into tiers. Nashville sit alone at the top. Miami have Messi and not much else. The Union are the team no one wants to see. And a handful of low seeds are hoping to prove the doubters wrong.
And so, with the conclusion of Decision Day, Major League Soccer's 31st regular season is in the books.
Let's do our usual thing: In place of my typical Sunday night column, following Decision Day we look at where everybody stands heading into the playoffs. As usual, these teams are mostly in the order of what I think is their likelihood of winning, but what really matters is the tier designation.
For teams that didn't make the postseason, post-mortems are on the way. There’s a lot of teams with a LOT of surgery to be done – some front office, some rosters, and some, frankly, ownership.
But that’s a different column. Here and now, into the playoffs we go…
Tier I: In a League of Their Own
Nashville SC
- Decision Day result: 2-0 win at FC Cincinnati
- Seed: Won the damn Shield!
Here's a test for you: Name a single thing that Nashville are bad at. Just one single thing.
Can't, can you? And that's what separates them from each of the previous six "we just set the points record!" teams that have galloped into the playoffs over the past decade. 2024 Miami couldn't defend because they started multiple guys who were Bad At Soccer, while the 2021 Revs were over-reliant on one guy (Carles Gil) for both pitch control and chance creation.
That great 2019 LAFC team were too dogmatic about building through the middle, and the Sounders killed them with it. The 2018 Red Bulls were dogmatic about not building at all – it was all press all the time, right up until Chris Armas decided they were a low-block, counterattacking team (???) against Atlanta.
I think the 2017 Toronto team that won the treble was the closest to bullet proof, but they had Alex Bono in goal. Bono has had a fine MLS career, but was never a match-winner. Nashville have, in Brian Schwake, a guy who's just posted one of the best seasons by any 'keeper in MLS history.
They can play fast or slow, with the ball or against it, on the break or via possession. They have the best center back pairing in the league, and the most dynamic fullbacks in the league, and basically four DPs across their front line. And while I've made the point that their central midfield is more functional than dangerous, uh...
What a ball by Matt Corcoran. @mattdoyle.bsky.social pass of the week?
— Valair Shabilla (@valair.bsky.social) 2026-11-07T22:35:43.666Z
They're creating high-level danger pretty regularly these days!
