MLS playoff schedule, seeding: Wildcard begins Wednesday, Inter Miami and Lionel Messi start round one Friday

On Wednesday, the road to the MLS Cup trophy will get underway with the wildcard round. The Chicago Fire, Orlando City SC, Portland Timbers, and Real Salt Lake will all look to make it to the first round proper of the playoffs. Once there, in the Western Conference, the winner of Portland and Salt Lake will face San Diego FC, while in the East, the winner between the Fire and Orlando will face the Supporters’ Shield winners, the Philadelphia Union. 

The wildcard round is a one-match, winner-take-all round before the first round moves to a best-of-three game format. The higher seed will host the first match before the second match is played away, with the third match, if needed, returning to single knockout matches for the remainder of the playoffs.

Let’s take a look at the schedule and scores:

MLS Playoff scores and schedule

All times eastern, all matches available on MLS Season Pass

Wild Card — Wednesday, Oct. 22

• (8) Chicago Fire vs. (9) Orlando City, 8:30 p.m. ET
• (8) Portland Timbers vs. (9) Real Salt Lake, 10:30 p.m. ET

Round One — Oct. 24 – Nov. 9

Game One

Friday, Oct. 24

• (3) Inter Miami vs. (6) Nashville SC, 8 p.m. 

Sunday, Oct. 26

• (1) Philadelphia Union vs. Chicago/Orlando, 5:30 p.m.
• (2) Vancouver Whitecaps vs. (7) FC Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
• (1) San Diego FC vs. Portland/Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 27

• (2) FC Cincinnati vs. (7) Columbus Crew, 6:45 p.m.
• (4) Minnesota United vs. (5) Seattle Sounders, 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 28

• (4) Charlotte FC vs. (5) NYCFC, 6:45 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 29

• (3) LAFC vs. (6) Austin FC, 10:30 p.m.

Game two

Saturday, Nov. 1

• (5) NYCFC vs. (4) Charlotte FC, 3:30 p.m.
• Chicago/Orlando vs. (1) Philadelphia Union, 5:30 p.m.
• (6) Nashville SC vs. (3) Inter Miami, 7:30 p.m.
• (7) FC Dallas vs. (2) Vancouver Whitecaps, 9:30 p.m. 
• Portland/Real Salt Lake vs. (1) San Diego FC, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 2

• (7) Columbus Crew vs. (2) FC Cincinnati, 6:30 p.m.
• (6) Austin FC vs. (3) LAFC, 8:30 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 3

• (5) Seattle Sounders vs. (4) Minnesota United, 10:30 p.m.

Game three (if necessary)

Friday, Nov. 7

• (2) Vancouver Whitecaps vs. (7) FC Dallas

Saturday, Nov. 9

• (1) Philadelphia Union vs. Chicago/Orlando
• (2) FC Cincinnati vs. (7) Columbus Crew
• (3) Inter Miami vs. (6) Nashville SC
• (3) LAFC vs. (6) Austin FC
• (4) Minnesota United vs. (5) Seattle Sounders

Sunday, Nov. 9

• (1) San Diego FC vs. Portland/Real Salt Lake

Conference Semifinals — Saturday, Nov. 22- Sunday, Nov. 23

Conference Finals — Saturday, Nov. 29 – Sunday, Nov. 30

MLS Cup Final — Saturday, Dec. 6