2022 MLS Cup playoffs
2022 edition of the MLS Cup playoffs
The 2022 MLS Cup playoffs (branded as the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th edition of the MLS Cup playoffs, the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States and Canada. The tournament culminated the 2022 MLS regular season. The tournament began on October 15 and concluded with MLS Cup 2022 on November 5, 16 days before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
New York City FC entered the playoffs as the defending MLS champions, but were eliminated in the conference finals by the Philadelphia Union. Los Angeles FC entered as Supporters' Shield winners and won their first MLS Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Union in a penalty shoot-out. The 2022 playoffs marked the first since 2008 where no teams from the Pacific Northwest region (including 2021 finalist Portland Timbers) qualified; Seattle Sounders FC failed to qualify for the first time in their MLS history, snapping a league-record thirteen-year playoff streak. Austin FC and FC Cincinnati reached the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time in 2022.
Qualified teams
Conference standings
The top seven teams in the Eastern and Western Conference qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs, with the conference champions receiving first round byes. A green background denotes teams that qualified for the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League.
Bracket
Note: The higher seeded teams hosted matches, with the MLS Cup host determined by overall points.
“2022 MLS Cup playoffs” enters the record as 2022 edition of the MLS Cup playoffs. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what playoffs and edition can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“2022 MLS Cup playoffs” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, playoffs and edition provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110537589. The first chronological checks are 2022, 2008, 2021 and 2023.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2022 MLS Cup playoffs”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2022 MLS Cup playoffs primary sources, 2022 MLS Cup playoffs archive and playoffs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2022 MLS Cup playoffs”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2022 MLS Cup playoffs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.