Autumn, the season of change. The leaves change colors. People change their wardrobe for cooler weather. And, teams who snuck into the playoffs can change into titans. Playoffs are always a magical time in any sport. Teams with a record that is less than impressive can go from zero to hero. Or, the goliath of the league will flex his muscles and destroy all of those who dare oppose him. No matter if David or Goliath wins one thing is a constant for them, home field advantage. The LA Galaxy exemplify this in 2012. Being the 4^th seed in the Western Conference, they had to battle through an elimination round just to make it to the 2-game playoffs, which I will discuss. Despite the odds, LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup with a home record through the tournament of 3-1-0.

Home field advantage in playoffs is crucial in any sport but especially in Major League Soccer. In MLS, Major League Soccer, the playoffs take the best six teams from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, and pit them against each other. In the end, one team from the east and one team from the west play in the MLS Cup. The playoffs start with the teams ranked 3^rd and 6^th playing each other, and the 4^th and 5^th ranked teams clashing in a single game elimination. The winners of these games go on to play the teams ranked 1^st and 2^nd in their respective conferences. This portion of the playoffs is played in two games. Both teams get a chance to play at home, and goal differences determines who advances.

With the playoff structured like this, home advantage is all the more important. Being able to play in front of a home crowd and feed off their energy, gives a boost to team morale. While your opponent, trembles in fear of your fans passion! As wild as this idea seems, it’s not too far off from the truth. From 2012 to this past October, MLS teams have seen tremendous success when playing at home. The home teams post a record of 45-14-11. The MLS Cup is not exempt from the same success with home teams going 3-1. The ability to play in front of your crowd forces your opponent to figure how to take away the x-factor. Seattle is a good example of this. With the way the stadium is structure, a crowd of 30,000 can sound like a crowd of 70,000. Players cannot communicate with words because they cannot hear each other. Fans get into the head of players and chant words that bury into the soul of the opposition and light fires within the hearts of the home team. And in a time where goals and wins are all the more important, the crowd behind you can be your saving grace or a nightmare you cannot wake up from.

With the playoffs already underway, MLS has shown once again the advantage to having home field. In the games played so far, home teams have gone 7-1-0. Even the road warriors of New York City FC, who posted an away record of 7-7-3 this year, lost at Toronto 2-0 this weekend and now have to make up the deficit at home this weekend. I will not say that this correlation is necessarily a causation, however you cannot overlook the record that home teams have.

All statistics and other information was sourced from mlssoccer.com