The last day of the regular season in MLS has been dubbed “Decision Day”, as the post-season picture finally comes into full focus and the playoff seedings and matchups are determined.
But everything was pretty much already decided for Toronto FC, CF Montreal and the Vancouver Whitecaps going into this year’s “Decision Day". Saturday’s results just served to underline the vast differences between the Canadian clubs.
A 2-0 victory over CF Montreal at Stade Saputo officially secured second place in the overall league table for the Whitecaps, who already had clinched first place in the Western Conference with 64 points.
Not only will Vancouver play the lowest-seeded team in the West in the first round of the playoffs, they’ll have home field advantage all the way through to the Western Conference final. And they could end up hosting the MLS Cup on Dec. 18 if league leaders Nashville SC falter during the Eastern bracket of the playoffs.
Having lost to Inter Miami in last year’s MLS Cup, the Whitecaps enter this year’s post-season as one of the top favourites to hoist the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, the silver trophy awarded to the league champions.
Vancouver boasted the second-best attack during the regular season with 74 goals, led by American forward Brian White’s 20 goals. Colombian fullback Édier Ocampo emerged as a legitimate playmaking threat this season with a team-high 12 assists, while German legend Thomas Müller also contributed on the offensive end with nine goals and eight assists.
The Whitecaps also had the league’s second-best defensive unit with a meagre 34 goals conceded. Japanese goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka finished with 14 clean sheets (second overall in MLS) while playing behind defenders Mathías Laborda, Tristan Blackmon and Tate Johnson, and defensive midfielder Andrés Cubas, who are all in contention to be named MLS’ season-ending Best XI team.
Knitting it all together for Vancouver has been Jesper Sørensen, who is a candidate to win the MLS coach-of-the-year honour. The Danish tactician has recorded more points (127) than any other MLS coach in his first two seasons in the league.
Contrast that with Toronto FC, who on Monday morning fired coach Robin Fraser after two seasons in charge. Fraser, who turns 60 next month, was originally signed to a three-year contract prior to the 2025 MLS season.
Toronto (9-13-12) finished 12th in the Eastern Conference during the 2026 MLS campaign – seven points and three spots below the playoff line – and failed to make the post-season for a sixth consecutive year.
TFC improved in 2026 upon its 32-point and six-win totals from last season. But those minor improvements don’t gloss over the fact that this season didn't go as expected for TFC, who conceded a franchise-high 67 goals – 23 more goals than it allowed in 2025.
GM Jason Hernandez now faces a hugely important off-season. Besides hiring a new coach, he also has to overhaul the back line and make some tough decisions on 16 players who are either out of contract, entering their option years or at the end of their loans.
Things are even worse for CF Montreal. The Black and Blue closed out the regular season with a seven-match winless run and just one victory in their final 14 games.
Montreal’s loss to Vancouver on the weekend, combined with Sporting Kansas City’s win away to San Diego FC, meant the Quebec-based club finished dead last in the overall MLS standings. It’s not too complicated to understand why Monreal was so dreadful: it had the worst attacking unit with just 37 goals scored, while conceding 69 times (fourth worst in MLS).
Star designated player Alexis Sánchez was signed to a free-agent contract in August and expected to help turn the club around. But the Chilean forward proved to be a total bust with just a single assist in 15 appearances. Things were so bad that Montreal’s two main supporters’ groups — Collectif IMFC and 1642MTL — essentially went on strike and didn’t attend the club’s final two home games of the season.
You can hardly blame Montreal’s long-suffering supporters for taking such drastic measures. They’ve had to watch owner Joey Saputo and management repeatedly bring in coaches and players who’ve failed to leave their mark. Saputo will address his family’s future involvement with CF Montreal and the club’s long-term future at a press conference on Monday.
Is Saputo going to sell the club he founded in 1992? Is he going to move it to another city? Are his young sons Luca and Simone going to be relieved of their roles as senior directors and be replaced by an experienced GM to run the team? We’ll soon find out.
Elsewhere in MLS this past weekend…
• Six teams entered "Decision Day" in the mix for the final three playoff berths in the Western Conference. The LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids controlled their fate and were in pole position to claim two of the spots. But both LA and Colorado lost on the road, as Real Salt Lake, the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders punched their playoff tickets.
• All nine playoff teams already were set in the Eastern Conference, so all that was left to do was determine the final standings. With Orlando City beating the New England Revolution and FC Cincinnati losing to Nashville SC, the Columbus Crew were tied 3-3 away to the Chicago Fire and was sitting in ninth.
Had the game ended that way, Columbus would’ve been forced to play on the road against Cincinnati in the Wild Card game to open the playoffs. But an injury-time goal from Brais Méndez gave the Crew a 4-3 win to propel them into seventh place, thus sending them directly into the first round of the playoffs and avoiding having to play the Wild Card match.
• Nashville SC already secured the Supporters’ Shield, which goes to the team with the best record in the regular season. But that wasn’t enough for the team from Music City – it wanted to make history. A 2-0 win in Cincinnati gave Nashville 77 points, allowing it to set a new league record for the most points in a single MLS season, eclipsing Inter Miami’s mark (74 points in 2024).
• Lionel Messi didn’t score in Inter Miami’s 3-3 draw against visiting Charlotte FC. But the World Cup winner still claimed the Golden Boot as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals this season. He is the sixth player to win the honour twice, but the first to do it in back-to-back years, and is poised to win an unprecedented third consecutive league MVP award.
• New York City FC ended the season with a five-game unbeaten run, capped by a 1-0 road win over D.C. United thanks to Talles Magno’s late goal. But it was too little for New York, who failed to qualify for the playoffs. Less than 24 hours after the win in D.C., Dutch coach Pascal Jansen was fired after two seasons at the helm.
• The New York Red Bulls closed out the season with an emphatic 3-0 home win over Atlanta United FC in a battle of two clubs who aren’t going to the playoffs. The match was notable for Canadian Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty’s amazing free kick goal in the 81st minute: