For fans looking for a home during the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs, we have you covered.

For fans of teams that get eliminated pretty quickly and need someone else to throw their support behind in case of emergency, we’ve got you.

And for those of you who need to latch onto a team so there can be personal stakes, we have you covered too.

Here is your ultimate bandwagon guide to the 2026 postseason, sorted by MLS Cup hosting priority order.

For fans of…

• Being good at everything
• Front offices that try to sign good soccer players
• The hit song “Flood” by Jars of Clay
• Visiting for the weekend from Ohio
• Being, like, really good at everything
• Dolly Parton
• The challenge of meeting lofty expectations
• Inviting yourself in

The league record-setters for points in a season (77) have no real weaknesses, can win in multiple ways and have Best XI-caliber players in multiple positions. They’re a wagon. And heavy favorites to win MLS Cup presented by Audi on Dec. 18.

Which, of course, means they’re probably doomed. In the last 15 years, only three teams have won the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. Since Toronto FC won the Shield and Cup in 2017, four teams have set a new MLS points record. None of them won MLS Cup.

Jumping on this bandwagon is about wanting to see a great team fully rewarded for being great. Or maybe just wanting to see a competent team rewarded for making smart moves like pulling winger Cristian Espinoza from free agency, finding potential Goalkeeper of the Year winner Brian Schwake from CD Castellón in Spain, and signing potential Defender of the Year center back Jeisson Palacios from América de Cali in Colombia, to name just a few inspired moves.

They’ve gotten everything right.

For fans of…

• Saying something silly like “Raumdeuter"
• Saying something even sillier like “underlying numbers” 
• Messi, but in a kilt
• My brother, Brian White?!?!?!
• Getting over one last hurdle
• Intra-continental travel

The Whitecaps were inches away from winning MLS Cup last season. Actual inches. Emmanuel Sabbi’s 62nd-minute shot hit both posts and somehow bounced out. It would have put the ‘Caps in front with roughly 30 minutes left. Minutes later, Inter Miami were up 2-1.

They were a fantastic team that came up just short. Both in MLS Cup and in the Concacaf Champions Cup final. This year, they’re a fantastic team again and the favorites to advance to MLS Cup from the Western Conference. If you’re adopting Vancouver, it’s because you want to see a little cosmic justice from last year’s double doink. 

You may also just want to watch a team that, for most of the year, has pummeled everyone else. When you look at their underlying numbers, there’s been just one other MLS team since 2013 that bullied teams all year like Vancouver: 2019 LAFC, an all-time great side.

The ‘Caps have slowed down a little since losing midfielder Sebastian Berhalter to Middlesbrough this summer, but they’re more than capable of finally lifting the trophy they deserve for two years of outstanding soccer.

For fans of…

• Getting the right answer after doing the math wrong
• Living Mas
• Knowing streamer names
• Ultimate Team
• Honking your horn at the car in front of you literally 0.01 seconds after the light turns green. Why does everyone in this town do this?
• Wishing you were already back on vacation as soon as you get home
• “Pizza”

Last year’s MLS Cup winners are objectively a less effective team. For all of their talent and experience, they’ve lost some key high-energy pieces that helped cover for their lack of physicality. But they still have the best player to ever play the sport. That’s enough to be an MLS Cup contender.

The Miami bandwagon is already crowded, but it’s about watching the best to ever do it keep doing it until he decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore. It’s not more complicated than that.

If Lionel Messi and friends are going to win back-to-back titles, they’ll need to sort out whatever problems they’ve had with being at home this year. The Herons have won fewer home games than any other playoff team this year.

For fans of…

• Carles Gil
• Matt Turner
• Carles Gil AND Matt Turner
• Having Carles Gil and Matt Turner on your soccer team
• The 2021 New England Revolution ft. Carles Gil and Matt Turner

Carles Gil and Matt Turner are very good at soccer. You’re here because you like watching them play soccer. 

Don’t get it wrong, there are other quality soccer players on this team. Homegrown fullback/winger Peyton Miller is one of the most exciting young players in the league. If Designated Player attacker Jack Harrison can get back to full health, he’ll elevate this team’s ceiling considerably. Israeli international forward Dor Turgeman quietly put up 12 goals and seven assists this year.

But Gil and Turner have been remarkable for years now. Gil has been with the Revs since 2019. Turner joined in 2016, took a few years to study abroad, and then returned in 2025. They both played on that record-setting 2021 team that exited the playoffs after one match, with Gil being crowned that season's Landon Donovan MLS MVP and Turner named Goalkeeper of the Year. Watching them win MLS Cup would be seeing them rewarded for years of service and end a three-decade-plus wait for Revs fans.

For fans of…

• Hot dogs
• Keeping fans hydrated
• Believing your version of a globally popular name is spelled the correct way
• Lightning horses
• Sam Sarver

Petar Musa is one of the best strikers in the league. Striker Logan Farrington is fun to watch. But don’t overthink this. Here’s Sam Sarver scoring a match-winning goal, hitting a scuba celebration and then shotgunning a beer.

For fans of…

• Raising your own rent
• The aurally pleasing consonance of “Mbekezeli Mbokazi”
• Remembering that time Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes
• Search engine optimization
• “You don’t understand, it’s about cooking AND generational trauma. What’s really great is the city is like its own character in the show.”
• Trains, but higher than other trains
• Attacking but not defending, but not too much not defending

This team might be for anyone who’s ever changed things even though it was going pretty well. In their 14 pre-World Cup matches with Hugo Cuypers at striker, Chicago averaged 1.86 points per game. Then they jettisoned Cuypers (13g/2a) midsummer in exchange for legendary No. 9 Robert Lewandowski. In the 20 matches since that move, they’ve averaged 1.45 points per game. Lewandowski (9g/5a) has been mostly solid, but there’s a good argument the team as a whole has become less effective since the swap. 

There are other reasons to jump on this bandwagon, though. Mbekezeli Mbokazi is one of the best young center backs in league history. And this team plays an attractive, high-scoring brand of soccer… that still kind of leads to them blowing leads in spectacular fashion every now and then, but still. 

Hey, look, there are some things to worry about here. But it says a lot about how far this team has come that we’re this far into the blurb and we haven’t mentioned that it’s the Chicago Fire. You know, the team that made the playoffs twice from 2010 to 2024? Chicago are, in some ways, a lovable underdog here. Even if that moniker feels self-inflicted sometimes.

For fans of…

• As always: Anthropomorphic soccer balls who have royal lineage
• As always: Banking
• As always: NASCAR
• Allan Saint-Maximin’s whole deal
• Saying “Pep Biel is the most underrated player in the league.”
• “Honking your horn”
• One of those late 90s/early 2000s TV/movie montages where someone meek decides to cut their hair and start wearing cool clothes

A few small selling points here:

• Sir Minty (Charlotte's mascot) is a giant soccer ball with a face and a crown
• Allan Saint-Maximin attacking in transition sends the good chemicals to your brain
• Pep Biel has quietly been extremely good at this all year and has 13 goals and 18 assists as Charlotte’s No. 10

The big selling point, though, is that Charlotte have attempted to remake themselves as the year has gone on. Stylistically, they still sit pretty deep and try to counter. But since Saint-Maximin’s arrival, it’s felt less like a team sitting deep because they have to and more like a team sitting deep because they want to. 

In the 18 games before Saint-Maximin’s arrival, Charlotte averaged 1.6 goals per game. In the 16 games since, they’ve averaged 2.3. Only the Philadelphia Union have averaged more during that span. 

Yeah, the numbers might tell you that’s as much about luck as anything else. But when you watch them now, you see a team willing to get numbers forward in a way they didn’t before. That’s personal growth.

For fans of…

• Teamwork
• There being no “I” in “Team”
• Cutting bagels in the most unethical way possible. This is not a bit; you really need to look this up before you decide if you’re willing to support this city
• One of those sports movie montages where the team comes together as one unit and can’t stop winning so much that it becomes unclear whether it’s because of divine intervention or because of the power of self-belief

What’s most amazing about St. Louis’ overwhelming cohesion is that they’ve had key pieces change throughout the season and haven’t really been affected. They just show up with whoever they’ve got and bludgeon you to death with the power of friendship. Everyone contributes in pressing moments, everyone moves without the ball and everyone benefits.

That’s why St. Louis put together a league-record 21-match unbeaten streak across all competitions this season despite not having any superstars leading the way. Nine players have scored three or more league goals for St. Louis this year. None have reached double digits.

To be fair, new DP striker Rafael Navarro and new DP midfielder Carlo Holse probably would have gotten there if they had arrived earlier. But St. Louis were destroying teams without them anyway. Their inclusion now, though, makes St. Louis a real MLS Cup contender… even if they’ve slowed down a little since winning the US Open Cup.

For fans of…

• Seeing how much goalkeepers actually matter in a small-sample-size tournament
• “It’s not about being in the right place at the right time; it’s about being in the right place all the time.”
• Making things work regardless of “talent” or cash spent by putting players in their best positions and giving them clear ideas

If you’ve followed MLS for any extended period, you’re probably aware of San Jose head coach Bruce Arena’s whole deal. It’s not complex. He just puts players in positions that make sense for their abilities, doesn’t overcomplicate things and lets things run their course.

It’s worked everywhere he’s been. Still, it felt surprising to see it work as well as it did for this Quakes team, especially at the start of the season. But here we are. San Jose are a top-four team in the West, and players like homegrown No. 10 Niko Tsakiris (3g/13a) are becoming the best version of themselves.

This team is for anyone who wants to experience the thrill of saying, “I feel like we’re making this harder than it has to be,” and being right.

For fans of…

• Just being happy to be here
• Rallying around the idea that no one believes in you and that you’re “just happy to be here”

No one outside of Houston really expects the Dynamo to win MLS Cup. Which is exactly the kind of team some of you will instinctively want to latch onto. Although just pointing that out probably has the folks who would be inclined to adopt them ready to reject the whole idea as a reflex. So I guess I'll just say “BET YOU WON’T!” and leave it to you to work through whatever you’re working through there.

For fans of…

• Brotherly love
• Watching teams metaphorically bludgeon other teams out of existence
• The 2034 USMNT World Cup roster captaincy race
• Doing nothing at the beginning of a Mario Kart race so you get all the fun power-ups that catch you up anyway
• Remarking that people are unable to teach being tall
• Playing players in their actual positions instead of not doing that

The Union are for anyone who’s wanted to be right about a struggling team just needing to play the kids and put players in their proper position. Philly earned seven (7!!!) whole points from their first 15 games.

They subsequently parted ways with their head coach, started giving Cavan Sullivan (9g/14a) real minutes, pushed 6-foot-7 center back Neil Pierre into the starting lineup, reacquired left back Kai Wagner, and moved forward Milan Iloski (19g/7a) back to his actual position. Since then, the Union have earned 43 (43!!!) points in 19 matches.

Interim (for now) head coach Ryan Richter got his chance to fix all of the things his boss was doing wrong, and it worked out better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Every moment he’s been awake over the past few months must have felt like flying.

Anyway, Sullivan alone is enough to talk yourself into the Union. The US men's national team have never had a prospect like this. At 17, he’s been one of the league’s best players. And his brother Quinn’s return from injury has helped elevate this team even further.

In short: There’s never been a No. 6 seed as likely to go on a deep run. Jump on the bandwagon while there’s still space.

For fans of…

• “It’s about getting hot at the right time.”
• Taha Habroune
• Avoiding the sunk cost fallacy

The Crew have found themselves at the perfect time. After struggling most of the year (and parting ways with their first-year head coach), they’ve ended the year on a high note. Columbus have won eight of their last nine. Per the MLS subreddit (and confirmed by Matt Doyle), it’s the best performance over the final nine matches in league history.

They could have tried to ride things out with former head coach Henrik Rydström. But they bailed as soon as they realized it wasn’t working and got rewarded for it.

For fans of…

• Making a great first impression (so you can coast later)
• Not having to learn more than two people’s names at a time
• Sticking with the plan because the plan is the plan

It’s up to star attackers Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min to save the day. And that’s all you really need to know. Either they’re going to carry this team on their backs, or LAFC will close a disappointing year with an early exit. 

To their credit (???), they’ve stuck to their guns all year. Yeah, all of those teams above who have shown character growth? None of that is happening here. They’ve been rigid about their game model even after parting ways with head coach Marc Dos Santos.

This team is for people who insist on staying the course. Maybe you’ll be right in the end.

For fans of…

• Diego Chara getting a yellow card
• Chainsaw art
• Knowing how good you are

As the good folks at Soccerwise pointed out the other day, Portland winger Kristoffer Velde has a limited social media presence. However, he knows when to speak up and what to speak up about.

Velde (12g/10a) is outstanding on the ball and, alongside fellow winger Ariel Lassiter (8g/7a), has quietly guided the Timbers to an impressive back half of the year. Among Western Conference teams, only St. Louis and Dallas earned more points than the Timbers post-World Cup.

With Velde and the Timbers Army leading the way, Portland are a strong pick for anyone looking for a dark horse.

For fans of…

• Defense
• LOL, just kidding about the whole defense thing; that’s not happening here
• Goals for and against
• The National Basketball Association
• Antoine Griezmann

Do you like goals? Do you wish soccer scores looked more like hockey scores? Do you think nu metal is underappreciated as a genre? Do you really, really, really like goals? 

Orlando City, the second-worst defensive team in MLS history (78 goals against), are here for you. And so are Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis, Iván Angulo and Martín Ojeda. They don’t just allow goals; they score goals too.

For fans of…

• Saying “just wait until they get healthy”
• Being unsure of whether or not Ohio State is actually good at football this year because, like, it’s Ohio State – how could they not be good? 
• Not getting that Ohio State reference even a little bit

There are few reasons to believe the Sounders will make a run here… other than the fact that they’re the Sounders. That kind of makes them fascinating?

For fans of…

• Giving an already deadly animal a sword and the ability to fly
• The name Gary
• Letting yourself get back into some bad habits, as a treat, but then spiraling a little bit
• The Orlando City bit about not doing defense but in a more confusing, “Why did we pay all these center backs if we’re just going to do this?” kind of way
• Believing true No. 10s still have value in the modern game

Evander rules. Cincy's defense does not. You’re here for goals and to watch Evander do something cool. It’s very unlikely that game plan results in a deep run, but it should be fun for however long it lasts.

For fans of…

• Letting people go because you know it’s the right thing to do
• Lakes with salt and connections to monarchy
• “90% of achieving your dreams is just showing up each day.”

They’ve been struggling since Zavier Gozo left for Crystal Palace in a club-record transfer and Diego Luna suffered a season-ending knee injury. In fact, RSL barely got over the line, but they’re here. 

And because they’re here, there’s always a chance they could beat Seattle despite taking zero shots… again. At the very least, they’re going to give 110% at all times. They keep making the playoffs every year for a reason.