Every 2009 MLS playoff matchup, three ways: the season race carried on into the postseason, who beat their seeding, and the bracket.
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The same race these clubs ran all season, carried on through the postseason on one scale and on real dates.
Where each club finished the season against how far it went, ranked on record rather than seed.
Who played whom, round by round, which no line chart can say.
Real Salt Lake won the 2009 title from a regular season record of 11-12-7. 8 teams reached the playoffs and the bracket ran 3 rounds. Every matchup below is taken from the MLS stats API except two penalty shootout scores, which the API does not carry, written in from Wikipedia's MLS Cup Playoffs article for the season, and which four matches went to extra time, which the API does not record before 2011, written in from Wikipedia's MLS Cup Playoffs article for the season; nothing on this page is estimated.
| Round | Won by | Result | Opponent | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals | Real Salt Lake | 4-2 on aggregate | Columbus Crew | October 31 to November 5, 2009 |
| Quarterfinals | LA Galaxy | 3-2 on aggregate | Chivas USA | November 1 to November 8, 2009 |
| Quarterfinals | Houston Dynamo | 1-0 on aggregate after extra time | Seattle Sounders FC | October 29 to November 8, 2009 |
| Quarterfinals | Chicago Fire | 3-2 on aggregate | New England Revolution | November 1 to November 7, 2009 |
| Semifinals | LA Galaxy | 2-0 after extra time | Houston Dynamo | November 13, 2009 |
| Semifinals | Real Salt Lake | 0-0 after extra time, 5-4 on penalties | Chicago Fire | November 14, 2009 |
| MLS Cup | Real Salt Lake | 1-1 after extra time, 5-4 on penalties | LA Galaxy | November 22, 2009 |
The left column ranks this field by regular season record, not by seed number: seeding rules differ by era, so this site uses records everywhere instead. The right column groups clubs by the round they went out in, which is not the same as the number of rounds they won, because a bye carries a club further without it winning anything. The figure beside a name is places moved between the two columns, and part of it is only where a club sat inside its band. Nothing here is a prediction. The data notes carry the whole method, and a standings race and the playoffs that followed it says what each of the three views is for.
The races that filled this bracket: Supporters' Shield