Saturday is MLS’s self-styled “Decision Day,” the final day of the regular season, and Minnesota United is headed west to play the LA Galaxy. Every team in the league plays at the same time — Eastern Conference teams at 5 p.m. Central, Western Conference teams at 8 p.m. — and for the second year in a row, Loons fans get to have a calm final day of the season.
In 2021, 2022, and 2023, Minnesota needed a positive result on “Decision Day” to claim a playoff spot. They managed to squeak into the playoffs the first two years but missed out in 2023.
The Loons are much more comfortable this time. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot and a top-four seed in the West, which means they’ll have home-field advantage in their best-of-three first-round playoff series (hosting Game 1 and, if necessary, Game 3). The first round will begin Oct. 24.
Minnesota is currently in fourth place, two points behind San Diego FC and one point behind Los Angeles FC. The Loons could finish as high as second place if they beat the Galaxy, San Diego loses at Portland and LAFC loses or draws at Colorado.
The Loons aren’t ready yet to just accept their current spot in the standings.
“We want to finish as high in the table as we can, we want to do ourselves real justice in that sense,” manager Eric Ramsay said. “We’ve been in and around second and third for most of the year, and haven’t been below where we are now. So I think it would be remiss of us to not treat it as though it’s the incredibly important game that I think it is. And the message to the players will be that if San Diego or L.A. slip up, we’ve got to be there and we’ve got to put some pressure on ourselves to make sure that we go there and win.“
Potential first-round opponents
Climbing up the standings would also allow Minnesota to avoid a first-round date with the Seattle Sounders, who will finish in fifth place no matter what happens Saturday. Minnesota did manage to beat Seattle home and away this year, perhaps the most impressive feat of 2025 for a club that’s perennially beset by trouble against Seattle. But given the Sounders’ trophy-chasing history — they won the Leagues Cup earlier this year — avoiding Seattle come knockout-round time seems like it would help the chances of any team.
If the Loons can move up, they could face sixth-seeded Austin FC or the Portland Timbers (who will finish seventh if they beat San Diego, which is the only way Minnesota could move up to second place). Neither matchup would necessarily fill the Loons with confidence, given that they drew twice with Portland this year and just lost a home extra-time heartbreaker to Austin in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals. But fans, who have seen too many losses to Seattle over the years, probably would take their chances with Austin or Portland.
