MLS 2022 season details just released. This ain’t your Daddy’s MLS! Because of the Qatar WC starting Nov 21 the season has been moved up significantly: Season start: Feb 26 (brrrr…!) Decision day: Oct 9 MLS Cup: Nov 5 (!) Play 34 games: Play each conference opponent twice plus 8 non-conference games. No change here. Max of 5 midweek games, so 29+ weekend games! This will reduce the # of 3-game weeks and reduce the need for roster rotation. Midweek games can’t be in consecutive weeks so no 4-games-in-10-days possibilities. This will tend to benefit top heavy teams since best 11-13 players will be more often rested and get more minutes - at the expense of bench players. Team depth of course will still be important but, relatively speaking, a bit less than in past seasons. Especially so at the “deep bench player” level. Charlotte FC enters EC and Nashville SC moves to WC! If they continue their current path NSH (3rd in EC, gd = +22!) the WC will have another very strong competitor for playoff positions. I like the changes for the most part. Hope the WC doesn’t end up the group of death though. .
Thanks for looking this up, presenting and condensing it for us. It does sound like a better overall regime for games.