After Sunday's dramatic Decision Day saw FC Dallas lift the Supporters' Shield and last season's MLS Cup holders Portland Timbers fail to make the play-offs, we now know the 12 teams who will be taking part in the race for the Cup.
But how do the play-offs work and who is involved?
Here is our handy guide…
The knockout round
The first set of fixtures are the knockout rounds. These are four single elimination games __with the winners advancing to the conference semi-finals.
For half of the teams involved at this stage, their campaign beyond the regular season will come to an end after just one match.
The team who finished third in the East and West standings will host the sixth-placed club in each conference.
This season, Steven Gerrard and five-time MLS Cup winners LA Galaxy play Real Salt Lake in the West.
In the Eastern Conference, Toronto FC will take on Philadelphia Union, who have clinched their first play-off berth since 2011.
The other teams to take part in the knockout round are those who finished fourth and fifth in each conference.
Seattle Sounders, whose late season resurgence saw them secure fourth place, host Sporting Kansas City, who had a topsy-turvy season of their own. Also on Thursday night, D.C. United will play Didier Drogba's Montreal Impact.
It is not yet clear whether Drogba will play any part in the post-season having not featured in Montreal's last two matches. The former Chelsea striker was fined after refusing to sit on the substitutes' bench against rivals Toronto on October 16.
The route to the MLS Cup final
The conference semi-finals are two-legged ties __with an aggregate-goal format. FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, New York City and New York Red Bulls finished first and second in their conferences meaning they have a bye to this stage of the play-offs. These four teams play the first leg at home.
Top seeds Dallas and New York Red Bulls, who both finished first in their conferences, will be paired up with the two lowest advancing seeds from the knockout round. The conference second seeds Colorado and New York City will each face the highest seed.
The winners of these matches then play in the two-legged Eastern and Western Conference finals. The two teams who come out on top move into the MLS Cup final on December 10. The higher of the two seeds will host the final at their stadium.
Which star names will be involved?
In the knockout round, expect to see former Premier League household names Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Ashley Cole and possibly Drogba.
Other names include Landon Donovan, Sebastian Giovinco and Michael Bradley.
The conference semi-finals will see the introduction of Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa to the play-off picture alongside the New York Red Bulls' Bradley Wright-Phillips who finished the season as MLS' golden boot winner with 24 goals.
Kaka is arguably the only real star name to not be involved as Orlando missed the play-offs by just a single point.
Clint Dempsey will be sidelined for Seattle Sounders. He has been ruled out for the rest of the season with health issues relating to an irregular heartbeat.
What are the dates and times?
MLS play-offs schedule
| Date | Knockout round | Time |
| October 27 | Toronto (3) v Philadelphia (6) | 12.30am |
| LA Galaxy (3) v Real Salt Lake (6) | 3.30am | |
| October 28 | DC United (4) v Montreal (5) | 12.30am |
| Seattle (3) v Kansas (6) | 3am | |
| Conference semi-finals | ||
| First leg | ||
| October 30 | West: Dallas (1) v TBC | TBC |
| West: Colorado (2) v TBC | TBC | |
| East: NY Red Bulls (1) v TBC | TBC | |
| East: NYC (2) v TBC | TBC | |
| Second leg | ||
| November 6 | West: TBC v Dallas (1) | TBC |
| West: TBC v Colorado (2) | TBC | |
| East: TBC v NY Red Bulls (1) | TBC | |
| East: TBC v NYC (2) | TBC | |
| Conference finals | ||
| November 21 | Western Conference - First leg | Midnight |
| November 23 | Eastern Conference - First leg | Midnight |
| November 27 | Western Conference - Second leg | 8pm |
| November 30 | Eastern Conference - Second leg | 11pm |
| MLS Cup Final | ||
| December 10 | West winner v East winner | Midnight |