One thing that distinguishes MLS from other major leagues that also play 34 games a season is the number of weekday league games.
Wednesday night will feature 12 MLS games as the second of seven weekday games in the 2024 MLS regular season. The 13th game involving Columbus was postponed due to their appearance in Saturday's CONCACAF Champions Cup final.
France's Ligue 1 and Germany's Bundesliga both consist of 18 teams and play 34 games during the regular season. Both teams were scheduled to play just one game on a weekday just before the Christmas break, rather than regularly playing three league games in eight days as is common in MLS.
Of course, these league weekend dates were mixed in with mid-week domestic and European cup fixtures, but they finished the season with a two-week break over Christmas and managed to respect four FIFA holidays in the same period that MLS runs its season (regular season and playoffs) – without any long-distance travel across North America.
As recently as 2022, MLS only had three concentrated midweek dates, but the addition of a five-week period dedicated to the League Cup and 11 days for an expanded (best of three) first-round playoff series has forced MLS to play more games during the week.
Teams can gain or lose points down the stretch by playing three games in one week.
Best: 3-game week (May 11-18):
New York City FC9 points
FC Cincinnati9 points
NYCFC (no game on Wednesday night) and FC Cincinnati both won on Saturday following three straight weeks, moving closer to Inter Miami atop the Eastern Conference.
Worst: Three-game week (May 11-18):
Chicago0 points
CF Montreal0 points
Sporting KC0 points
Chicago, Sporting KC and CF Montreal are still recovering from winless streaks of eight, eight and seven games, respectively, heading into Wednesday night's match.