77 Points, and Then What?

Nashville SC finished the MLS regular season with 77 points, a league record, after a 2-0 win at FC Cincinnati on Saturday. Sam Surridge scored both goals. Nashville went 23-3-8, unbeaten at home, and finished 17 points clear of Inter Miami at the top of the East. It also finished No. 1 in The Precedent Ratings.

The record it broke belonged to Inter Miami, and that is the warning. Miami won the Supporters' Shield with 74 points in 2024, then lost its best-of-three Round One series to ninth-seeded Atlanta United. Atlanta won Game 3 in Miami 3-2 on Bartosz Slisz's header in the 76th minute.

Miami wasn't the first. New England set the record with 73 points in 2021 and went out in its first playoff game, a 2-2 draw with New York City FC lost 5-3 on penalties. LAFC set it with 72 in 2019 and lost the Western Conference Final 3-1 at home to Seattle. Three record seasons, no MLS Cup appearance among them.

Nashville's path starts the same way Miami's did. It waits for the winner of Cincinnati at Orlando City, the 9th and 8th seeds, then plays a best-of-three series. Cincinnati is the team Nashville played on Saturday.

One more number to watch. Nashville played the second-easiest schedule in MLS, 29th of 30 by strength of schedule in The Precedent Ratings. The record is real. How much it says about the playoffs is the question.

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