See main article: 2012 Major League Soccer season.
| MLS Cup Playoffs | |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Country: | United States Canada |
| Num Teams: | 10 |
| Defending Champions: | Los Angeles Galaxy |
| Champions: | Los Angeles Galaxy (4th title) |
| Runner-Up: | Houston Dynamo |
| Semi-Finalist1: | D.C. United |
| Semi-Finalist2: | Seattle Sounders FC |
| Matches: | 15 |
| Goals: | 34 |
| Attendance: | 335348 |
| Top Goal Scorer: |  Robbie Keane |
| Prevseason: | 2011 |
| Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs was the seventeenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began on October 31, and culminated on December 1, 2012 with MLS Cup 2012, the seventeenth league championship for MLS, won by the Los Angeles Galaxy 3–1 over Houston Dynamo. It was the second year that the playoffs included ten teams,[1] and the first playoff series since 2006 in which teams cannot cross-conference brackets.[2] The top five teams in both the Eastern and Western conferences of the league earned berths, with the top three clubs in each conference earning direct byes to the conference semifinals. The fourth and fifth-place finishers of both conferences played in a single-elimination play-in match.
The play-in winner played their respective conference regular season champion in the conference semifinals, which was a two-leg aggregate series, without the away goals rule enforced. For the first time in MLS Cup Playoffs history, each Conference Championship was also a two-leg aggregate series, as opposed to the traditional single elimination match.[2] The MLS Cup championship still remain a single match, but the team with the stronger regular season record, the Los Angeles Galaxy, hosting the final at their home venue.
Los Angeles Galaxy were the defending champions, having defeated Houston Dynamo 1–0 in last year's championship.[3]
Both finalists directly entered the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League, with the champion earning a Pot A seed. They were joined by San Jose Earthquakes, the Supporters' Shield winner, and Sporting Kansas City, the 2012 U.S. Open Cup champion. However, none of these berths were available to the league's three Canadian teams, which instead participate in the Canadian Championship for that country's single berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.[4]
For 2012, the league's previous system of "wild card" qualification—which had the potential for "crossover" series in which one team could play in the other conference's bracket—was scrapped. Instead, the top five teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs and the two conference brackets are entirely separate. The First Round of each conference is a one-off match between the 4th and 5th place teams, similar to the previous wild card system, with the 4th-place team hosting. The First Round winner advances to play the conference's best regular season record in the Conference Semifinals.
Conference Semifinals and Conference Championship series are conducted in a home-and-away aggregate-goal format, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg. If the teams are tied after two games, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by penalty kicks, if necessary. The away goals rule or golden goal is not used.
In the case of ties in the First Round and MLS Cup, extra time and penalty kicks are used in the same manner as above.
When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules[5] apply:
----
Houston Dynamo won 2 – 1 on aggregate----D.C. United won 2 – 1 on aggregate.Note: While D.C. United won the right to host the second leg as the higher seed, the order of the legs was reversed due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.[6] The second leg was originally scheduled for November 7 but was postponed one day due to snow.[7]
Los Angeles Galaxy won 3 – 2 on aggregate----Seattle Sounders won 1 – 0 on aggregate
Houston Dynamo won 4 – 2 on aggregate----Los Angeles Galaxy won 4 – 2 on aggregate
See main article: MLS Cup 2012.
Note: Statistics only for post-season games.
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Minutes Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie Keane | Los Angeles Galaxy | 6 | 540' |
| 2 |  Will Bruin | Houston Dynamo | 4 | 491' |
| 3 | Mike Magee | Los Angeles Galaxy | 3 | 540' |
| 4 | Nick DeLeon | D.C. United | 2 | 360' |
| Landon Donovan | Los Angeles Galaxy | 2 | 444' | |
| 6 | Alan Gordon | San Jose Earthquakes | 1 | 42' |
 Alex | Chicago Fire | 1 | 45' | |
 Darren Mattocks | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 | 59' | |
| Víctor Bernárdez | San Jose Earthquakes | 1 | 102' | |
| Seth Sinovic | Sporting Kansas City | 1 | 180' | |
| Zach Scott | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | 183' | |
| Mario Martínez | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | 201' | |
| Eddie Johnson | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | 205' | |
 Andre Hainault | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 215' | |
| Calen Carr | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 251' | |
 Branko Bošković | D.C. United | 1 | 321' | |
| Adam Moffat | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 456' | |
| Kofi Sarkodie | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 527' | |
| Boniek Garcia | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 540' | |
| Omar Gonzalez | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | 540' |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sean Franklin | Los Angeles Galaxy | 4 |
| 2 | Brad Davis | Houston Dynamo | 3 |
| Landon Donovan | Los Angeles Galaxy | 3 | |
| 4 | Calen Carr | Houston Dynamo | 2 |
| Juninho | Los Angeles Galaxy | 2 | |
| 5 | Adam Moffat | Houston Dynamo | 1 |
| Boniek García | Houston Dynamo | 1 | |
| Brad Evans | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | |
 Christian Tiffert | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | |
 Christian Wilhelmsson | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | |
| David Beckham | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | |
 Fredy Montero | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | |
| Graham Zusi | Sporting Kansas City | 1 | |
| Justin Morrow | San Jose Earthquakes | 1 | |
 Kei Kamara | Sporting Kansas City | 1 | |
| Lionard Pajoy | D.C. United | 1 | |
| Luiz Camargo | Houston Dynamo | 1 | |
| Maicon Santos | D.C. United | 1 | |
| Matt Watson | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 | |
| Mike Magee | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | |
 Patrick Nyarko | Chicago Fire | 1 | |
| Robbie Keane | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | |
| Robbie Russell | D.C. United | 1 | |
| Tommy Meyer | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1 | |
| Will Bruin | Houston Dynamo | 1 | |
| Zach Scott | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 |