Anybody above the age of 11 is old enough to remember when New York City FC made a habit of bombing out of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The club made the postseason in four of their first five years of existence, but compiled a dismal record of 2W-0D-6L as they found new ways to transform an otherwise competitive team into a postseason punching bag.
The club flipped the script in 2021, when NYCFC went undefeated to win MLS Cup, and now the organization ranks among the league elite when it comes to the playoffs. Over these past five years, NYCFC’s seven regulation and three penalty shootout wins put them behind only LAFC — and just above Philadelphia Union.
New York City’s 2025 campaign is adding to that run of form. Putting up two road wins over Charlotte FC made them the only lower-seeded team to advance through either the Wild Card Round or Round One this year, and saw them advance through the first playoff round for the fourth consecutive time.
Here are five numbers that shed some light on NYCFC’s improving performances in the MLS Cup.
Hudson River Blue Staff
1. NYCFC’s 1st postseason brace
On Friday, Nico Fernández Mercau became the first player in New York City history to score a brace in the MLS Cup Playoffs. He also became the 10th player on the team to score more than one goal in the postseason.
Alonso MartĂnez‘s two goals against Charlotte give him three goals overall, bringing him level with Taty Castellanos and David Villa. Maxi Moralez leads all NYCFC players with five postseason goals.
New York City FC | Postseason Goals by Player
| Player | G | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maxi Moralez | 5 |
| 2 | Taty Castellanos | 3 |
| Alonso MartĂnez | 3 | |
| David Villa | 3 | |
| 5 | Maxime Chanot | 2 |
| Nico Fernández Mercau | 2 | |
| HĂ©ber | 2 | |
| Talles Magno | 2 | |
| Santiago RodrĂguez | 2 | |
| Ismael Tajouri-Shradi | 2 | |
| 11 | Alex Callens | 1 |
| AndraĹľ Struna | 1 | |
| Gabriel Periera | 1 | |
| Thiago Martins | 1 |
2. Pascal’s 2nd win
Believe it or not, Friday’s win makes Pascal Jansen one of the most successful NYCFC head coaches when it comes to the playoffs.
In part, that’s because of the team’s poor form in the early years, when they won just two games in four seasons under Patrick Vieira and DomĂ© Torrent. And in part, it’s because Ronny Deila’s title run in 2021 included two draws that ended in shutout wins, which officially gives him a record of 2W-3D-0L.
Nick Cushing leads all head coaches with three wins in seven games.
New York City FC | Postseason Record by Head Coach
| Name | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | G/G | GA/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pascal Jansen | 2025– | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 66.7% | 1.3 | 0.3 |
| Nick Cushing | 2022-24 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 42.9% | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Ronny Deila | 2020-21 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 40.0% | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| Domé Torrent | 2018-19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 25.0% | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Patrick Vieira | 2016-17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 25.0% | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Jason Kreis | 2016 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 23 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 30 | 32 | -2 | 39.1% | 1.3 | 1.4 |
3. The Iceman’s 3rd clean sheet
Matt Freese‘s two clean sheets give him three total in seven postseason appearances over two years. That brings him level with Sean Johnson, who logged three clean sheets in 14 postseason appearances over six years.
New York City FC | Postseason Clean Sheets by Goalkeeper
| Goalkeeper | Years | GP | CS | GA | GA/90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Freese | 2024- | 7 | 3 | 5 | 0.7 |
| Sean Johnson | 2017-22 | 14 | 3 | 27 | 1.9 |
| Eirik Johansen | 2016 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3.5 |
In addition, Freese’s performances in 2025 put him at the top of the goalkeepers who remain in the tournament. He leads all keepers with two clean sheets, and his one goal allowed through three games trails only Pablo Sisniega, the San Diego FC backup who started in Game 3 and put up a clean sheet. Freese is just ahead of Yohei Takaoka of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who allowed one goal in two games, and well above 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the year Dayne St. Clair of Minnesota United, who allowed seven goals in three games against Portland Timbers.
2025 MLS Cup Playoffs | Clean Sheets by Goalkeeper, Round One
| Goalkeeper | Club | GP | CS | GA | GA/90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pablo Sisniega | San Diego FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Matt Freese | New York City FC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0.3 |
| Yohei Takaoka | Vancouver Whitecaps | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Andre Blake | Philadelphia Union | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1.0 |
| Rocco RĂos Novo | Inter Miami | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1.0 |
| Hugo Lloris | LAFC | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
| CJ Dos Santos | San Diego FC | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Roman Celetano | FC Cincinnati | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1.7 |
| Dayne St. Clair | Minnesota United | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2.3 |
Matthew Mangam
4. NYCFC’s 4th away win
Friday’s game was New York City’s fourth regulation win on the road in the postseason overall — the club also has three shootout wins as the away team.
That gives New York City an overall record of 4W-4D-5L on the road, with 16 goals scored and 20 goals allowed. Sort the draws into wins and losses, and the record is 7W-6L. That ain’t bad considering NYCFC’s abysmal early playoff form, when the team was winless on the road from 2016 to 2020. New York City’s record in that period was three regulation and one shootout loss, with just three goals scored and 10 goals allowed.
Do the math and you’ll see that New York City’s away record is 4W-3D-2L since then – or 7W-2L when you sort the shootouts – with 13 goals scored and 10 allowed.
5. Among the best playoff teams these past 5 years
That away form is a large part of the reason why New York City are now among the league elite at playoff time. LAFC lead Major League Soccer with 10 postseason wins, followed by NYCFC with seven.
MLS Cup Playoffs, 2021-25 | Best Record by Team
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | LAFC* | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 17 | 12 |
| 2. | New York City FC* | 14 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 13 | 8 |
| 3. | Philadelphia Union | 12 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 11 | 8 |
| 4. | FC Cincinnati | 12 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| 5. | Columbus Crew* | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 7 | 14 |
| 6. | LA Galaxy* | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 7 | 14 |
| 7. | Seattle Sounders | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 12 | 2 |
| 8. | Portland Timbers | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 16 | -3 |
| 9. | NY Red Bulls | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 1 |
| 10. | Orlando City | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 |
* Won MLS Cup
The numbers change slightly when you sort draws into shootout wins and losses. By that metric, LAFC have 11 wins, New York City have nine, and Philadelphia have eight.
MLS Cup Playoffs, 2021-25 | Best Record by Team, No Draws
| Team | GP | W | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | LAFC* | 14 | 11 | 3 | 29 | 17 | 12 |
| 2. | New York City FC* | 14 | 9 | 5 | 21 | 13 | 8 |
| 4. | Philadelphia Union | 12 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 11 | 8 |
| 3. | FC Cincinnati | 12 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| 5. | LA Galaxy* | 7 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 7 | 14 |
| 6. | Columbus Crew* | 11 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 14 | 8 |
| 7. | Seattle Sounders | 12 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 12 | 2 |
| 8. | NY Red Bulls | 10 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 1 |
| 9. | Orlando City | 11 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | -4 |
| 10. | Portland Timbers | 9 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 16 | -3 |
