Inter Miami's Leo Messi wins Golden Boot, Diego Luna seals playoffs for Real Salt Lake: Winners and losers from MLS Decision Day

Messi scored his first hat-trick of the 2025 campaign on the final day of the regular season to finish with 29 goals. His closest contenders for the Golden Boot - Nashville's Sam Surridge and LAFC's Denis Bouanga - each notched two hat-tricks this year. 

It was Messi's best performance of a remarkable season, and secured another first for the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner: the league's Golden Boot. Last season. Messi led the league in goals per 90 minutes at 1.08, but due to an injury at the Copa America final, he was limited to just 19 MLS appearances. He still managed 20 goals, but D.C. United's Christian Benteke finished with three more. 

Picking up his first Golden Boot in MLS could mean more history awaits the 38-year-old. He is also tied at the top of the league for assists at 19, pointing to an all-but-certain second MVP award. Miami manager Javier Mascherano is convinced.

"The reality is that Leo has been exceptional, as he usually is," he said. "I think if anyone had doubts about his regular season, he has cleared them all. He will surely be awarded the MVP."

Messi would be the first player in the league's 30-year history to win MVP in back-to-back seasons. 

The Rapids will rue letting a late lead slip against LAFC, especially since RSL dropping points meant they would have secured a play-in spot against the Portland Timbers. But the reality is they shouldn't have gotten to this position in the first place. 

Colorado sat in seventh place on Aug. 17, just four days before they announced their blockbuster signing of Paxten Aaronson. Since that point, the team won only one game, and that's with Aaronson putting up decent numbers. More concerningly is that this rut wasn't the result of an entirely brutal schedule.

The team dropped six points to Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy, two opponents who were well out of the playoff picture. Aaronson and Steffen both played well on Saturday, with the former scoring and the latter making an impressive seven saves. Yet with the loss, the two USMNT hopefuls won't play in a club game until next February.

Kudos to San Diego FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps for going back and forth in an entertaining race in the Western Conference. In the end, it was San Diego who held firm in their final game of their expansion season, demolishing another playoff team, Portland, 4-0. Much of the credit has to go to Anders Dreyer. 

The Dane didn't garner the hype Hirving "Chucky" Lozano did on his arrival in MLS this season, but he's been more impactful. Dreyer finished the season with 19 goals and 19 assists. In any other year, including Messi's MVP campaign, Dreyer likely walks away with the MVP. And on Saturday, he was at it again, scoring a brace along with an assist to power the team's win. 

San Diego are arguably MLS's most intriguing team heading into the playoffs. They topped MLS's most competitive conference in their inaugural season. In theory, they should be playing with house money at this stage, but with the top seed, this could be an unprecedented postseason for Mickey Varas' team.

Outside of Bob Bradley's upstart Chicago Fire in 1998, there hasn't been another expansion club to win MLS Cup. San Diego could change that this season. 

This has been a roller coaster season for Charlotte FC's Wilfried Zaha, who has impressed in flashes but also created several controversial headlines off of it. 

Zaha finished the campaign with 10 goals and 10 assists, but won't look back fondly on his final regular season match. Zaha, who scored the opener in a 2-0 win over Philly, got into the face of a Union player and made contact. He was booked for his second yellow of night - thus a red card. 

Charlotte fought hard the entire campaign to secure a home seed in the playoffs. Now, they have to contend against a NYCFC side who have been in good form without their best player for the opening game of a three-match series.

The playoffs came this close to falling out of Luna and Real Salt Lake's grasp, but they just made it. There will be some concerns about how RSL backed their way into the playoffs. After taking a 2-0 lead over 13th-place St. Louis, the team barely held on for a 2-2 draw. 

Still, every additional game Luna plays helps him build a case for the USMNT. While the Timbers are early favorites against RSL, if Luna's side wins, it would extend his campaign for at least another week.

Neither Portland nor Salt Lake are the strongest teams in terms of defense, meaning there will be goals and chances for the U.S. international to make an impact. The timing could not be more pivotal for the midfielder, especially with the USMNT's November friendlies inching closer.

With a win, Orlando could have avoided the dreaded midweek play-in game. And up against 12th-place Toronto FC, it appeared to be a straightforward proposition. Yet, in typical MLS fashion, the Reds weren't going to make it easy.

The game was never close, with the home side powering through three unanswered goals thanks to former Rapids star Djordje Mihailović. He notched a brace to go along with Jonathan Osorio's early opener to stake Toronto to a 3-0 lead in the opening 48 minutes. David Brekalo made it a two-goal game, but ultimately it wasn't enough as Toronto scored again.  

Toronto have been on the upswing since their decision to jettison two star Designated Players, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, and landed Mihailović, a player Colorado surely missed in the second half of the season. But this is an inexplicable loss for Orlando, who - at times - seemed to be a contender in the Eastern Conference.

And things don't get any easier for Oscar Pareja's side. They now travel to face the Chicago Fire in a play-in match. Not ideal for a team that was in the Eastern Conference finals just a season ago.