Just like that, we're into November with just one weekend to go in the 2026 MLS regular season.

That being said, decision day will not have a tangible impact on any of Canada's three clubs this season, with their fates of the regular season being decided pretty much for good on matchday 33.

For the Whitecaps, that's great news. They clinched a berth into next year's Concacaf Champions Cup, and guaranteed themselves home advantage through the Western conference final thanks to sealing the top spot in the conference.

For Toronto, it was an abject failure, once again getting played off the park in a must-win road game.

For Montréal, well, their fate has been sealed for a while. At least, this weekend's results should keep them just above the wooden spoon line.

Here's a look at what stuck out in MLS' penultimate matchday.

A getback to get some swagger back

Try saying that title 10 times fast. In the time it took you to figure it out, the Whitecaps already scored another first-half goal against a reeling Seattle side.

That was the theme of Sunday's encounter, one with more of a party atmosphere inside BC Place, as Dallas' draw on Saturday had mathematically clinched the 'Caps atop the West. 

The players made sure to give the crowd even more fun, and as Brian White scored in minute one, it felt inevitable the onslaught would continue.

There's been a lot made of Vancouver's relative struggle since the World Cup break. They've tried to replace Sebastian Berhalter while dealing with some injuries and just general tiredness across the group, and it certainly led to a downtick of form both in terms of results and the underlying numbers.

But they banked so many points at the start of the year, and in a Western conference that has been inconsistent as a whole this year, Vancouver never actually lost their grip on the top spot in the conference.

Now, they've put together back-to-back monster home performances against teams that really needed results, using a pretty similar group in both wins.

White has gotten through a goal-scoring slump at a good time, while Ryan Gauld is in his best form since returning from the knee injuries that kept him out for a large part of 18 months.

Add some stability in terms of the back four, some positive showings from Bruno Caicedo on the wing, and you can start to put together a best XI heading into the postseason.

The West certainly seems wide open this year, and a path back to MLS Cup doesn't seem out of the picture at all. If the 'Caps play like they did these past two games, they'll be in good shape.

Another big game disappointment

Toronto FC has not made the playoffs since 2020, a year when they played precisely one home game in front of fans before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted everything else around.

The Reds have hosted just one playoff game since their triumph in 2017. That one game was a wild card round victory over DC United in 2019, a game which, in fairness, kickstarted another run to MLS Cup, but in a single-elimination playoff system which saw the final three games of the run be played away from home.

Now, this makes six seasons in a row without making the playoffs at all. Not a wild card game, not a bottom seed, never even alive on decision day with a hope and a prayer. Just season after season at the bottom, regardless of who's on the pitch, in the dugout or at the helm.

To be fair to this year's team, their 39 points are actually the highest tally since 2020, although it's still not even enough to see them have a chance on the last day.

Quite frankly, they did it to themselves yet again. Sure, you can make excuses about early-season injuries that led to a 13-game tailspin from April into August, as Robin Fraser did in his post-game media availability.

But injuries can't be an excuse when it was a nearly fully fit squad that has laid a massive egg twice in a week. Twice, there were must-win road games, and twice, TFC got played off the park.

The Columbus game was bad, where the tactics and the players were both clearly not up for it. But that is a Crew team in excellent form, and Toronto is far from the only team they've schooled over the past month.

Entering lowly Atlanta, on a three-game losing streak with nothing to play for, and getting utterly dominated is a fitting end to a season with a ton of disappointment.

The final score was 3-1, which somehow flattered the Reds. The final xG was 4.6-1.42. That is the single highest xG total for Atlanta all season, by a good margin.

Once again, Toronto was completely disorganized and unprepared for what their opponents had, and it led to them getting torn apart again.

Another poor result has fittingly led to another year without the postseason. On paper, this is surely the best TFC squad from top to bottom since the Alejandro Pozuelo-led 2020 team. But the result is almost the exact same.

There's more that needs to change this winter ahead of the sprint season. Will priority number one be the man on the sideline?

Stopping someone else's fun

It's been pretty hard to find anything new to talk about CF Montréal in over a month. It's been felt on and off the pitch, a slow and bitter end to what may actually be the worst season in the club's MLS era.

Entering the penultimate matchday with legitimately nothing left to play for, it's difficult to even get up and play these types of games. The ability to play spoiler, and at least ruin someone else's season, is some form of motivation.

That's the situation the Impact found themselves in as they travelled to Citi Field to take on an NYCFC team that was in the same spot as Toronto, needing a win to stay alive heading into the final matchday of the season.

In truth, this was a pretty boring, dry affair. Andrés Perea's first-half tally seemed like it would stand as the only goal of the afternoon, but Daniel Ríos came off the bench and delivered a killer blow to the Pigeons' season. 

That gave Montréal something to smile about, and at least one more decent result heading into a meaningless all-Canadian clash against the Whitecaps on decision day.