New York lifts the Shield

New York jumped out to a two-goal lead against the Chicago Fire in the first half with goals from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sacha Kljestan, and the Red Bulls held on to claim a 2-1 victory and its second Supporter's Shield in three years. FC Dallas also won 2-1, against the San Jose Earthquakes, and finished the season level on points with New York. Per league rules, however, the Red Bulls won the shield based on its superior goal differential.

The Decision on #DecisionDay has been made! Your 2015 #SupportersShield winners, @NewYorkRedBulls!!! https://t.co/kh6ut6c67u

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 26, 2015

It was all cheers, with a smidge of vindication, for a side that started the season in turmoil following its controversial decision to replace popular head coach Mike Petke with Jessie Marsch.

Crew and Impact make it count

Though most the spots in the Eastern Conference were already locked up, there was a shake-up in the rankings on the last day of the regular season. Columbus demolished D.C. United, 5-0, to take second place and move D.C. into fourth place. With the win the Crew gets a bye into the Conference Semifinals. United will host the New England Revolution, which defeated New York City, 3-1, snapping its four-game winless streak to finish fifth.

Orlando City entered the day with a slim shot of making the postseason but the Revs' win, along with Orlando's 1-0 loss to Philadelphia, made sure the expansion team ended the season on a down note. 

Sebastian Giovinco finished the season with 22 goals and 16 assists to beat out Kei Kamara for the Golden Boot award. Kamara also tallied 22 times, but Giovinco's superior assist count gave him the title via tie-breaker.

Didier Drogba pulled the Montreal Impact into third with two back-heel goals in the space of a minute to offset Jozy Altidore’s first-half header as the Quebecers beat the Ontarians 2-1. The Ivorian has scored seven in his six appearances, which MLS has been kind enough to compile below. (But we'd really like some better embed codes, please.)

The victory sets up a repeat of the fixture in the playoffs on Thursday.

L.A. tumbles as Sporting holds on

Going into Decision Day four of the teams above the cut-off line in the West had to win to box out San Jose. Sporting Kansas City made a meal of its win over the Los Angeles Galaxy and were at one point headed out of the postseason.

Despite opening the scoring with a goal from Kevin Ellis, who was very fortunate not to be ruled offside, Sporting were tied going into halftime after conceding a stoppage-time goal from Robbie Keane.

Here’s Ellis’s lucky goal:

Sporting brought on playmaker Benny Feilhaber for the second half and the midfielder set up Dom Dwyer for the 65th-minute winner, his 15th assist of the season. Coupled with San Jose’s loss, SKC finished in sixth. The Galaxy dropped to fifth.

The Vancouver Whitecaps defeated the Houston Dynamo 3-0 to secure second spot, beating out the Portland Timbers thanks to more total victories. The Timbers won 4-1 against the Colorado Rapids thanks to a brace from Darlington Nagbe and goals from Jorge Vilafaña (though it may later be changed to a own goal for Sean St. Ledger) and Fanendo Adi. Portland will host SKC on Thursday.

Clint Dempsey picked up two goals in the first 20 minutes of the Seattle Sounders 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake to lift the the team into fourth. Seattle will hope that Deuce’s good form carries on when it hosts L.A. on Wednesday.

The Conference Semifinals in November will be lined up after the first round of the playoffs are decided, with the Red Bulls and Dallas facing the worst-ranked teams to advance in their respective conferences.

Nick Kariuki writes both the ASN Injury Report and the MLS Roundup every week. Follow him on Twitter.