San Jose Earthquakes

The Quakes go into the run-in with an 18,000-seat ground in San Jose that has been rebadged twice since it opened — Avaya Stadium first, then briefly Earthquakes Stadium, and PayPal Park since 2021.

The Earthquakes name goes back to a team founded in December 1973 that played in the North American Soccer League from 1974, spent two seasons as the Golden Bay Earthquakes, then drifted into the Western Soccer Alliance and folded in 1988.

The MLS franchise arrived on 15 June 1994 as one of the league's founding clubs, and it did not carry the old name at first — it entered as the San Jose Clash, winning its opening MLS match 1–0 against D.C. United in 1996 and taking the Earthquakes title back in 1999.

Then came the trophies and, immediately after them, the disappearance. San Jose won the MLS Cup in 2001 and again in 2003. Two years later the club took the Supporters' Shield, and at the end of that same season the owner, AEG, moved the franchise to Houston, where it became the Dynamo. The league held on to the name. San Jose sat dark through 2006 and 2007.

The revival was formalised on 18 July 2007, when MLS awarded a new Earthquakes franchise to investors Lewis Wolff and John Fisher. The team returned for the 2008 season and won a second Supporters' Shield in 2012.

The rivalry list has grown since: Seattle Sounders FC now count as a second fixture with an edge to it, billed as the Heritage Match.