Draft:1979 North American Soccer League playoffs

Playoff seeds
In the first round, home advantage was allocated to the higher seeded team. In all subsequent rounds, teams were reseeded based on their regular season record, regardless of their initial seed based primarily off a team's division finish. The final was played at a pre-selected neutral venue, and any home advantage that could have occurred would have been coincidental.

American Conference
 * 1. Houston Hurricane – Central Division winners, 187 points
 * 2. Tampa Bay Rowdies – East Division winners, 169 points
 * 3. San Diego Sockers – West Division winners, 140 points


 * 4. Fort Lauderdale Strikers – East Division runner-up, 165 points
 * 5. Chicago Sting – Central Division runner-up, 159 points
 * 6. California Surf – West Division runner-up, 140 points


 * 7. Detroit Express – Wildcard (Central Division), 132 points
 * 8. Philadelphia Fury – Wildcard (East Division), 111 points

National Conference
 * 1. New York Cosmos – East Division winners, 216 points
 * 2. Minnesota Kicks – Central Division winners, 184 points
 * 3. Vancouver Whitecaps – West Division winners, 172 points


 * 4. Washington Diplomats – East Division runner-up, 172 points
 * 5. Los Angeles Aztecs – West Division runner-up, 162 points
 * 6. Dallas Tornado – Central Division runner-up, 152 points


 * 7. Tulsa Roughnecks – Wildcard (Central Division), 139 points
 * 8. Toronto Blizzard – Wildcard (East Division), 133 points

Bracket
Team in italics hosted the second match in the series, and the tiebreaking mini-game if it was necessary.

(5) Chicago vs. (4) San Diego
Note: Despite having the lower seed, Chicago was given home advantage as they had a better regular season record (159 points) than San Diego (140 points).

San Diego won the series 2 games to 0.

(3) Vancouver vs. (5) Los Angeles
Series tied 1–1, Vancouver won tiebreaking mini-game.

(2) Tampa Bay vs. (3) San Diego
Series tied 1–1, Tampa Bay won tiebreaking mini-game.

(1) New York vs. (3) Vancouver
Series tied 1–1, Vancouver won tiebreaking mini-game.