This format differs from most soccer leagues around the world, which consider the club with the most points at the end of the season to be the champion.

Forge FC is the most successful team in finals history, winning a second title in 2020, a third in 2022, and a fourth in 2023.

[3] The 2021 season brought in a new four-team single leg knockout playoff with the two first round winners advancing to the final.

[5] Prior to the start of the 2022 season, the league announced that playoff semi-finals would switch to a two-legged format but that the final would continue to be played as a single match hosted by the higher-seeded team.

[15][16][17] Rules concerning yellow card accumulation in regular season and playoff games and its impact on suspensions in the finals have changed over time.

In 2019, yellow card accumulation in regular season games resulted in a suspension of Forge FC defender Bertrand Owundi for the first leg of that year's finals.

[22] Forge FC would suffer a similar fate in 2022 when their captain Kyle Bekker was sent off in the second leg of the 2022 CPL semifinals against Cavalry, and prevented him from participating in the final against Atlético Ottawa.