If Monterrey defeats Pumas on Saturday in the final matchday of the Clausura 2023 regular season, Rayados will have scored 40 points, a club record in the short-tournament era and a sum that very few Mexican teams have achieved during the period.
Club América has held the Liga MX points record since the biannual league championships began in 1996, with 43 in the Apertura 2002. However, that unrivalled total occurred when the regular season was 19 games long, rather than the current 17.
After winning the Apertura 2002 league phase, América were struck by the 'curse of the superlder,' losing to Santos Laguna in the playoff quarter-finals. Only eight times in the short-tournament format has Mexico's regular-season champion gone on to win the title in the playoffs.
Chiapas FC scored 42 points in the Clausura 2004, again in a 19-game regular season, before leaving the playoffs in the quarter-finals.
Toluca, Pumas, and Club León all won 41 points in the 2002 Apertura, 2004 Clausura, and 2019 Clausura, respectively. On both occasions, Toluca and Pumas went on to win the Liga MX championship, while León had to settle for second place after losing the final to Pumas.
If Monterrey defeats Pumas this weekend, Victor Manuel Vucetich's team will match León's 17-game total in the Guardianes 2020 tournament, as well as Cruz Azul's 19-game hauls in the Invierno 1998 and Toluca's 19-game haul in the Verano 2000.
Nobody can deprive Monterrey of first place in the Clausura 2023 regular season, no matter what happens on Matchday 17. Rayados have an unassailable lead at the top of the standings and will enter the postseason as Mexico's'superlder' for the fifth time.