The 2014 Liga MX Apertura regular season is over, with the final playoff place being decided as Pumas overcame Monterrey on Sunday to claim the eighth and final position.
Here is a look back on the good, the bad and the ugly from what was a memorable fall season in Mexico.
The good:
Atlas makes statement of intent
It's been a long wait for Atlas fans. The Guadalajara club is without a title since 1951 and has traditionally been overshadowed by neighbors Chivas. But that isn't the case at present.
The purchase of the club by TV Azteca at the end of 2013 has revitalized it and coach Tomas Boy steered the team to a third place regular season finish. With it comes a place in next year's Copa Libertadores.
Juan Carlos Medina, Aldo Leao Ramirez and Rodrigo Millar in the center of midfield provided solid experience. The real star, however, has been the rise of 20-year-old Arturo "Ponchito" Gonzalez, whose form for Los Rojinegros earned him a debut for the national team.
Atlas isn't the finished product, but it looks like a club that will be threatening at the top of the table for years to come, while Chivas suffer the embarrassment of a relegation battle.
Camilo Sanvezzo
He did it in MLS and now Queretaro's Sanvezzo has also taken home the Liga MX top goal-scorer award. The 26-year-old Brazilian is the first player to win the title in both North American leagues.
Sanvezzo has consolidated himself as one of the three top strikers in Liga MX at present. Quick, hard-working and with a natural eye for goal, the former Vancouver Whitecap did everything to try to get the Gallos Blancos to the playoffs, falling just short.
Naturally, there are already rumors that he could depart Queretaro for a bigger Liga MX club or even Europe, but the player was quoted in the Mexican press on Monday as saying he hopes to stay.
Ronaldinho joins Queretaro
Sticking with Queretaro, the signing of Ronaldinho was the story of the season in the Mexican league. The Brazilian legend sold out stadiums around the country and instantly made the Gallos Blancos a must-watch team.
The 34-year-old showed glimpses of magic in his nine Liga MX appearances (in which he scored three goals), but the final judgment on whether he can make a significant impact in Mexico will come next season, when he'll have had a full preseason behind him.
For a league that isn't traditionally associated with signing big-name star players past their prime, Ronaldinho joining Queretaro sprinkled a little bit of welcomed stardust and attention on Liga MX.
The bad:
No outstanding team
You were almost willing a team to go on and really show its class in this Apertura. It didn't happen.
Club America finished top of the table, but did its best not to by failing to win any of its last four matches. Tigres, Atlas and Toluca also threatened at times, but let themselves down with patchy form as well.
The result is that the liguilla is very even, with no real favorite. Every single team will fancy its chances.
Cruz Azul
The team that dominated the regular season last time out in the Clausura was nowhere to be found in the Apertura.
Cruz Azul won just five of its 17 matches, having gone into the tournament as one of the favorites to be fighting at the top of the league.
Marco Fabian was a big disappointment and even the experienced heads of Francisco "Maza" Rodriguez and Jesus Corona failed to show up.
Luis Fernando Tena's position as coach may well come under question in the next week or so, with Gustavo Matosas now available and his brand of attacking soccer surely attractive for a fan base that saw more than its fair share of boring games this season.
The strugglers
Morelia was a disaster, winning just two games all season and picking up ten points over 17 matches.
Monarcas weren't the only poor side, however. Veracruz managed to score just eight goals, Leones Negros ten, while Puebla and Chivas were also weak all season.
It seems that some of the Liga MX's teams are getting left behind at present and there is a growing divide between teams at the top and the bottom.
The gulf in class also furthers the case for a relegation system that is more open to good second division clubs getting promoted and allowing the poorest Liga MX teams to go down more easily.
The ugly:
Chivas
It was tempting to put Chivas in the bad section, but things turned ugly this season as the Guadalajara club missed a chance to create a buffer between themselves and the rest of the relegation candidates.
Carlos Bustos didn't last long before he was fired as head coach and Rafa Puente Jr. and Francisco Palencia also left as club directors, leaving Nestor de la Torre to sweep in as club president and Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre to come back as manager.
The results didn't improve and the Guadalajara club -- one of the two most-supported in Mexico and which only plays with Mexicans -- will go into the Clausura 2015 in a relegation battle.
It's an ugly situation all around and should the unthinkable happen and Chivas do down, the financial impact on the Mexican game will be huge.
Matosas leaves Leon
The most aesthetically pleasing team to watch over the last couple of years in Mexican soccer is now without its leader.
Matosas' Leon won consecutive titles and played an attacking brand of soccer that was easy on the eye and got fans into stadiums.
The Uruguayan coach resigned on Monday after Leon failed to make the playoffs, and with him leaving, it's no exaggeration to say a mini-era in Mexican football is over.
Pachuca's Andres Fassi
It's rare that a season goes by in Liga MX without an on-field brawl or violence in the stands.
This season, the ugliest scene was brought to us by Pachuca's vice president Andres Fassi, who pursued a referee in the tunnel after the November 7th match against Santos Laguna and declared that the official "would die" when he saw the replay of a late goal that had been ruled out.
Fassi completely lost it and even went after Santos Laguna owner Alejandro Irarragorri and had to be pulled away. It was all captured on video and Fassi was suspended from the game for four months.