After a month's long hiatus, MLS Fantasy is back. There are a lot of new faces around the league, some of whom we will want to get to know, while others are probably all sizzle and no steak. I'll give you a quick rundown of some of the names to know and a few more to watch along with this week's schedule.
Week 23 schedule
Bye: Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, Los Angeles Football Club, Philadelphia Union, Vancouver Whitecaps
Five byes this week with LAFC and Crew advancing to the Leagues Cup Final, having their games with Philly and Vancouver postponed. This should mean some of our decisions come a little easier this week.
3:45 - MIN v. SEA
The Sounders actually start the week, playing at 3:45 p.m. PT in Minnesota. The Loons will be seeking revenge for their 2-0 loss in Seattle to open the Leagues Cup and for Seattle letting Necaxa win in Seattle, leading to Minnesota's exit from the Leagues Cup despite the three squads being equal on points. Minnesota has not played since July 30th, so they are coming into this match cold.
Minnesota added two DPs this window, midfielder Joaquín Pereyra and attacker Kelvin Yeboah. Unfortunately for them, these moves (on the surface, at least) don't seem to be "plug & play" options and they will likely need some time to figure out which of their young attackers or veterans to sit for the new guys.
Seattle will be relatively fresh, having a little over a week off instead of a nearly month-long break. Pedro de la Vega has been cleared for action (again, fingers crossed), and could start. Though I think the Sounders can handle this one with Rothrock, the Man, as the first-choice starter for now. Seattle has beaten Minnesota 2-0 twice at home this year, can they add a third result on the road?
4:30 - MTL v NER, CHA v NYR, DCU v DAL,
MIA v CIN, NYC v CHI
Montreal and New England both advanced out of their Leagues Cup groups, and each of them lost in the Round of 32 (at Philly and vs. NYC, respectively). Both teams have recovered from dreadful starts to the season to at least make the low end of the Eastern Conference interesting, and neither of them made major moves in the window (but they did make some moves). Not a great one from a fantasy perspective, but there will probably be goals in this one.
Surprisingly, Charlotte and NYRB, currently 4th and 6th in the East, failed to make it out of their groups. Red Bulls were out because of the format quirk, tying both games but losing both PK shootouts, while Pachuca had a tie and a loss but advanced by winning that one shootout. NYRB are undefeated in their past 10, counting the two Leagues Cup games as ties, but that's actually just two wins and eight ties. Their previous meeting this year was a 3-1 win for NYRB in NJ back in late May. However, Forsberg will still be out for NYRB and Charlotte brought in some upgrades during the window. Whether they are assimilated or not could determine the winner here.
DCU had a decent group stage at Leagues Cup, winning in PKs after a 3-3 tie in Atlanta, then running Santos Laguna off the field at home in a 3-0 win. They did lose to Mazatlan at home, 2-1, in the round of 32, but the other games were a bright spot for a struggling team. Meanwhile, Dallas lost 2-1 and 2-0, crashing out. DCU has a bit of momentum coming into this game, having won their previous two league matches as well, but Dallas still has plenty of talent and added complementary pieces in the transfer window. The only player I'm looking at here is Christian Benteke ($11.1m). He finally had another monster game just before the break, with 2 goals and an assist in Minnesota (of course that's when he goes off), and he had two goals in DC's three Leagues Cup games. He's tied for second in the golden boot race, and I am a believer that he will make his case during the home stretch of the season.
Miami vs. Cincy is probably the premier (league) matchup of the week. Miami is way out ahead for the Supporter's Shield lead, at 53 points, four points clear of the Galaxy in second with a game in hand. Cincy is five points back, second in the East. Both teams looked good in Leagues Cup, making it to the Round of 16, taking care of business over Mexican squads, before losing to East rivals Crew and Philly.
Luciano Acosta ($16.5m) should be "good to go" and is a must-start if he's in the starting lineup. Leo Messi is not ready and might not be for a while yet. Miami has been getting plenty of production out of Diego Gómez, Luis Suarez and Matias Rojas, with Jordi Alba setting up five assists (four against Toronto). I don't know that any of the Miami players are "must-own" this week, but I do have Alba on my squad and may take Suarez depending on Arango's availability.
Chicago are better now that they don't have to deal with Shaqiri, but there is still a big quality gap to NYCFC. The Fire lost both Leagues Cup matches, while NYCFC made it to the quarterfinals, losing to the Crew on PKs. Thiago Martins ($9.2m) and Matt Freese ($8.0m) are great defensive options and are the best positioned for a switcheroo. Santiago Rodriguez ($11.0m) is the premier attacking option, though Alonso Martinez and Maxi Moralez have been effective and Hannes Wolf has had plenty of big games.
5:30 - HOU v TOR, NSH v ATX, SKC v ORL
Toronto and Houston had middling Leagues Cup runs, both of them losing in the Round of 32. Toronto lost 4-3 at Miami and Houston lost on PKs to Toluca. Houston got big upgrades this window, a DP #9 in Ezequiel Ponce ($9.0m) and a U22 winger (Lawrence Ennali) who could terrorize defenses if he settles in. Ponce scored a great goal against Toluca to respond after going down 1-0 and forced an own goal by Justin Glad to make it 3-0 in Houston's dominant win over RSL. Ennali hasn't made it onto the score sheet yet (and, unfortunately for the kid, was the lone miss of the 10 PK takers against Toluca), but I am guessing he will soon. The other play is Hector Herrera ($11.5m), who is key to Houston dominating possession, the prime reason they were able to dominate RSL while up 3-0. He's a ball hog, in a good way, and has been getting more touches closer to goal lately. On the flip side, I am staying away from Toronto on the road, especially with Bernardeschi potentially injured.
Nashville lost six in a row going into Leagues Cup, then they lost 2-0 to Mazatlan (a bottom third squad in Mexico) and lost in PKs to New England. On the other side, Austin beat Pumas 3-2 and Monterrey 2-0 before being the first victim of LAFC's knockout round buzzsaw. Austin is still a very bad team on the road, though, so this one could go either way. It is tough to evaluate Austin's big signing, Osman Bukari, since he got a second yellow/early red in their first Leagues Cup match, but he could be a game changer. I'm just staying away from this one.
Kansas City and Orlando also both went out in the round of 32, Kansas City struggling against the Crew and losing 4-0 while Orlando lost in PKs after a 0-0 draw. Neither squad made major moves this window. They are probably just about the teams you thought they were going into the Leagues Cup. In that case, Orlando players are likely your best bet here, with high ceilings but low floors, based on how they've performed this year.
6:30 pm - RSL v SJE / 7:30 pm - LAG v ATL, POR v STL
Are you buying San Jose's 5-0 romp over Necaxa? After Necaxa looked comfortable beating Seattle? The Earthquakes were the Round of 16 victim of LAFC, so perhaps we can't hold that against them. But I do expect SJE to look more like that team against RSL than the one that dismantled Necaxa at home. Chicho Arango ($15.8m) should be available to start, though Diego Luna is suspended and Gomez was sold for an actual $11.0m+.
The Galaxy went out and signed the incredible Marco Reus, who is coming off a Bundesliga season with 6 goals, 8 assists in 1,600 minutes. I see him as a sort of force multiplier for the Galaxy, fitting in for whichever of the attacking band isn't producing, though a front four of Pec, Jovejlic, Paintsil and Reus is pretty scary if they're all firing. Plus, Riqui Puig ($15.1m) pulling the strings from the midfield. That said, I don't see him jumping straight into the lineup. I am going with Gabriel Pec ($13.7m) as I believe Joveljic has been injured and just returned to practice this week. Atlanta is, of course, a dangerous team, but I don't see things going well for them on this trip, especially as they only managed two PK losses in Leagues Cup.
Portland gets to face St. Louis with a makeover, a team with 5 or 6 new projected starters. STL took care of business at home over Portland in the Round of 32 in Leagues Cup, getting goals from three of the new arrivals – Cedric Teuchert, Simon Becher and Marcel Hartel. Those three each scored one of St. Louis's three goals in the group stage (Hartel's was a PK). Now, that's not saying they'll repeat their win over Portland in Portland, since STL certainly did not take care of business playing Club America in LA, but this will be a very interesting test for STL's new squad. Evander was injured in that match in St. Louis, leaving after about 10 minutes, and just returned to training yesterday. I would not expect a significant outing from him this weekend.
Quick Rankings
My top options at each position, in no particular order:
GK - Matt Freese ($8m), Steve Clark ($7.3m), Gavin Beavers ($7.1m), John McCarthy ($7.2m)
DEF - Jordi Alba ($10.5m), Thiago Martins ($9.2m), Maya Yoshida ($9.2m), Joel Waterman ($8.4m), Emeka Eneli ($7.5m), Adilson Malanda ($7.9m), Micael dos Santos ($7.8m)
MID - Luciano Acosta ($16.5m), Santiago Rodriguez ($11.0m), Riqui Puig ($15.1m), Hector Herrera ($11.5m), Albert Rusnak ($12.0m), Hany Mukhtar ($12.1m), Santiago Moreno ($10.5m), Matias Rojas ($8.3m), Diego Gomez ($7.4m), Marcel Hartel ($9.5m)
FWD - Gabriel Pec ($13.7m), Cristian Arango ($15.8m), Luis Suarez ($12.8m), Christian Benteke ($11.1m), Jonathan Rodriguez ($13.2m), Ezeqiuel Ponce ($9.0m), Alonso Martinez ($8.0m), Anderson Julio ($6.8m)
Captain considerations
- Luciano Acosta ($16.5m) - Simply a superstar this year. If he's healthy he's feasting. He's gotten it done against Miami plenty before and Cincy is seemingly as good or better on the road this year.
- Riqui Puig ($15.1m) - Incredible player, especially against defenses that give him space to exploit. Seattle bottled him up for the most part, but the danger of him finding a way to exploit the defensive positioning was still apparent. At home against Atlanta should be a fine time for him to control the game and spray out 90+ passes.
- Cristian Arango ($15.8m) - If he's fully healthy, SJ's generous defense has to be very high on the list of best matchups he'll get all season. He's been in a funk lately, but he's shown his quality on the field plenty.
- Luis Suarez ($12.8m) - Capable of incredible goals and taking over games by himself, he has been showing up in big games and this is one of the biggest of Miami's season.
- Hector Herrera ($11.5m) - In his last league home game, he had 111 passes, 16 key plays, and six crosses. I've harped on this before but that's 9 BPs just from his playmaking. With a great #9 on the roster and better attacking play, we should see more goal contributions from Herrera in addition to his possession and creation stats. At home against Toronto I believe he will show it.
Good luck this week everyone! And don't forget to update your NWSL rosters as their regular season also resumes tonight.
