At least our team got these rankings out in the middle of the week! It’s been a busy time around the compound with our springtime activities, so we’ll be a bit more brief than usual:
- Inter Miami (1): The Herons have built up a large enough lead on the league that even a draw against one of the worst teams in the league does not cause them to fall from the top spot. We’ll see how they do in CCC tonight against a slumping LAFC.
- Columbus Crew (2): Ugly wins are still wins. Now with Daniel Gazdag, they should be even better.
- San Diego FC (8): They flat out dominated Seattle, and are setting up to be a major force in the Western Conference this season. Their upcoming road trip to Colorado and Charlotte could be telling though.
- Vancouver Whitecaps (5): While they have to contend with a midweek trip to Mexico City tonight for CCC, they were dominant over Colorado at home on their ugly carpet.
- Minnesota United (10): Despite having the lowest possession stats in the league (or maybe because of it), the Loons are incredibly dangerous whenever they are in attack. Matt Freese nearly had to stand on his head to limit them to 2 goals at Yankee Stadium.
- (Technically tied for 5th): Charlotte FC (7): Until Walker Zimmerman got hurt, it looked like Charlotte was going to drop points at home. After that nasty injury (no, we are not linking to it and thankfully he is ok), they took advantage of the Nashville back line and pulled out the win at home.
- Philadelphia Union (3): Drawing at home against Orlando is not a bad result, but was far less impressive than crushing them in Central Florida. However, losing Gazdag to Columbus will hurt even though they theoretically have the depth to replace him.
- Austin FC (4): Austin missed some key opportunities in the 0-0 draw against Portland, but their defense remains the top in the league. A trip up to the magical Canadian carpet in Vancouver may test that though.
- FC Cincinnati (9): Winning without over half of your starting lineup is impressive, even though New England is pretty terrible this season.
- Portland Timbers (14): The Timbers are getting into that territory, where they are coming together and quickly becoming an annoying, difficult team to play.
- Chicago Fire (6): The Fire were the better team against the Red Bulls, but Carlos Coronel stood on his head, and their back line needs some work. The Fire still haven’t won at home this season, but have a great opportunity against post CCC Miami on Sunday.
- Atlanta United (15): Somehow both Dallas and Atlanta moved up significantly in our rankings after a draw against each other. Not quite sure how that happened…
- Orlando City (11): And not sure why Orlando moved down for getting a point in Philly either, but we fight among our voters here.
- FC Dallas (21): It brings us no joy here to admit that the guys in Frisco are going to be a serious team this year after all.
- New York Red Bulls (20): Beating the Fire at home is now an accomplishment, and it has been a while since that’s been true. The Red Bulls are getting better at taking advantage of their limited opportunities.
- Colorado Rapids (13): Going to Vancouver is difficult, but rebounding against San Diego could be just as challenging for the Rapids. The Chrome and Azul already won once in the Rockies this season, so it’s unclear how much the altitude will help the Rapids on Saturday.
- Nashville SC (12): It’s pretty harsh to drop Nashville 5 spots for a match that they dominated for 70 minutes. The problem is they forgot to play the last 20 minutes after Zimmerman’s injury, and without him, they feel like a low to mid table side.
- San Jose Earthquakes (22): Where did that performance come from? There is no doubt that this San Jose team has a ton of attacking power, but it often does not come together like it did on Sunday. Also, DC looks like they are a mess.
- LAFC (16): While their CCC form has been impressive, it seems like they don’t have the depth to compete week in and out in both competitions. This team could pull a Sounders and win CCC and not make the playoffs.
- NYCFC (17): They had moments of hope throughout their match against Minnesota, but despite having the ball almost the entire match, they were not deliberate enough going forward and it showed.
- Real Salt Lake (25): When Diego Luna gets going, it’s a problem for the rest of this league. We really hope he becomes a USMNT mainstay so we can actually cheer for him.
- Seattle Sounders (19): Maybe Ryan Kent will help once he is able to play, but this team simply isn’t very good right now. Getting Jordan Morris back sooner rather than later will help.
- St Louis CITY (18): Losing to your previously winless rivals with an interim coach is a bad look. Sporting KC looked like they were the better team as well in that match, and St. Louis needs a real striker badly.
- Houston Dynamo (26): Beating LAFC for their first win of the season was impressive. If Jack McGlynn can consistently get space, they will cause some heartburn throughout the league.
- Sporting Kansas City (30): Another team that gets its first win of the season. Hosting Portland is a good challenge to see if they can keep up their momentum.
- (Tied for 25th) New England Revolution (24): Losing away to Cincy is not a bad loss, but that team was closer to MLS Next Pro than their normal starting lineup. This team continues to look lost.
- Toronto FC (28): Their stars showed up against Miami. If Insigne and Bernardeschi played like that every week, this team would be a solid squad. I don’t think Robin Fraser can get that consistently out of this side, but it will be a fun watch in the weeks ahead.
- DC United (23): That was the single worst loss of this season so far, and with Cincy getting healthier and coming to town, the news gets worse for the defenders of the Capitol.
- LA Galaxy (27): Well at least they were competitive with Tigres last night. Otherwise, this team has been a hot mess this season.
- CF Montreal (29): They looked a bit better against Columbus, but are still in search of their first win this year.