Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 38
Lots of teams won trophies this week. The best of them is at the top of this list.
As I mentioned on BlueSky, this was our final, full-slate Sunday column of the year. I will be writing again next week, but it’s a limited schedule because of the international break, and my Decision Day column is always a Playoff Tiers piece because, honestly, what’s the point of a tactical wrap of the Decision Day games?
So this is it:
• Philly meet the moment, San Diego make history & more from Matchday 38
I remain eternally grateful for your readership & support. Even after 15 years of the grind, this remains my dream job.
Ok, another friendly reminder that I’m so good-looking that they’ve put me back on Apple TV match previews with Wiebe. If you want to watch those, just click to the upcoming game on Season Pass and you’ll get a 3-4 minute preview with some good old Extratime vibes.
Now here’s my vote for this week’s MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings:
Vancouver Whitecaps: Not the trophy-winner you thought would be No. 1, right? Well, here they are with a 10-game unbeaten streak,1 another Canadian Championship, and a healthy Ryan Gauld.
Philadelphia Union: Won the Shield the right way, with a statement win at home over a very good opponent. As I wrote in the Sunday column, that felt like a playoff game.
LAFC: I think the 3-5-2 is a useful club to have in the bag, but the 3-4-2-1 with a playmaking left wing makes more sense most of the time.
Inter Miami: Brutal loss to the Fire to end any hopes of the Shield. It’s just about getting right for an MLS Cup push now.
Nashville SC: Took them about an hour to shake off their post-title hangover. Looked great for the final 30, and this team is clearly capable of doing a Cup/Cup double.2
FC Cincinnati: Good win, meh performance. That’s just who they are and it’s on you to stop them.
NYCFC: How much different is this game if Alonso Martinez finishes that early chance? Can’t squander those moments on the road against elite teams.
San Diego FC: Needed that one – first time since June they scored more than twice in a game. Need to build on that against the Timbers on Decision Day.
Seattle Sounders: Pretty obviously the best they’d looked sine the Leagues Cup final.3
Orlando City: Spent a long time looking lost, and got very lucky to take a point. In real danger of dropping into the Wild Card match.
Albirex Charlotte: It was all Kristijan Kahlina’s form?
Always has been.
Minnesota United: Really interesting to see Eric Ramsay switch up the formation. Looking forward to seeing how
Chicago Fire: The win at Miami was very obviously their best of the year. They followed it up with a very Fire performance at home against TFC, which left them still down in a Wild Card spot. They are who they are – pretty good, but very flawed.
FC Dallas: Unbeaten in 10 since the Lucho Acosta era fell apart. This has been fun.
Columbus Crew: Best performance in ages. Same old result.
Austin FC: Brutal week. But I think if, before the season started, you’d offered Austin fans a Cup final and a playoff appearance, they’d have grabbed it.
RBNY: I know I’m supposed to write more about the non-playoff teams, but what is there to say? The pieces are mis-matched and largely mid, and mostly not fit for the game model evolution Sandro Schwarz tried to implement this year.
Your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not he’ll be back for another shot at it in 2026, and whether or not they’ll try to pass off another Polish 2nd division striker as a premium signing.Real Salt Lake: I don’t love the 4-4-2 – I think it locks them into an up-and-down game that results in a complete lack of control through midfield, and puts them in a position where their center backs have to make a ton of plays in do-or-die situations.
Portland Timbers: One win in nine. Two in 13. The haters said they couldn’t do it. And they were correct. Honestly great call from the haters.
Toronto FC: DeAndre Kerr didn’t score the first goal but his early recognition and balls-out near-post run sure did cause it.
I know the underlying numbers are bad – they are actually terrible – but I will scream and yell til I’m hoarse if he doesn’t play 2000+ minutes next year. He’s generate consistent danger with his movement and has generated consistent goals despite the dysfunction around him over the past few years.Colorado Rapids: They spent a ton of capital (draft, cashfer, DP & U22 slots) on wingers over the past few years, and the only one who got regular playing time this season was Calvin Harris. It feels like a real misalignment between the front office and head coach Chris Armas.4
San Jose Earthquakes: A defensive disaster all season long, and maybe no better example of the front-to-back defensive issues than Thomas Müller’s goal on Sunday night.
This is partially personnel – you’re not going to be able to build a team that defends at all well from the front if you’re playing Josef Martinez, Chicho Arango and Cristian Espinoza a bunch of minutes. But also, this feels like an old dog (Bruce Arena) not learning new tricks in re: modern pressing structures and defensive rotations.5St. Louis City: Almost certainly their best all-around game of the season when you factor in both performance and results, and then factor in the other “good vibes” data points:
• Marcel Hartel looks reborn under David Critchley.
• The presumed No. 1 2026 center back pairing of Fallou Fall and Henry Kessler got the full 90 together.
• They moved the ball well even without Edu Löwen.6• Promising youngsters Brendan McSorley and Mykhi Joyner continued to get minutes.
I’ll assume Critchley is in the running to get the job full-time. I’m not sure he’s done enough, but he’s at least in the conversation.New England Revolution: Just got completely bossed in a way that’s been unusual for them this year (though it was somewhat similar to what the Union did to them a few weeks back).
I’m not sure there’s much to take from this one beyond “there is a massive gap between the Revs and the best in the league.” And there is just not a ton of cap room with which to address that this winter given how much they spent remaking the roster for Caleb Porter’s second season.Houston Dynamo: Missing the playoffs was always the likeliest outcome once they sold Micael. But I am worried about the roster make-up beyond the glaring issues I have repeatedly pointed out (Ponce & Lingr are disappointments up top; Bond is a disaster in goal).
Who are next year’s center backs? Is Griff Dorsey in the plans? Are they going to bring back Artur? Why is this roster just stuffed with 25-to-32-year-old imports who are clearly not starting caliber (and yet who keep getting starts)?Montreal Impact: There is real reason for optimism heading into next year. Last week I focused on the attack; this week it’s probably good to say a few words about young center backs Brandan Craig and Jalen Neal.
They took their lumps against Nashville, but this was the kind of performance that builds value down the line. Marco Donadel is doing the right thing in putting them out there and having them play through it.LA Galaxy: Brutal late collapse against an excellent Toluca side midweek followed by kind of a dud against Dallas.
But still, they’ve been a much better team over the past couple of months and should have a deeper and more flexible roster next year because of what the kids are showing down the stretch here.7Atlanta United: They played extremely well defensively but need more runners in the box when they push forward. I also think this is one of the games where the single-game xG total (0.07) really undersells the amount of danger a given team created. Atlanta definitely had their moments when they put LAFC under pressure, but were just lacking the final ball a number of times (which looked more like early-season issues you see in a lot of teams rather than the first week of October...)
Still, Ronny Deila braying about “need more crosses!” is just more confirmation that he was the wrong man for the job from the jump.Sporting KC: I’m running out of steam writing about these bad teams here, man. So I’ll just reiterate that the best thing about Sporting’s situation is that they’re locked into very few bad, long-term deals and would expect an almost complete roster overhaul from new CSO David Lee this summer.
They badly need it.D.C. United: D.C., on the other hand, are locked into a ton of bad, long-term deals. Which makes this a hell of a quote from head coach René Weiler:
I can not wait to see what happens with this team this offseason. Just 90 minutes to go!
One of which was a 7-0 over the Union, mind you. ↩
Four of the past five MLS Cup winners missed the playoffs the prior season. So if we take that as gospel, then Nashville’s in a group with Philly, Chicago, Austin and probably Dallas.
Obviously we should not take it as gospel – it’s kind of a silly stat. But we’ve already seen what Nashville can do in a knockout tournament, right? ↩
Still seeing hints of selfishness that didn’t exist during that brilliant run from Club World Cup to the Leagues Cup final. Brian Schmetzer addressed it postgame a little bit. ↩
I am reading a lot into the fact that Armas does not have a contract for next year. ↩
I wonder if there will be some staff turnover. ↩
That almost never happens. ↩
There also needs to be some declined contracts and a strategic buyout (looking at Zanka here) or two. And dear god please do not exercise that Matheus Nasciemento U22 purchase option. ↩
