MLS Preseason Predictions
Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez from the Associated Press
While some of you may have been enjoying the fierce competition of European Leagues, I’ve been watching and waiting for my favorite league to come back.
MLS returns in 10 days, and you may not like the quality but you can’t ever ignore the entertainment!
As always, I will have very correct standings predictions because I am very smart.
Eastern Conference
1. New York City FC
The Pigeons are defending MLS Cup champions, and they crucially kept many key pieces.
They weren’t the 1 seed last season, but keeping the core who just won a title, including Taty Castellanos (somehow).
Having other clubs in the East go through big changes means NYCFC should be in a prime position to take the top spot.
2. Columbus Crew
The Crew won MLS Cup two years ago, bolstered the roster even more, and then had a wildly underwhelming season.
The talent is still there, and Caleb Porter is known for his success in even number years.
I expect quite a strong bounceback.
3. New England Revolution
The Revs are arguably the best team in the East, and I have them finishing third? That sounds stupid.
It probably is, but losing Tajon Buchanon and eventually losing Matt Turner halfway through the season are tough hurdles to jump over.
They’re not impossible hurdles, but you have to put faith in the organization to find equal productivity from those two.
That’s never a guarantee, and those losses make me think they’ll have a slower back half of the season and lose spots in the standings.
They’re still a top team. Just not the one seed.
4. Toronto FC
I feel like I might regret putting TFC over the Union, especially because it goes against my entire rule when it comes to huge signings in MLS.
But I can’t ignore the Lorenzo Insigne signing TFC made.
Insigne will join in the summer, and an attacking player that talented should make a huge impact.
And it annoys me that I feel this way, because so often we find situations of big name players not living up to expectations. Which is exactly what TFC did last year as well.
But they have Bob Bradley now as well, who is still a good manager despite me thinking he’s a tad overrated.
Toronto will peak at the end of the season, making them a prime choice to make a run at MLS Cup.
5. Philadelphia Union
I don’t know. I really think I have the Union too low.
This team is so talented and so well coached. I should have them 2nd or 3rd, not 5th.
But, I do have them 5th.
MLS is weird. There’s always some team who under performs somehow.
But I feel I’ll regret this choice at the midpoint of the season.
6. DC United
DC isn’t the most talented roster in the east, and you could argue that Orlando and Atlanta are better.
But one thing I saw from DC last year was a distinguished style of play that the players bought into under coach Hernan Losada.
I’ll always pick teams who have a defined style players have bought into over just pure talent alone.
7. Orlando City
And just like DC over Orlando and Atlanta, I have to put Orlando over Atlanta despite not being as talented top to bottom.
But I know better than the bet against an Oscar Pareja coached club.
Orlando sneaks into the playoffs over their rivals.
Western Conference
1. Seattle Sounders
The Sounders have so much depth this season that their backups are likely a playoff team.
And considering they had to use a ton of backups due to bad injury luck last season and they were still the 2 seed in the West, I think it’s safe to say that they are going to be better off this season.
2. LAFC
Carlos Vela being back is big, but even bigger than that is the trades LAFC made for Max Crepeau and Kellyn Acosta.
They have improved the goalkeeping and backline, which means they should be better off this season.
They also replaced Bob Bradley, which is always a good thing because now they aren’t completely unlikable.
3. Nashville SC
Nashville is finally in the western conference!
And thanks to a great backline, stout defensive coaching and a fantastic MVP caliber player in Hany Muhktar, they finish in the high end of the standings.
It won’t be exciting, but it’ll be effective.
4. Portland Timbers
The Western Conference champions will finish 4th, and they’ll either start red hot before completely trailing off or start freezing cold before heating up and making a late season run.
It’s how the Timbers operate under Gio Savarese.
5. Sporting Kansas City
SKC still has the core to be Cup contenders like they were a season ago, but the injury to Alan Pulido really hurts them.
Especially considering Pulido is a striker, which has been the problem child for SKC’s roster for years before he arrived.
The talent is still there, but that injury buries them.
6. Colorado Rapids
While Stan Kroenke was busy celebrating a season from an NFL team in a city that does not care about them at all, he was ignoring the Colorado Rapids team who finished 1st in the Western Conference last year.
I love what Robin Fraser is doing in Denver, but the lack of funding to the squad from ownership means the Rapids are headed towards a decline this season.
You either improve or you get left behind.
7. LA Galaxy
The Galaxy will enter year 2 of Greg Vanney and should see strong benefits from that.
Year one was getting the team to play Vanney’s style and getting Chicharito to perform well.
They did that, and now it’s time to build off that.
They aren’t title contenders yet, but they give me strong vibes of the 2015 TFC squad Vanney coached that made the playoffs but were still a ways away from contending.
MLS Cup Final Prediction
I won’t pick a winner. Just a matchup.
But let’s start with the easy pick.
2015: Portland
2016: Seattle
2017: Seattle
2018: Portland
2019: Seattle
2020: Seattle
2021: Portland
So Seattle will obviously represent the western conference.
As for the East, it won’t be NYCFC because MLS Cup is never top seed vs top seed. It’ll have to be someone below them.
And would you just look at who I picked to have a late season push…
MLS Cup Final 2022 will be the Seattle Sounders vs Toronto FC.
Run it back one more time.
