The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 6. While they can be used for DFS purposes, they are done with a focus on the league's season-long game.
If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, or hit up JD on Twitter @dfsMLS.
If these teams play 10 times, I think the LAFC attack prevails over the United defense about 7-8 times. That doesn't mean Vela is a lock at this price, though.
It's not news that we should lean at least slightly towards forwards who do more than just score goals (Vela, Mitrita, Quintero, even Rooney) but we also have to consider many of the talented poachers when they have good matchups. Seattle are superior to RSL at every level.
Maxi is out and Mitrita had a poor match, but Montreal also allowed seven goals at SKC! I'll take their opponent's best attacking player just seven days later.
Supposedly he is committed to playing all the turf matches, too. I think Vancouver will do a better job against him than most seem to think, but just slightly.
While Chicago did just commendably shut out the Red Bulls, I'm going to need to see a handful more quality defensive outings to really believe they solved their issues.
If you pick Gyasi, you need to be looking for a brace. The forward pool is so good this week, that spending this much for 7 points would be disappointing.
With a plethora of good forward choices this week, I'm not waiting to see who SKC uses on the road in the last match of the week (even if Nemeth is seemingly their only option). The same goes for other positions. With CCL on Thursday and again next week, anyone could be rested. That said, I expect whoever Vermes puts onto the field to perform relatively well against FCC.
A few more games and we may need to re-evaluate Lodeiro's fantasy prowess in this year's Sounders system, but for now he's still pretty safe and really good.
I began the year thinking some players may be a poor matchup with San Jose's unusual defensive system and Valeri could have been one of them. For right now, I just think it's a great matchup for everyone.
It's purely anecdotal but Galaxy on the road feel like a great team for midfielders like Inbeom to rack up points against. If he can hit a strike from distance, even better.
I prefer him in the bonus-point collecting deep midfield role, but if Dome insists on playing him higher up the field, we can work with that too. The price is, unfortunately, just a little high for the lack of scoring punch.
Any SKC mid works if you want to leave a spot open for them. In order after Russ: Ilie, Guti, Busio, Croizet, Rowe. Just remember they played CCL on Thursday.
I'm not certain he's fit enough for a start yet, but once he is this Chicago attack could soar. Katai also looked good last week but isn't squeezing into the top 20.
It's tough to leave out some other good all-around midfielders here: Royer, Roldan, Ilie Sanchez, Osorio, Moreno, Atuesta, Trapp/Artur. However, Gil has been performing at a high level even when the team around him has not. They'll have a good match one of these days.
I've been skeptical about DeLeon keeping his spot in the attack but maybe it's actually going to stick for a while. Surely, TFC don't think it's a permanent solution...?
It always feels like Auro should be producing a little more offensively than he does, so it was good to see him get the assist on an aggressive charge into the box last week.
The Pigeons' defense has been pretty rough thus far, but Piatti is set to miss another match and Montreal have not had much action in the attacking third this year relative to the rest of the league.
He's not going to get many bonus points, or even defensive bonus points, but the attacking potential is exciting. Since there's a solid clean sheet chance here, he gets a fairly high ranking.
If it exists, Zimmerman has proven time and again he has the "clutch" factor. As far as MLS regular season goes, this match is being hyped pretty hard.
Portland's defense is not as bad as San Jose. This might be the game the Quakes break out, but Attinella/Frei is a tempting keeperoo that may let you upgrade to VRod, Ruidiaz, or Lodeiro.
Since Paxton Pomykal has risen above the threshhold for the value rankings (and barely missed top 20 mids this week), we will need to get our Dallas fix elsewhere. A goal and two assists last week from a $4.6 player is enough to take a chance on. Ferreira has long been viewed as a homegrown player with tons of promise.
I would only want to play a Timbers CB from the bench, but if you can wait on one of your switcheroos, this could open up some salary for a Seattle or SKC upgrade. (Cascante is cheapest but pick your poison)
JD is a former RotoWire contributor. He was a finalist for the 2017 FSWA Soccer Writer of the Year award. JD had been writing for RotoWire since 2015. He is a proud Pittsburgh native, purveyor of fantasy sports, and likely the first Penn State Basketball fan you've ever met.
