MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 9

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Updated on October 3, 2020 2:40PM EST

GAMES (EDT)

Saturday, 4:30 pm: Orlando City SC vs. New York Red Bulls
Saturday, 7:00 pm: D.C. United vs. Atlanta United
Saturday, 7:30 pm: Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire
Saturday, 7:30 pm: New England Revolution vs. Nashville SC
Saturday, 7:30 pm: Toronto FC vs. Philadelphia Union
Saturday, 8:00 pm: Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City
Saturday, 8:00 pm: Inter Miami CF vs. New York City FC
Saturday, 8:00 pm: Minnesota United vs. FC Cincinnati
Saturday, 8:30 pm: FC Dallas vs. Columbus Crew
Saturday, 10:00 pm: Seattle Sounders FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Saturday, 10:30 pm: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Los Angeles Galaxy
Sunday, 9:30 pm: Real Salt Lake vs. Los Angeles Football Club

For detailed stats and odds, check out the
MLS Fantasy: Week 9 Cheat Sheet

Forwards
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA	SEA v. VAN	13.3	Ruidiaz leads the league in expected goals, plays on the team that has scored the most goals, and is playing against the team allowing the second most goals.
2	Diego Rossi	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	8.6	It's been a relatively quiet stretch for Rossi, but Salt Lake shouldn't pose much of a challenge.
3	Robert Beric	CHI	CHI at MTL	10.4	With Luis Binks suspended and a good chunk of the rest of the team ailing, Montreal will have a tough time stopping Chicago.
4	Jordan Morris	SEA	SEA v. VAN	12.7	I like Morris almost as much as Ruidiaz. It's worth noting I don't think I'll double up on Seattle forwards given their appealing options at other positions, too.
5	Gonzalo Higuain	INT	INT v. NYC	9.5	He's going to be a force. However, he's still getting used to teammates and is playing against a team that has given up just six goals all year. No need to force him into your lineup just because of the star power.
6	Cristian Pavon	LAG	LAG at SJ	10.4	San Jose have given up a laughable five or more goals in 3 of the last 6 matches! That matters much more to me than Galaxy's scoring drought.
7	Bradley Wright-Phillips	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	8.6
8	Gustavo Bou	NE	NE v. NSH	9.9	Nashville are stingy enough defensively that I don't need to go out of my way to roster Bou this week.
9	Kei Kamara	MIN	MIN v. FCC	5.6	I have a weird feeling Cincy play well in this match, but I have to stick with the noggin' - Minnesota should dispatch them without much trouble.
10	Brian Rodriguez	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	8.2
11	Alan Pulido	SKC	SKC at HOU	9.4	Pulido is both returning from injury and on the verge of going to national team camp (maybe). It's hard to forget how brightly his season started, and Houston's bland defense may give him another chance to shine.
12	Jozy Altidore	TOR	TOR v. PHI	6.5	These next four forwards are usually top choices, but given their tough matchups, I'm not giving them much consideration this week.
13	Kacper Przybylko	PHI	PHI at TOR	13.0
14	Franco Jara	DAL	DAL v. CLB	9.0
15	Gyasi Zardes	CLB	CLB at DAL	10.8
16	Chicharito	LAG	LAG at SJ	7.2	Stoppable force (Chich) vs. Movable Object (SJ Defense).
17	Daryl Dike	ORL	ORL v. RBNY	4.0	Tesho may start instead but Dike is the more exciting option.
18	Valentin Castellanos	NYC	NYC at INT	4.0	Shoots a ton in nearly every match he features in.
19	Mauro Manotas	HOU	HOU v. SKC	5.1
20	Ola Kamara	DCU	DCU v. ATL	5.2

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA	SEA v. VAN	14.7	The Mr. Consistent to fellow Seattle star Russell Wilson's Mr. Unlimited.
2	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR	TOR v. PHI	15.5	I'm a sucker for this Union team, but Pozuelo will be tough to leave out.
3	Emanuel Reynoso	MIN	MIN v. FCC	8.4
4	Johnny Russell	NYC	NYC at INT	10.4	Russell-Lundkvist is one of the least fair matchups of the season.
5	Joao Paulo	SEA	SEA v. VAN	11.7	You can pay $3.0 more for penalty kick duties, but otherwise both Lodeiro and Paulo are bonus point fiends. I think I'll only have room for one Seattle mid.
6	Lucas Zelarayan	CLB	CLB at DAL	9.3
7	Carlos Darwin Quintero	HOU	HOU v. SKC	9.2
8	Nani	ORL	ORL v. RBNY	9.5
9	Sebastian Lletget	LAG	LAG at SJ	9.2	Galaxy have been shut out in three straight games, but San Jose is the best possible get right matchup.
10	Pedro Santos	CLB	CLB at DAL	10.2
11	Rodolfo Pizarro	INT	INT v. NYC	8.4	If we like Higuain, we have to like Pizarro at least a little bit.
12	Cristian Roldan	SEA	SEA v. VAN	7.6
13	Jan Gregus	MIN	MIN v. FCC	7.5
14	Mark-Anthony Kaye	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	9.5
15	Alvaro Medran	CHI	CHI at MTL	11.0	I also like Gaston Gimenez and think having two Chicago players is a pretty good idea this week.
16	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC	NYC at INT	6.0
17	Fabian Herbers	CHI	CHI at MTL	10.1	After being one of the first players Wicky calls off the field for most of the year, Herbers has strung together two really impressive near-90 minute performances.
18	Chris Mueller	ORL	ORL v. RBNY	8.9
19	Kaku	RBNY	RBNY at ORL	10.0	As usual, Kaku/Royer/etc all pretty even.
20	Pablo Piatti	TOR	TOR v. PHI	9.8

Defenders
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA	SEA v. VAN	10.5
2	Nouhou Tolo	SEA	SEA v. VAN	4.2	Nouhou is the presumed starter despite a knock and Brad Smith's recent signing. Smith is in the same price range and would be an even better option.
3	Romain Metanire	MIN	MIN v. FCC	7.0
4	Anton Tinnerholm	NYC	NYC at INT	10.0	I usually prefer Tinnerholm to Matarrita by a little bit, but even more this week considering Mata will have to deal with Lewis Morgan on his side.
5	Richie Laryea	TOR	TOR v. PHI	8.2
6	Chase Gasper	MIN	MIN v. FCC	6.1	My only issue with using Gasper is that about a third of his games feel like he's on the verge of a red card. Good on him for tiptoeing the line, I guess.
7	Brandon Bye	NE	NE v. NSH	7.7	Revs defenders could be ranked even higher, due to Nashville's banged up and already poor to begin with attack. New England isn't ideally built to defend a counterattack, though, which makes me the tiniest bit nervous.
8	Ronald Matarrita	NYC	NYC at INT	9.7
9	Yeimar Gomez	SEA	SEA v. VAN	10.3
10	Frederick Henry Kessler	NE	NE v. NSH	7.0	Can't count on Kessler's aerial prowess with Walker Zimmerman owning the center of the box on set pieces.
11	Reto Ziegler	DAL	DAL v. CLB	11.7	Yeah he's on penalties and some set pieces, but there are so many chances at a clean sheet this week that I can't justify playing him against such a good team.
12	Michael Boxall	MIN	MIN v. FCC	7.4
13	Jonathan Bornstein	CHI	CHI at MTL	4.5	Between Bornstein and Sekulic, I don't think paying up for Calvo is necessary.
14	Harrison Afful	CLB	CLB at DAL	9.8
15	Jonathan Mensah	CLB	CLB at DAL	10.8
16	Boris Sekulic	CHI	CHI at MTL	5.8
17	Milton Valenzuela	CLB	CLB at DAL	9.6
18	Walker Zimmerman	NSH	NSH at NE	9.1
19	Diego Palacios	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	5.2	LAFC defense make a good backup option if your bench defenders falter and/or if you want to shift your Seattle allotment to attackers.
20	Eddie Segura	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	7.0

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Stefan Frei	SEA	SEA v. VAN	7.6	For my money, Frei remains the best keeper in the league and Seattle are the only Western Conference team giving up no more than a goal per game on average. He's cheaper than many on this list, too!
2	Dayne St. Clair	MIN	MIN v. FCC	8.5	Cincy have played six games in September. Their xG (expected goals) have been under 0.5 in half of them!
3	Matt Turner	NE	NE v. NSH	9.1	The final in a clear top tier of three.
4	Eloy Room	CLB	CLB at DAL	9.2	Yes, Dallas are first in the West. They've also been held scoreless in two straight.
5	Pedro Gallese	ORL	ORL v. RBNY	8.1	Orlando are in the midst of an impressive run of play, but Red Bulls have scored four in each of their past two matches, making me just nervous enough to not put Gallese in that top tier this week.
6	Bill Hamid	DCU	DCU v. ATL	5.3	Cheap and in an early game, so he'll be a popular bench keeper.
7	Pablo Sisniega	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	5.3
8	Sean Johnson	NYC	NYC at INT	11.4
9	David Bingham	LAG	LAG at SJ	8.9
10	Brad Guzan	ATL	ATL at DCU	7.5	Given my ranking (or lackthereof) of DC United forwards and mids, Guzan becomes a "Wait...maybe that's not the worst idea" play.

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Ismael Tajouri-Shradi	NYC	NYC at INT	5.6	Seriously underpriced given his increased role in a Heber-less attack.
2	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	6.9	I know he's still working his way back to full form, but we'd have jumped at the chance to use Atuesta this cheaply last year.
3	Adam Buksa	NE	NE v. NSH	4.8	Nashville's cautious defensive style make me think Buksa will start and be a target in the box all game long.
4	Ben Sweat	INT	INT v. NYC	5.6	It'll be a shame if Miami turn into a team that just launches crosses into Higuain, but Sweat would become an even better fantasy option.
5	Tom Barlow	RBNY	RBNY at ORL	4.0
6	Yordy Reyna	DCU	DCU v. ATL	4.0	There's an outside chance that DC surprise us and they play early making for a good switcheroo structure to use a 4.0 Reyna.
7	Julian Gressel	DCU	DCU v. ATL	7.2	Revenge!
8	Memo Rodriguez	HOU	HOU v. SKC	7.4
9	Bakaye Dibassy	MIN	MIN v. FCC	5.8	Dibassy and Teran (Chicago) are two centerbacks I'm not positive will start but are great prices in great matchups.
10	Lee Nguyen	NE	NE v. NSH	5.3

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Team	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA	SEA v. VAN	14.7	If you're holding a top-100 champions league spot, I don't know how you stray from Nico.
2	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR	TOR v. PHI	15.5	Unlikely to appeal to most as a captain choice, but have to stick with my ranking!
3	Emanuel Reynoso	MIN	MIN v. FCC	8.4	Honestly can't decide if Cincy's bunker will hurt or benefit Reynoso given the current state of Minnesota's attack. I do know Reynoso is really really good, though.
4	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA	SEA v. VAN	13.3	I have a tough time picking Ruidiaz over the safety of Lodeiro.
5	Diego Rossi	LAFC	LAFC at RSL	8.6	Russell, Beric, and JoMo and Pavon all are tempting choices, too. It's a good week for captain diversity.