MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 19

Written by

Published on July 12, 2019

The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 19. 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.

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Brian Fernandez	POR v. COL	10.9	US Open Cup did not make our forward choices easy this week, with both Fernandez and Vela suffering injuries but continuing to finish the match. Fernandez strikes me as more likely to play this weekend, but his match is late enough in the week that it would be understandable if you got cold feet.
2	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. SJ	10.3	The Galaxy have been a one-trick pony lately, but the return of Jonathan dos Santos and Uriel Antuna should help fortify the side for the Cali Clasico. San Jose should make this tough for Zlatan, but odds are better than not that he scores.
3	Wayne Rooney	DC v. NE	11.2	Rooney at home ranks high by default, but note that Acosta is suspended for this match and New England are suddenly a formidable opponent.
4	Jozy Altidore	TOR at MTL	10.0
5	C.J. Sapong	CHI v. FCC	7.3	I may lean towards using a different three players from the Fire, but Sapong or Nikolic have to be considered up top against FC Cincinnati.
6	Alberth Elis	HOU v. LAFC	10.9	This ranking assumes Bob Bradley makes some additional lineup changes, in addition to missing Atuesta, after their US Open Cup loss on Wednesday. If it's mostly the normal starters, bump Elis down a few spots.
7	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA v. ATL	10.5
8	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN v. DAL	10.7
9	Josef Martinez	ATL at SEA	11.5
10	Diego Rossi	LAFC at HOU	10.5	If he starts, he will likely be playing without Vela (see below), Atuesta (suspension), and possibly a handful of other rested starters.
11	Carlos Vela	LAFC at HOU	12.0	Vela suffered what appeared to be a knee injury and grinded out the remainder of the second half in US Open Cup on Wednesday. I would be very surprised if he starts Friday, but will conservatively include him right here in case he does. I'd expect a short shift at best from a tired Vela on the road, which isn't bad but not ideal for us fantasy managers.
12	Kacper Przybylko	PHI at RSL	8.0
13	Nemanja Nikolic	CHI v. FCC	7.8	This assumes he's a second half substitute, but put him level with C.J. Sapong if both start.
14	Mauro Manotas	HOU v. LAFC	8.8
15	Adama Diomande	LAFC at HOU	8.0
16	Heber	NYC at NYRB	9.0	Returning from injury to play 73 minutes in US Open Cup is a pretty good sign that he can put in a shift for the derby on Sunday. Castellanos would be valued just slightly lower if he starts instead.
17	Angelo Rodriguez	MIN v. DAL	8.0	Not to be outdone by Mason Toye's brace over the weekend, Rodriguez bagged three goals against New Mexico United and took an early seat after 63 minutes. He's very much playable when Minnesota are at home.
18	Gyasi Zardes	CLB at ORL	9.0
19	Jordan Morris	SEA v. ATL	8.0	Atlanta have looked far too complacent defensively the last few matches. This Seattle attack quickly turns any lazy defending into goals.
20	Romell Quioto	HOU v. LAFC	7.5

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Gaitan	CHI v. FCC	9.6	Gaitan has a few big games nestled amongst a plethora of disappointing fantasy outings, so buyer beware, but I've seen enough that I'm excited to use him in this matchup.
2	Diego Valeri	POR v. COL	11.6
3	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. ATL	11.5	Lodeiro's first game back from Copa America was a rousing success, and now he'll be joined by Raul Ruidiaz and Jordan Morris. On top of that, Atlanta will round out their three games in eight days stretch by having to fly across the country to Seattle. That'll work.
4	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR at MTL	10.5	Reinforcements in the form of Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley should help Pozuelo in this important six-point match for Toronto.
5	Aleksandar Katai	CHI v. FCC	9.0
6	Sebastian Blanco	POR v. COL	11.0	Blanco just keeps putting in quality shifts for Portland lately. He's a yellow card waiting to happen, but has plenty of potential in this fixture.
7	Nani	ORL v. CLB	9.5
8	Carles Gil	NE at DC	10.9	Gil should be considered in all but the toughest matchups, but I think you can spend your budget more wisely this week.
9	Saphir Taider	MTL v. TOR	10.0
10	Jonathan dos Santos	LA v. SJ	10.0
11	Przemyslaw Frankowski	CHI v. FCC	6.6	He is cheap enough and shoots enough that I'd be willing to take a gamble on him from my fantasy bench.
12	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC at NYRB	12.0	Maxi played 110 minutes and came off injured on Wednesday. Without knowing the severity, it's hard to count him out of the derby, but the risk of a limited shift is real.
13	Felipe Gutierrez	SKC v. VAN	9.8
14	Cristian Espinoza	SJ at LA	8.5	San Jose remain one of the league's best teams at the moment and a quick trip to Los Angeles doesn't much concern me. Almeyda's side has scored in five of their last six road matches.
15	Magnus Eriksson	SJ at LA	8.2
16	Alejandro Romero Gamarra	NYRB v. NYC	8.8	Daniel Royer is safer, and Marc Rzatkowski is cheaper, but Kaku presents just a little more upside in a game that could see plenty of goals.
17	Albert Rusnak	RSL v. PHI	9.6
18	Paxton Pomykal	DAL at MIN	9.1
19	Marco Fabian	PHI at RSL	8.6
20	Yordy Reyna	VAN v. SKC	8.6

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Joevin Jones	SEA v. ATL	6.8	The potential for Jones to play on the attacking wing makes him the top pick this week, particularly considering Seattle's decent chance at a clean sheet.
2	Larrys Mabiala	POR v. COL	8.5	Mabiala is a goal threat on set pieces and Portland's defensive record is impressive of late.
3	Jorge Moreira	POR v. COL	6.5	If Moreira doesn't get rested, he's another piece of the Timbers defense that can jump into the attack and nab us some attacking points.
4	Francisco Calvo	CHI v. FCC	6.5	The Calvo-coaster is always a wild ride, but against a lower-tier FCC, he has a few different avenues to scoring us some points.
5	Marcelo	CHI v. FCC	5.1	Assuming he steps in for the suspended Schweini, Marcelo makes for a quality play against a Cincinnati team that has only earned 4pts in 11 away matches this year. Grant Lillard is another option for Chicago so keep an eye on the lineups!
6	Leonardo Jara	DC v. NE	6.3
7	Ruan	ORL v. CLB	5.3	Depending on how much Orlando rotate their starters after playing 120 minutes on Wednesday, I'd feel pretty good about Ruan against a Crew team in really poor form.
8	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA v. ATL	6.3	Mentioned above, but here's a reminder that Seattle defenders are appealing given Atlanta's US Open Cup action and quick turnaround to fly across the country.
9	Steve Birnbaum	DC v. NE	7.1
10	Lamine Sane	ORL v. CLB	6.4
11	Brad Smith	SEA v. ATL	7.3
12	Xavier Arreaga	SEA v. ATL	6.0	The value route into Seattle's defense, but you also maybe are getting the best talent of the bunch.
13	Ali Adnan	VAN v. SKC	5.7
14	Frederic Brillant	DC v. NE	7.0	Brillant is a little safer than Birnbaum for bonus point generation, but lacks the added bonus of scoring a goal. New England are on the poorer side of set piece defending.
15	Aaron Long	NYRB v. NYC	7.0
16	Kemar Lawrence	NYRB v. NYC	6.3
17	Tommy Thompson	SJ at LA	6.5
18	Claude Dielna	POR v. COL	4.7	Julio Cascante played on Wednesday which leads me to believe Dielna may step in for the weekend shift. He doesn't inspire confidence, but he's been fine during Portland's great defensive stretch of late.
19	Zarek Valentin	POR v. COL	5.4
20	Zakaria Diallo	MTL v. TOR	7.0

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Kenneth Kronholm	CHI v. FCC	4.9	You can get nervous that Schweinsteiger is out, or you can look at this as one of the league's best home teams (5-4-1, +13) against one of the league's worst road teams (1-1-9, -22).
2	Steve Clark	POR v. COL	6.0	Colorado are much better rested than a Portland team that has been packing a lot of games into the schedule, which is nearly the only cause for hesitation with using Clark or Attinella.
3	Stefan Frei	SEA v. ATL	6.8
4	Bill Hamid	DC v. NE	6.5
5	Brian Rowe	ORL v. CLB	5.8	Rowe stole points at Philadelphia last week and may have some extra motivation to perform after teammate and competitor Adam Grinwis was the hero of US Open Cup.
6	Maxime Crepeau	VAN v. SKC	5.6	I can only keep thinking SKC will break out for so long. Vancouver never are a sure thing, but they're in a solid spot here.
7	Evan Bush	MTL v. TOR	5.0
8	Tim Melia	SKC v. VAN	6.9
9	Luis Robles	NYRB v. NYC	5.6
10	Sean Johnson	NYC at NYRB	6.0	For once, NYC FC is the team that you can see locking things down and dominating the Red Bulls in this rivalry match rather than vice versa. They're on the road, though, so Johnson gets bumped just a spot below Robles.

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Djordje Mihailovic	CHI v. FCC	6.5	Djordje should bump Fabian Herbers back to the bench now that he's back from the Gold Cup, but either would be a good fantasy bench play.
2	Valeri Qazaishvili	SJ at LA	7.2
3	Chris Mueller	ORL v. CLB	6.9
4	Lee Nguyen	LAFC at HOU	7.0	With Atuesta sitting due to yellow card accumulation, Nguyen could make for a good value play. Monitor the status of Vela and Rossi after US Open Cup to make sure LAFC deserves your fantasy attention.
5	Juan Agudelo	NE at DC	7.0
6	Efrain Alvarez	LA v. SJ	4.7	If Zlatan says to play the kid, LA is going to play the kid. After seven points last week, and at this price, he's firmly on the fantasy radar.
7	Chris Wondolowski	SJ at LA	7.1	Not ranking Wondo for a Cali Clasico match would be egregious.
8	Kamal Miller	ORL v. CLB	4.0
9	Mason Toye	MIN v. DAL	5.5	If he starts, it's a great third forward play. I bet he comes off the bench this weekend as an impact sub, though.
10	Brooks Lennon	RSL v. PHI	4.4	Lennon had a really quality pair of performances last week, with some significant attacking play. At home, for this price, I'd be willing to go back to the well.

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Gaitan	CHI v. FCC	9.6	Gaitan (C) is really a decision each individual manager needs to weigh. I think the weighted risk is a high enough value to let him lead my team, but I understand if others are worried about those 2-3 point outings. Katai deserves a mention as being a good alternate captain choice on the same team that just missed the top 5.
2	Diego Valeri	POR v. COL	11.6	Late-stage Valeri isn't immune from duds either, and his team is going to be somewhat fatigued, but they are playing too well and the matchup is too good to not place him highly here.
3	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. ATL	11.5	Slightly safer than the top two this week, but don't let one week make you forget his disappointing (by Lodeiro standards) fantasy performances for much of this season.
4	Brian Fernandez	POR v. COL	10.9	Fernandez at home will likely be the most tempting "Always Captain" outside of a healthy Vela for the remainder of the season.
5	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. SJ	10.3	I try to avoid scenarios where I'll only be happy with a captain choice if they get multiple goals or assists. Against a tough San Jose team, and without much bonus point generation, Zlatan falls into that box for me. He always has potential to blow up, especially in a high profile game like this, but I'll let others take the risk.