MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 23

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Published on August 8, 2019

The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 23. 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	Heber	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	9.8	Considering he scores almost every time he's started for NYCFC, you probably want him this week.
2	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. NYRB	13.5	Not far behind Heber and is only playing one game. He's still squarely in the discussion for your captaincy, or at least my captaincy.
3	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	8.0	His good games have not been impressive enough that I want to forego a NYCFC defensive piece to squeeze two forwards in. If Maxi Moralez doesn't start Thursday night, it's a tougher call (though I still would lean towards a second defensive piece or Alex Ring).
4	Brian Fernandez	POR v. VAN	10.6	He played 90 minutes on Wednesday, but so did Ebobisse, so expect another start. It's a good matchup, too.
5	Wayne Rooney	DC v. LA	10.4	After a dramatic week, Rooney will be eager to begin his final stretch at DC United. I think he rewards the team for doing right by him with at least a goal against Zlatan and the Galaxy. He returned from England on Wednesday, so there shouldn't be any concerns about his match fitness.
6	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. NYRB	10.5	Vela's shadow looms large for Rossi in fantasy. The kid has 13 goals, has scored in 5 of the last 6, and still does not pop up in many teams' rosters.
7	Mauro Manotas	HOU at NYC, at PHI	8.5	Elis is suspended for the first Houston match and Manotas could still be sold at any moment to Cruz Azul until the end of the Liga MX transfer window (end of August). The addition of Christian Ramirez suggests to me that he probably will. Given two tough road matches, I'm not thrilled about this play and the risk that comes with it. On the other hand, it's typically wise to not overthink things and go with the two games' worth of production.
8	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA at DC	10.8	Who knows?!
9	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. ORL	10.3
10	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA v. NE	11.2	A good play if he returns this week, but there's no reason to go out of your way to roster him. Let's see how he does in the first game back and go from there.
11	Gyasi Zardes	CLB v. FCC	9.0
12	Kacper Przybylko	PHI v. HOU	7.6	This already would be a great matchup for Philly's forwards before accounting for Houston's tired legs.
13	Romell Quioto	HOU at NYC, at PHI	7.2	Little chance he starts both, but the price is pretty good for ~120 minutes of Quioto. I have a feeling nobody is eager to fill up all three Houston spots, so this is an option from the bench.
14	Valentin Castellanos	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	6.5	Probably doesn't start both.
15	Adama Diomande	LAFC v. NYRB	9.4
16	Gustavo Bou	NE at SEA	9.9
17	Chris Wondolowski	SJ at COL	7.0
18	Kei Kamara	COL v. SJ	7.9	Kei has no business being as lethal as he is at age 34.
19	Maximiliano Urruti	MTL at CHI	6.5	The talent surrounding him just got even better with Bojan on his way!
20	Jordan Morris	SEA v. NE	9.4

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	11.7	Maxi is possibly not fully fit, but if he starts Wednesday I'll take my chances. NYCFC are still in the thick of the top spot in the East and will want to get a result at Atlanta.
2	Alexander Ring	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	8.5	I wouldn't be betting on another goal, but Ring should grab a safe 8-10 points pretty easily this week.
3	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. NE	12.3	New England didn't crumble against LAFC, but Seattle should also be able to get the job done at home. Nico is back to being one of the safest, most consistent choices in FMLS.
4	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. ORL	11.2	I never thought we'd see a day when Pozuelo only got two points over a full 90. Jozy and Poz haven't been clicking as well as when he first arrived, but he's still a top midfielder.
5	Marco Fabian	PHI v. HOU	9.4	I'd be surprised if Philly didn't bury 3+ goals here.
6	Diego Valeri	POR v. VAN	12.0	Only subbed on late for US Open Cup, so he should be ready to roll against Vancouver.
7	Pedro Santos	CLB v. FCC	9.1	The Crew are trending up and Santos is leading the way. After the last match, San Jose called them the best team they played all season outside of LAFC.
8	Keaton Parks	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	5.3	Tremendous value on a week where we don't necessarily need the savings. Decent bet for two starts but far from guaranteed.
9	Tomas Martinez	HOU at NYC, at PHI	7.9	Virtually off my radar in fantasy at this point, but he has two games and reportedly "is involved in the attack". I've been unable to find a source that can confirm that, though!
10	Memo Rodriguez	HOU at NYC, at PHI	6.7	A better bet for 120 than 150+.
11	Carles Gil	NE at SEA	12.3
12	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC v. NYRB	11.9
13	Felipe Gutierrez	SKC v. RSL	10.9	He is determined to drag SKC into a playoff spot.
14	Sebastian Blanco	POR v. VAN	10.4
15	Vako	SJ at COL	9.2	In current form, San Jose on the road are better than most MLS teams at home.
16	Johnny Russell	SKC v. RSL	7.9
17	Magnus Eriksson	SJ at COL	10.2
18	Saphir Taider	MTL at CHI	10.2
19	Matias Vera	HOU at NYC, at PHI	5.6	Pretty good safe option for 6-8 points this week. I'd put him right into your lineup and use the bench on higher risk plays (clean sheet hunting, third forward, etc).
20	Nicolas Gaitan	CHI v. MTL	9.7

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Anton Tinnerholm	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	8.0	With a tasty first matchup of the week (struggling Houston, no Elis), I think you want one defensive piece from NYCFC for sure. Tinnerholm probably won't get forward much against Atlanta, but he's still my favorite this week.
2	Maxime Chanot	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	6.4	Despite being a centerback, he doesn't pile on bonus points much more than Tinnerholm, hence the #2 ranking.
3	Ronald Matarrita	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	6.0	I may be too cautious with Matarrita on double game weeks, but Atlanta seems like a match he could sit for.
4	James Sands	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	5.9	Probably a good case to switch him with Chanot here, but I'll let you decide.
5	Alexander Callens	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	6.2	Hasn't played quite as consistently as the other centerbacks.
6	Maynor Figueroa	HOU at NYC, at PHI	6.1	There's no real reason to have any confidence in Houston defenders despite them playing two matches. Each game has a good chance of them conceding 2+ goals, so even the usual safe handful of points from minutes plus a bonus or two might not be worthwhile.
7	Aljaz Struna	HOU at NYC, at PHI	5.2
8	Omar Gonzalez	TOR v. ORL	7.9
9	Harrison Afful	CLB v. FCC	5.1	He hasn't paid off often this year, but we have the chance to play him in an early game off of our bench. It's a rivalry game against a bad team and Columbus need all three points if their playoff hopes are to stay alive.
10	Adam Lundqvist	HOU at NYC, at PHI	5.9	I'm just going to stay away from the Lundkvist/Beasley platoon.
11	Jorge Moreira	POR v. VAN	8.3	Fantastic choice if he plays after going the full 90 in US Open Cup.
12	DaMarcus Beasley	HOU at NYC, at PHI	4.0
13	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC v. NYRB	6.9
14	A.J. DeLaGarza	HOU at NYC, at PHI	4.3
15	Leandro Gonzalez Pirez	ATL v. NYC	7.5	Atlanta at home are always worthwhile. NYC are good, but they'll be tired.
16	Miles Robinson	ATL v. NYC	7.7
17	Reto Ziegler	DAL v. MIN	8.0	Tired Loons. Penalty taker. Dallas are clinging onto the final playoff spot.
18	Leonardo Jara	DC v. LA	7.5
19	Kai Wagner	PHI v. HOU	6.2	Any Philly defender would be a decent choice this week.
20	Larrys Mabiala	POR v. VAN	8.8

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Sean Johnson	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	5.4	Tough call, but you probably have figured out I'm leaning towards three other NYC players this week.
2	Eloy Room	CLB v. FCC	4.7	Easy first half of a keeperoo this week.
3	Tyler Deric	HOU at NYC, at PHI	4.9
4	Steve Clark	POR v. VAN	7.6	Make sure Attinella doesn't get a spot start.
5	Andre Blake	PHI v. HOU	5.1	Probably my pick for second keeper if Room doesn't work on Saturday.
6	Tyler Miller	LAFC v. NYRB	6.5
7	Quentin Westberg	TOR v. ORL	6.7
8	Brad Guzan	ATL v. NYC	6.8
9	Bill Hamid	DC v. LA	6.9
10	Jesse Gonzalez	DAL v. MIN	7.4	Stefan Frei and Daniel Vega easily could replace someone in the bottom half of these rankings, but Gonzalez gets the nod. Dallas seem focused for the stretch run.

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Boniek Garcia	HOU at NYC, at PHI	5.8	Boniek still shows glimpses of the severely underrated MLS player he used to be in his prime. At age 34, though, it's tough to guarantee he'll start both matches. When he's only putting up 3-4 points a match, that's probably not worth the risk.
2	Luis Diaz	CLB v. FCC	6.7
3	Gary Mackay-Steven	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	5.9	Considering he has yet to start since joining NYCFC, this is nothing but a hope he begins one and subs onto the other match this week. He's definitely another talented attacker and comes at a big discount, but it's not worth using a valuable NYCFC slot on him.
4	Steven Beitashour	LAFC v. NYRB	5.5
5	Ebenezer Ofori	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	5.6	Another DGW player I can't bet on for two starts, although he'd have a higher floor than Boniek if he did.
6	Santiago Mosquera	DAL v. MIN	6.0
7	Luis Argudo	CLB v. FCC	5.7
8	Ali Adnan	VAN at POR	5.9	Vancouver will take their road win last week and look to build on it against a tired Portland side days after their defeat in US Open Cup.
9	Thomas McNamara	HOU at NYC, at PHI	5.3
10	Aboubacar Keita	CLB v. FCC	4.1	If you have an extra Columbus and defender spot, grab whoever the cheapest starting Crew CB and throw him onto your bench this week.

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	11.7	Certainly not the safest play, but he's so good when he's on the field that many will captain him as long as he starts on Thursday.
2	Heber Araujo dos Santos	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	9.8	If Maxi is out one or both matches, I'm less keen on Heber for captain.
3	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. NYRB	13.5	Definitely in the mix, but I always respect Red Bulls as fantasy opposition. Not as much as I respect LAFC and Vela, though!
4	Alexander Ring	NYC v. HOU, at ATL	8.5	I'd almost rather play a NYCFC defender and hope for 10 points between two games, but Ring is safe too.
5	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. NE	12.3	Probabilistically, he's only slightly behind Ring/NYC defender.