MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 7

Written by

JD Bazzo

Updated on April 12, 2019 11:24AM EST

MATCHES (EDT)

Tuesday, 8:00 p.m: D.C. United v. Montreal Impact
~~Wednesday, 9:00 p.m: Colorado Rapids v. Seattle Sounders~~
Friday, 8:30 p.m: Chicago Fire v. Vancouver Whitecaps
Saturday, 1:00 p.m: Montreal Impact v. Columbus Crew
Saturday, 3:00 p.m: Houston Dynamo v. San Jose Earthquakes
Saturday, 4:00 p.m: Seattle Sounders v. Toronto FC
Saturday, 5:00 p.m: Minnesota United v. New York City FC
Saturday, 7:30 p.m: New England Revolution v. Atlanta United
Saturday, 8:00 p.m: FC Dallas v. Portland Timbers
Saturday, 9:00 p.m: Colorado Rapids v. D.C. United
Saturday, 9:00 p.m: Real Salt Lake v. Orlando City
Saturday, 10:30 p.m: Los Angeles FC v. FC Cincinnati
Saturday, 10:30 p.m: Los Angeles Galaxy v. Philadelphia Union
Sunday, 7:00 p.m: Sporting KC v. New York Red Bulls

For detailed stats and odds, check out the MLS Fantasy: Week 7 Cheat Sheet.

UPDATED RANKINGS

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. FCC	13.3	This may seem like a hot take, but I'll take Vela on the single game over all double game week forwards. Ruidiaz is returning from injury, Morris only has points for his minutes played in 3/5 matches, and Kei could easily be rested as well.
2	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. PHI	12.2
3	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. FCC	10.0	Last week's hat trick hero is worth considering as a discount Vela in a great matchup.
4	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA v. TOR	11.0
5	Wayne Rooney	DC v.MTL, at COL	11.5	Rooney appears to be battling an illness this week, so wouldn't be my safest choice to play on the road at altitude.
6	Orji Okwonkwo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.7
7	Harry Novillo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	8.0
8	Alberth Elis	HOU v. SJ	9.7	Perfectly designed to tear apart San Jose.
9	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN v. NYC	12.4	It sounds like he will miss due to injury, but if he starts in the team's stadium opener, there will be some added motivation.
10	Mauro Manotas	HOU v. SJ	10.1
11	Christian Ramirez	LAFC v. FCC	6.3	Ramirez is a great value is he starts again.
12	Gyasi Zardes	CLB at MTL	9.7
13	Josef Martinez	ATL v. NE	9.7	New England's defense is far more dysfunctional than Atlanta's attack.
14	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC at MIN	9.3	He's burned me a few times already this year, but still have faith in the NYC attack once they figure it all out.
15	Jordan Morris	SEA v. TOR	8.7
16	Kei Kamara	COL v. DC	9.0
17	C.J. Sapong	CHI v. VAN	8.7
18	Jesus Ferreira	DAL v. POR	5.1	If you played Portland's opponent each week, you'd be doing pretty well so far.
19	Dom Dwyer	ORL at RSL	9.6
20	Jozy Altidore	TOR at SEA	10.6

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Luciano Acosta	DC v.MTL, at COL	10.5	Won't have his buddy Wayne for the first match, but with big European teams kicking their scouting of him into high gear, he should be motivated to produce.
2	Saphir Taider	MTL at DC, v. CLB	11.6	Easy selection this week even with Piatti missing both matches (likely) and Urruti suspended for the first.
3	Paul Arriola	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.8	DC's workhorse will find a way to nab some points over the course of two good matches.
4	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. TOR	12.0
5	Lucas Rodriguez	DC v.MTL, at COL	9.0	We don't have a clear idea yet if Rodriguez will be a player susceptible to rotation on DGWs, but he seems like he'll be able to keep trucking.
6	Johnny Russell	SKC v. NYRB	10.3	If Vela weren't around, Russell would be a legit MVP contender.
7	Junior Moreno	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.2	DC United have some depth in the midfield so I'm fairly reluctant on starting any of them. That said, Moreno has been high quality this season.
8	Paxton Pomykal	DAL v. POR	8.2
9	Micheal Azira	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.7	Samuel Piette is close, but Azira strikes me as having slightly more bonus point potential if you need a fifth midfielder and third Montreal player.
10	Albert Rusnak	RSL v. ORL	10.4
11	Romain Alessandrini	LA v. PHI	9.3	Signs of life in his two full starts. Don't let the bad average fool you.
12	Russell Canouse	DC v.MTL, at COL	7.4
13	Pity Martinez	ATL v. NE	9.4	Should be back from a minor hamstring injury after the bye week. Hasn't given us much reason to believe in him for fantasy yet, but he's a quality player and odds are things will start to click soon as he adjusts to life in the US and MLS.
14	Victor Rodriguez	SEA v. TOR	9.5
15	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR at SEA	11.0
16	Diego Valeri	POR at DAL	10.7
17	Marco Fabian	PHI at LA	8.6
18	Carles Gil	NE v. ATL	10.8
19	Tomas Martinez	HOU v. SJ	8.2
20	Federico Higuain	CLB at MTL	8.7

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Steve Birnbaum	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.5	The matchups are very good and Birnbaum is the likelier centerback to play both matches. Montreal are missing two of their three most dangerous players.
2	Leonardo Jara	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.1	Should get high up the field against Montreal who will almost surely sit back and defend for most of the match.
3	Frederic Brillant	DC v.MTL, at COL	7.4	I also have a suspicion Brillant could be rested for one of the matches.
4	Zakaria Diallo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.2	Diallo is a good bet for a handful of bonus points over the two matches and Montreal are a relatively solid defensive side if you can ignore the touchdown's worth of goals they allowed to SKC.
5	Chris McCann	DC v.MTL, at COL	4.8	With Mora out, McCann is probably starting both matches at a great price.
6	Daniel Lovitz	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.8
7	Bacary Sagna	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.2
8	Jukka Raitala	MTL at DC, v. CLB	4.7	Victor Cabrera could slot in for one, but Raitala is the far better player and Remi Garde knows it.
9	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC v. FCC	8.8
10	Steven Beitashour	LAFC v. FCC	6.7
11	Rolf Feltscher	LA v. PHI	6.1
12	Miles Robinson	ATL v. NE	6.0	Even Frank de Boer can out-coach Brad Friedel, right? Atlanta have had a bye week to figure things out and Robinson has already been really good this year.
13	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA v. TOR	7.5
14	Brad Smith	SEA v. TOR	7.3
15	Graham Zusi	SKC v. NYRB	7.7	Not a great matchup, but SKC remains one of the standout teams in MLS and Zusi is in a pretty unique role for fantasy defenders.
16	Reto Ziegler	DAL v. POR	7.5	When Dielna is possibly on the field, we need to be aware of who takes penalties on the opposing side.
17	Maynor Figueroa	HOU v. SJ	5.9
18	Reggie Cannon	DAL v. POR	5.7
19	Brooks Lennon	RSL v. ORL	5.0
20	Ike Opara	MIN v. NYC	7.3	Ike doesn't have the hops that he used to, but in the stadium opener, some magic on a set piece header feels a little more likely.

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Bill Hamid	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.2	With Rooney only playing in one match, using Hamid in one of your three DC spots makes life that much easier. I wouldn't blame you for pivoting to Arriola or Rodriguez though.
2	Evan Bush	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.6
3	Brad Guzan	ATL v. NE	6.0
4	Joe Willis	HOU v. SJ	5.1	One good match against Portland does not make San Jose frightening.
5	Tyler Miller	LAFC v. FCC	6.5
6	Stefan Frei	SEA v. TOR	8.0
7	Zack Steffen	CLB at MTL	8.2
8	David Bingham	LA v. PHI	5.5
9	Nick Rimando	RSL v. ORL	5.2
10	David Ousted	CHI v. VAN	5.6

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. VAN	6.7	Djordje collected six (!!!) bonus points last week and needs to be in the Fire lineup even when Gaitan is inserted full-time.
2	Brenden Aaronson	PHI at LA	6.4	Fabian just missed the top 20 midfield spots, but Aaronson still stands out as a cheap alternative.
3	Samuel Piette	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.9
4	Anthony Jackson-Hamel	MTL at DC, v. CLB	4.0	Talented kid needs more minutes and with Urruti out, might get at least 90 more than usual.
5	Ali Adnan	VAN at CHI	5.4	Missed a dumb penalty kick last week but at least he took it, right?
6	Ezequiel Barco	ATL v. NE	6.9
7	Memo Rodriguez	HOU v. SJ	6.1	I still am needing one or two good value plays to get my preferred DGW lineup + Vela. If Memo starts, that could help!
8	Josh Williams	CLB at MTL	5.5
9	Damir Kreilach	RSL v. ORL	7.4
10	Quincy Amarikwa	DC v.MTL, at COL	5.7	Can't guarantee any points, but Quincy will work his tail off when he's out there in place of Rooney.

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. TOR	12.0	(I'm not going to adjust these post-Tuesday's cancellation, but you should be able to figure it out)
2	Luciano Acosta	DC v.MTL, at COL	10.5	If Rooney was playing in both, I'd consider Acosta for the #1 spot. (Or I'd just consider Rooney for the #1 spot!)
3	Saphir Taider	MTL at DC, v. CLB	11.6	Lacks the ceiling of the guys above due to the tough opponents and Piatti/Urruti missing out, but he's as safe a pick for 10-12 points as it gets.
4	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. FCC	13.3	At home to the expansion side, I'm still putting him in the mix.
5	Steve Birnbaum	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.5	With a goal or clean sheet in four of five matches, Birnbaum would have made a really good captain's pick for most two week stretches. This is definitely a play on two clean sheets, and while that's unlikely, it's not the worst differential you could make. It's surely safer than Ruidiaz who would be my 6th ranked captain pick (and top two if not for his recent injury).

INITIAL RANKINGS

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. FCC	13.3	This may seem like a hot take, but I'll take Vela on the single game over all double game week forwards. Ruidiaz is returning from injury, Morris only has points for his minutes played in 3/5 matches, and Kei could easily be rested as well.
2	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA at COL, v. TOR	11.0	He appears to be training in full after sitting the last match out, but I do hesitate whether he can lace up the boots for both games. Even with one, he could compete with the other double game week (DGW) forwards for points.
3	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. PHI	12.2
4	Jordan Morris	SEA at COL, v. TOR	8.7	A very goal and assist dependent fantasy player, as evidenced by his trio of 2's in the games he hasn't scored or assisted. I'll probably opt for the safe Sounders midfield points rather than risk a 4, BUT Colorado is a tasty matchup.
5	Kei Kamara	COL v. SEA, v. DC	9.0	Old Man Kei could always get rested, but he has a goal in half of his games and also five shots in half of his games. We want to be utilizing the DGW, so some Colorado players may need to be forced into our lineups.
6	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. FCC	10.0	Last week's hat trick hero is worth considering as a discount Vela in a great matchup.
7	Wayne Rooney	DC v.MTL, at COL	11.5	SINGLE GAME ALERT. Rooney will miss the first match due to a red card last match, but with the second match on the road in Colorado, he's still one of the better single game week forwards.
8	Orji Okwonkwo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.7
9	Diego Rubio	COL v. SEA, v. DC	6.8	Colorado had their best offensive outing of the year without him in the lineup last week, but if Kei is rested, Rubio could feasibly start in both.
10	Harry Novillo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	8.0
11	Alberth Elis	HOU v. SJ	9.7	Perfectly designed to tear apart San Jose.
12	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN v. NYC	12.4
13	Mauro Manotas	HOU v. SJ	10.1
14	Christian Ramirez	LAFC v. FCC	6.3	Ramirez is a great value is he starts again.
15	Gyasi Zardes	CLB at MTL	9.7
16	Josef Martinez	ATL at NE	9.7	New England's defense is far more dysfunctional than Atlanta's attack.
17	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC at MIN	9.3	He's burned me a few times already this year, but still have faith in the NYC attack once they figure it all out.
18	Will Bruin	SEA at COL, v. TOR	5.7	With Ruidiaz returning from an injury, Bruin could be good for a game and a half. Or he's good for two shorter sub appearances. Either way, I'm looking at Sounders with better opportunity.
19	C.J. Sapong	CHI v. VAN	8.7
20	Jesus Ferreira	DAL v. POR	5.1	If you played Portland's opponent each week, you'd be doing pretty well so far.

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at COL, v. TOR	12.0	He's usually atop the rankings in a single game week, so why would we do anything different during a double?
2	Luciano Acosta	DC v.MTL, at COL	10.5	Won't have his buddy Wayne for the first match, but with big European teams kicking their scouting of him into high gear, he should be motivated to produce.
3	Saphir Taider	MTL at DC, v. CLB	11.6	Easy selection this week even with Piatti missing both matches (likely) and Urruti suspended for the first.
4	Paul Arriola	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.8	DC's workhorse will find a way to nab some points over the course of two good matches.
5	Cristian Roldan	SEA at COL, v. TOR	9.3	Safer than VRod this week and still jumps into the attack from time to time.
6	Victor Rodriguez	SEA at COL, v. TOR	9.5	In my opinion, VRod is a good candidate to be rotated for one of the matches.
7	Lucas Rodriguez	DC v.MTL, at COL	9.0	We don't have a clear idea yet if Rodriguez will be a player susceptible to rotation on DGWs, but he seems like he'll be able to keep trucking.
8	Johnny Russell	SKC v. NYRB	10.3	If Vela weren't around, Russell would be a legit MVP contender.
9	Gustav Svensson	SEA at COL, v. TOR	7.3
10	Junior Moreno	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.2	DC United have some depth in the midfield so I'm fairly reluctant on starting any of them. That said, Moreno has been high quality this season.
11	Paxton Pomykal	DAL v. POR	8.2
12	Benny Feilhaber	COL v. SEA, v. DC	7.4	Pick your poison with the Rapids midfielders. Feilhaber gets the edge for attacking potential and reliability but I'd go Basset for upside, Price for super safe points, and Acosta (if starting) for the best mixture of the two. See who starts Wednesday and make your best guess as to playing time!
13	Micheal Azira	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.7	Samuel Piette is close, but Azira strikes me as having slightly more bonus point potential if you need a fifth midfielder and third Montreal player.
14	Albert Rusnak	RSL v. ORL	10.4
15	Cole Bassett	COL v. SEA, v. DC	5.4
16	Kellyn Acosta	COL v. SEA, v. DC	5.7
17	Jack Price	COL v. SEA, v. DC	6.0
18	Romain Alessandrini	LA v. PHI	9.3	Signs of life in his two full starts. Don't let the bad average fool you.
19	Russell Canouse	DC v.MTL, at COL	7.4
20	Pity Martinez	ATL at NE	9.4	Should be back from a minor hamstring injury after the bye week. Hasn't given us much reason to believe in him for fantasy yet, but he's a quality player and odds are things will start to click soon as he adjusts to life in the US and MLS.

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Steve Birnbaum	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.5	The matchups are very good and Birnbaum is the likelier centerback to play both matches. Montreal are missing two of their three most dangerous players.
2	Leonardo Jara	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.1	Should get high up the field against Montreal who will almost surely sit back and defend for most of the match.
3	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA at COL, v. TOR	7.5	The likelier fullback to start both in Seattle.
4	Kim Kee-Hee	SEA at COL, v. TOR	7.0	Hasn't been racking up the bonus points I'd like to see, but that could be a function of Seattle being relatively dominant.
5	Brad Smith	SEA at COL, v. TOR	7.3	With Nouhou Tolo waiting in the wings, I could envision Smith only getting one of the two starts.
6	Frederic Brillant	DC v.MTL, at COL	7.4	I also have a suspicion Brillant could be rested for one of the matches.
7	Chad Marshall	SEA at COL, v. TOR	7.9	Marshall has historically gotten a rest during some double game weeks and Roman Torres is very capable of filling in.
8	Zakaria Diallo	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.2	Diallo is a good bet for a handful of bonus points over the two matches and Montreal are a relatively solid defensive side if you can ignore the touchdown's worth of goals they allowed to SKC.
9	Chris McCann	DC v.MTL, at COL	4.8	With Mora out, McCann is probably starting both matches at a great price.
10	Daniel Lovitz	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.8
11	Bacary Sagna	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.2
12	Jukka Raitala	MTL at DC, v. CLB	4.7	Victor Cabrera could slot in for one, but Raitala is the far better player and Remi Garde knows it.
13	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC v. FCC	8.8
14	Keegan Rosenberry	COL v. SEA, v. DC	4.3	I'm not in the business of predicting starting CBs for the Rapids (ok maybe that's exactly part of the business I'm in) but it's a good bet that Rosenberry starts. Maybe I should rank more Colorado defenders given the two home games, but with likely rotation, the defense being really poor, and their opponents being high quality, it feels wasteful.
15	Steven Beitashour	LAFC v. FCC	6.7
16	Rolf Feltscher	LA v. PHI	6.1
17	Miles Robinson	ATL at NE	6.0	Even Frank de Boer can out-coach Brad Friedel, right? Atlanta have had a bye week to figure things out and Robinson has already been really good this year.
18	Graham Zusi	SKC v. NYRB	7.7	Not a great matchup, but SKC remains one of the standout teams in MLS and Zusi is in a pretty unique role for fantasy defenders.
19	Reto Ziegler	DAL v. POR	7.5	When Dielna is possibly on the field, we need to be aware of who takes penalties on the opposing side.
20	Maynor Figueroa	HOU v. SJ	5.9

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Bill Hamid	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.2	With Rooney only playing in one match, using Hamid in one of your three DC spots makes life that much easier. I wouldn't blame you for pivoting to Arriola or Rodriguez though.
2	Stefan Frei	SEA at COL, v. TOR	8.0	It's much tougher to plug Frei in over some other Seattle options than it is Hamid, but that doesn't make his pair of fixtures less appealing. Solid choice this week.
3	Evan Bush	MTL at DC, v. CLB	5.6	Bush is a candidate for a price rise if you just want to lock him onto the bench behind Hamid. Alternatively...
4	Tim Howard	COL v. SEA, v. DC	5.2	...you could use Howard in a keeperoo if Hamid's first game goes poorly.
5	Brad Guzan	ATL at NE	6.0
6	Joe Willis	HOU v. SJ	5.1	One good match against Portland does not make San Jose frightening.
7	Tyler Miller	LAFC v. FCC	6.5
8	Zack Steffen	CLB at MTL	8.2
9	David Bingham	LA v. PHI	5.5	You'll get to see most of Hamid's minutes before deciding, if Bingham is the second half of a keeperoo.
10	Nick Rimando	RSL v. ORL	5.2

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. VAN	6.7	Djordje collected six (!!!) bonus points last week and needs to be in the Fire lineup even when Gaitan is inserted full-time.
2	Brenden Aaronson	PHI at LA	6.4	Fabian just missed the top 20 midfield spots, but Aaronson still stands out as a cheap alternative.
3	Samuel Piette	MTL at DC, v. CLB	6.9
4	Anthony Jackson-Hamel	MTL at DC, v. CLB	4.0	Talented kid needs more minutes and with Urruti out, might get at least 90 more than usual.
5	Ali Adnan	VAN at CHI	5.4	Missed a dumb penalty kick last week but at least he took it, right?
6	Ezequiel Barco	ATL at NE	6.9
7	Memo Rodriguez	HOU v. SJ	6.1	I still am needing one or two good value plays to get my preferred DGW lineup + Vela. If Memo starts, that could help!
8	Josh Williams	CLB at MTL	5.5
9	Damir Kreilach	RSL v. ORL	7.4
10	Quincy Amarikwa	DC v.MTL, at COL	5.7	Can't guarantee any points, but Quincy will work his tail off when he's out there in place of Rooney.

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at COL, v. TOR	12.0	By a good stretch, the safest pick this week. If memory serves he has been rested before on a DGW, but not enough that I can predict that with any measure of certainty.
2	Luciano Acosta	DC v.MTL, at COL	10.5	If Rooney was playing in both, I'd consider Acosta for the #1 spot. (Or I'd just consider Rooney for the #1 spot!)
3	Saphir Taider	MTL at DC, v. CLB	11.6	Lacks the ceiling of the guys above due to the tough opponents and Piatti/Urruti missing out, but he's as safe a pick for 10-12 points as it gets.
4	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. FCC	13.3	At home to the expansion side, I'm still putting him in the mix.
5	Steve Birnbaum	DC v.MTL, at COL	8.5	With a goal or clean sheet in four of five matches, Birnbaum would have made a really good captain's pick for most two week stretches. This is definitely a play on two clean sheets, and while that's unlikely, it's not the worst differential you could make. It's surely safer than Ruidiaz who would be my 6th ranked captain pick (and top two if not for his recent injury).