MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 8

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Published on September 23, 2020

MATCHES (EDT)

Wednesday, 5:00 pm: New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact
Wednesday, 7:00 pm: Atlanta United vs. FC Dallas
Wednesday, 7:00 pm: New York City FC vs. Toronto FC
Wednesday, 7:30 pm: Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo
Wednesday, 7:30 pm: Columbus Crew vs. Minnesota United
Wednesday, 7:30 pm: FC Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia Union
Wednesday, 7:30 pm: Sporting Kansas City vs. Orlando City SC
Wednesday, 8:00 pm: Inter Miami CF vs. New York Red Bulls
Wednesday, 8:30 pm: Nashville SC vs. D.C. United
Wednesday, 9:00 pm: Colorado Rapids vs. San Jose Earthquakes
Wednesday, 9:30 pm: Real Salt Lake vs. Los Angeles Galaxy
Wednesday, 10:00 pm: Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders FC
Wednesday, 10:30 pm: Los Angeles Football Club vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Saturday, 3:30 pm: Nashville SC vs. Houston Dynamo
Saturday, 7:00 pm: New York City FC vs. FC Cincinnati
Sunday, 7:00 pm: D.C. United vs. New England Revolution
Sunday, 7:00 pm: New York Red Bulls vs. Montreal Impact
Sunday, 7:30 pm: Chicago Fire vs. Atlanta United
Sunday, 7:30 pm: Philadelphia Union vs. Inter Miami CF
Sunday, 7:30 pm: Toronto FC vs. Columbus Crew
Sunday, 8:00 pm: Minnesota United vs. Real Salt Lake
Sunday, 8:30 pm: FC Dallas vs. Orlando City SC
Sunday, 9:00 pm: Colorado Rapids vs. Sporting Kansas City
Sunday, 10:00 pm: Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Portland Timbers
Sunday, 10:30 pm: Los Angeles Football Club vs. San Jose Earthquakes
Sunday, 10:30 pm: Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	9.1	Don't take Brian Rodriguez, who looks to be leaving for Italy.
2	Kacper Przybylko	PHI at FCC, v. INT	12.0
3	Gustavo Bou	NE v. MTL, at DCU	8.9	A wise Revs fan told me Bou could be a trap this week, but I am nevertheless tempted.
4	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA at POR, at LAG	14.0	Jara, but with a better MLS track record and surrounding team. Oh and also $5.2 more expensive!
5	Franco Jara	DAL at ATL, v. ORL	9.8
6	Cristian Pavon	LAG at RSL, v. SEA	11.3	He's playing well enough to be on the Argentina National Squad for October's matches!
7	Bradley Wright-Phillips	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	7.6	BWP has two great matchups, safer playing time post-BRod, and saves some salary.
8	Gyasi Zardes	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	11.4	This feels like a low ranking for someone having such an awesome 2020 season, but I can't confidently bump him in front of any of the top-7. It's close!
9	Robert Beric	CHI v. HOU, v. ATL	9.4	At least he's definitely on penalty kick duty now, right?
10	Diego Rubio	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	7.8	Kei Kamara out is a boost, but Rubio was already starting lots and scoring not a lot. Two good matchups though, including a revenge game!
11	Heber	NYC v. TOR, v. FCC	5.2
12	Ola Kamara	DCU at NSH, v. NE	5.9
13	Jeremy Ebobisse	POR v. SEA, at VAN	6.6
14	Jordan Morris	SEA at POR, at LAG	11.7	Double game weeks are the best time to play MLS Fantasy's ultimate boom/bust attacker.
15	Jozy Altidore	TOR at NYC, v. CLB	7.4
16	Chicharito	LAG at RSL, v. SEA	8.1
17	Mauro Manotas	HOU at CHI, at NSH	6.0
18	Alan Pulido	SKC v. ORL, at COL	10.4	Not guaranteed to start Wednesday, as Vermes eases him back from injury.
19	Dominique Badji	NSH v. DCU, v. HOU	5.4
20	Jurgen Locadia	FCC v. PHI, at NYC	5.6

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Diego Valeri	POR v. SEA, at VAN	12.4	Valeri inexplicably has again reached the high of his powers, at age 34! Two cascadia matches and rest last week lead me to believe he's a decent bet to fully feature in both.
2	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR at NYC, v. CLB	14.5	High price and tough matchups, but Poz has been so good that you have to bet on him having one good match out of two chances.
3	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at POR, at LAG	13.7
4	Johnny Russell	SKC v. ORL, at COL	9.4	Russell's playing time always makes me nervous, but he's in form and I've always loved his game.
5	Pedro Santos	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	9.2	Zelarayan is being eased back in, but worth noting that he could be the ultimate dice roll alternative to Santos if he can sneak a start in this week.
6	Nani	ORL at SKC, at DAL	8.5	Another candidate for rest this week, Nani is worth taking your chances on in game two if he is in the first lineup.
7	Carlos Darwin Quintero	HOU at CHI, at NSH	8.2
8	Brenden Aaronson	PHI at FCC, v. INT	10.0	Aaronson appears on the verge of a transfer to Europe, but if he plays Wednesday night, I'll roll the dice on getting a second game. He has been enthusiastically involved in all Philly games.
9	Jose Cifuentes	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	6.7	I'm not overreacting to LAFC's rough patch - they're still a good group of players with a really good coach playing against two pretty poor teams.
10	Mark-Anthony Kaye	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	8.5
11	Emanuel Reynoso	MIN at CLB, v. RSL	7.4	Reynoso is not only the new guy, but now surrounded by backups thanks to a plethora of injuries in the Minnesota midfield and attack.
12	Lewis Morgan	INT v. RBNY, at PHI	10.5	Morgan is already playing well and now Gonzalo Higuain is nearing his first action!
13	Hany Mukhtar	NSH v. DCU, v. HOU	9.6
14	Joao Paulo	SEA at POR, at LAG	10.7
15	Cole Bassett	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	9.0	Younes Namli is out for at least the first match and I'm eager to see how Bassett reacts. Braian Galvan also becomes an intriguing option.
16	Sebastian Lletget	LAG at RSL, v. SEA	9.9
17	Albert Rusnak	RSL v. LAG, at MIN	8.1
18	Alvaro Medran	CHI v. HOU, v. ATL	10.3	He owes Fire fans and Rapha Wicky a goal after last week's debacle.
19	Jamiro Monteiro	PHI at FCC, v. INT	8.4	Potential to return to a role higher up the field if/when Aaronson leaves. He was a fantasy force there before.
20	Rodolfo Pizarro	INT v. RBNY, at PHI	9.4	Honorable mentions to Andres Ricaurte, Chris Mueller, Maikel Chang, Pablo Piatti, and Kaku.

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Anton Tinnerholm	NYC v. TOR, v. FCC	9.0	His sore achilles is only a very slight concern as that matchup with Cincy is too exciting to pass up.
2	Reto Ziegler	DAL at ATL, v. ORL	10.7
3	Lalas Abubakar	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	7.2
4	Alexander Buttner	NE v. MTL, at DCU	8.5	His chances to get either a clean sheet or assist are high this week. The upside is both in the same match!
5	Jonathan Mensah	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	11.6	Not sure how anyone could drop $11.6 on a defender, but price aside he's undoubtedly a good option.
6	Ronald Matarrita	PHI at FCC, v. INT	10.0	It sounds like he'll be available to return to the lineup Wednesday.
7	Mark McKenzie	PHI at FCC, v. INT	9.1
8	Harrison Afful	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	10.8
9	Walker Zimmerman	NSH v. DCU, v. HOU	8.1	I'd like Nashville even more if Lovitz weren't suspended for yellow cards, but DC United's poor form give me little reason to believe it matters much.
10	Kyle Duncan	RBNY at INT, v. MTL	8.4
11	Aaron Long	RBNY at INT, v. MTL	9.5
12	Diego Palacios	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	5.4	You won't convince me that LAFC are playing bad enough that I should ignore their defense against San Jose and Vancouver.
13	Ryan Hollingshead	DAL at ATL, v. ORL	7.8
14	Eddie Segura	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	6.0
15	Richie Laryea	TOR at NYC, v. CLB	7.2	Thanks to an ijury spell, it's gone under the radar just how good Laryea has been this year.
16	Milton Valenzuela	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	10.5
17	Joevin Jones	SEA at POR, at LAG	8.9
18	Brandon Bye	NE v. MTL, at DCU	6.7
19	Keegan Rosenberry	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	7.3
20	Francisco Calvo	CHI v. HOU, v. ATL	6.8

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Andre Blake	PHI at FCC, v. INT	8.4
2	Sean Johnson	NYC v. TOR, v. FCC	10.9	Johnson has been so good, he's also stopped his own team from scoring goals!
3	Matt Turner	NE v. MTL, at DCU	8.1	I rarely don't take advantage of the 2nd keeper contingency plan in MLS Fantasy, but Turner's matchups are good enough that I may plug him straight into the lineup to save salary. Romell Quioto will be out for Montreal, and he has been half their attack.
4	Eloy Room	CLB v. MIN, at TOR	10.0	If you have the funds, Room is a great play against Minnesota's decimated attack.
5	William Yarbrough	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	6.7
6	Pablo Sisniega	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	4.3
7	Steve Clark	POR v. SEA, at VAN	4.8
8	Bill Hamid	DCU at NSH, v. NE	6.2	DC's defense has not been the main problem.
9	Joe Willis	NSH v. DCU, v. HOU	5.4
10	David Jensen	RBNY at INT, v. MTL	5.6

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Latif Blessing	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	6.6	With Rodriguez out, Blessing could be thrust back into an attacking role rather than toiling at right back.
2	Sam Vines	COL v. SJ, v. SKC	6.0
3	Daryl Dike	ORL at SKC, at DAL	4.8
4	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC v. TOR, v. FCC	5.0	It's confounding how poor NYCFC's attack has been under Ronny Deila, but I think Mitrita is the one who helps it break out.
5	Mohamed El-Munir	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	4.0	There's a small but notable chance El-Munir gets time on the attacking wing.
6	Adam Buksa	NE v. MTL, at DCU	4.1	If he starts the super early 5pm EST match, he'll be a salary-saving bench play for many managers.
7	Bryan Reynolds	DAL at ATL, v. ORL	4.1
8	Lee Nguyen	NE v. MTL, at DCU	4.3	Nguyen is another great candidate to start from the bench and see how it goes before deciding on the rest of your team.
9	Anthony Fontana	PHI at FCC, v. INT	4.0	Yet another super-sub in Philly? Fontana hasn't been playing close to 90 minutes, but he's fired four shots in each of the past two matches and collected a trio of goals for his efforts.
10	Adrien Perez	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	4.0	Perez, Danny Musovski, and Christian Torres all stand to get some additional minutes with Brian Rodriguez on his way out, but it's doubtful any will be a lock for consistent minutes.

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. VAN, v. SJ	9.1	Losing his help right and left, but still my favorite fantasy play.
2	Diego Valeri	POR v. SEA, at VAN	12.4	34 year old legs make me nervous when assigning the arm band in a congested schedule.
3	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR at NYC, v. CLB	14.5	Tough matchups aren't ideal, but he's performed well enough in every two-game stretch this season.
4	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at POR, at LAG	13.7	Even if you told me he only could score via PKs, I'd still like him this week.
5	Johnny Russell	SKC v. ORL, at COL	9.4	Assuming a full complement of playing time, Russell should feast against the Orlando and Colorado left backs.