MLS Fantasy Boss A Fantasy MLS Community
By: The Fantasy Therapist
Welcome back! How are you feeling after our first mini DGW of 2025? No time to rest, as we are right back at it with a full-sized DGW. 26 teams are playing twice, so with two bites of the apple on the table for just about everyone, we’re going to look once again at defense. Finding solid points from defenders continues to be one of the more difficult aspects of FMLS, and the Fantasy Physician has already discussed some excellent strategies for picking defenders, not once, but twice. This week, I’ll be looking at defense from a slightly different perspective – a little farther up the field at defensive midfielders.
As fantasy assets go, defensive midfielders (or DMids) are basically useless. With last year’s scoring changes removing nearly all of the categories that benefitted these players, most of these guys average somewhere between 2-4 points, which means they’re not likely to be a part of your team. But they still play an important role for fantasy defenses, one that often flies under the radar. If your strategy for picking defenders involves clean sheet hunting, you should get familiar with the league’s DMids.
Why should I care about a player who doesn’t score?
Despite being listed as midfielders in the game, a DMid is often one of the more important defenders on any given team. They are an early line of defense, responsible for intercepting passes and breaking up attacks further up the field before the ball reaches their defenders. And the best DMids can quickly turn from winning the ball to distributing and starting an attack for their own team. Most effective FMLS defenses have a DMid playing well in this role. There are teams with good real-world defenses who don’t heavily rely on a DMid (Columbus, for one), but they rarely hold a clean sheet which makes them less attractive for fantasy purposes.
Because the DMid’s role is one of a disruptor, flying in on tackles to break up opponents’ play, these guys are a high risk for cards and injuries, yet another factor that works against their fantasy score and also makes it more likely that they will miss games during the season. And this is where you want to start paying attention. When you’re looking at good defenses to go CS hunting, make sure to check if their starting DMid is available. There’s often a steep dropoff to a team’s second choice DMid, and this can have a big effect on their team’s CS chances.
OK, show me the numbers
As an example, let’s take a look at two prominent DMids in MLS, Andres Cubas of Vancouver and Obinna Nwobodo of Cincinnati, and examine how their presence or absence affects their team. Cubas and Nwobodo are both designated players (2 of only 3 DMid DPs in the league), which makes them great examples, since this designation (and high salary) means they’re expected to be important parts of their team.
I think it’s safe to say that Vancouver has been a surprise to just about everyone this season. I definitely expected some drop off with a new coach and a long term injury to Ryan Gauld, but they came out of the gate guns blazing and didn’t look back… until just recently when they started to come back to earth. Cubas has always been an important part of their defensive structure, and that hasn’t changed this year – it’s no coincidence their recent drop in form lined up with an ankle injury he suffered – and this is very evident in their record. Cubas has missed 6 MLS games this season through suspension or injury. In the 15 regular season games he has played, Vancouver has a record of 8 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses with 8 clean sheets. In the six games he missed, however, they are 2W-0D-4L with only 1 clean sheet. Vancouver defenders have been a go-to pick for many of us throughout this season, but this makes it pretty clear that they are not the best CS shout if Cubas isn’t playing. When he’s out, there’s a sharp drop off in quality at that spot. None of his replacements have been able to cover the same amount of ground or make the plays he can make, and it shows in the team’s results. Another prime example of this type of team is San Diego, whose defense has not been the same without Anibal Godoy in the lineup.
However, teams can recognize the dropoff from their starting DMid and work to address it, like Cincinnati did this offseason. In the past two seasons, their results were very similar to what we see above with Vancouver – a strong defense that fell apart when Nwobodo was out. Once again, he’s been injured a fair amount this year, missing 9 games so far. But unlike with Vancouver and Cubas, results haven’t changed a lot for Cincy when he’s been out. In the 13 games Nwobodo has played, Cincy has a record of 6W-3D-4L with 3 clean sheets. And when he’s been out, their record actually improves: 7W-0D-2L with 3 clean sheets. This can be attributed to a number of things – other players stepping up their defensive work in his absence, a shift in the team’s style of play, Nwobodo possibly being limited by his injury when he has been on the field, and a deeper roster with stronger backups – all of which have been evident in Cincy’s play this year. With just 6 shutouts on the season, this may not be the best team to hunt clean sheets with anyway, but they’ve shown this year that they can survive Nwobodo’s absences – they are currently just one point off the Supporters’ Shield lead. Other teams that have been able to adjust to their DMids’ absences are Philly and NYC. Danley Jean Jacques has been a key player for the Union, but when he’s been out, Jesús Bueno and Jovan Lukic have stepped up. And while Keaton Parks is more of a 6/8 hybrid than the others mentioned here, he has been key to the team’s results in the past. This year, under new coach Pascal Jensen, they’ve been better at adjusting their shape so that Parks being out hasn’t been felt so keenly.
How does this apply for this week?
Nwobodo recently had surgery and is out for “a couple of months” according to Pat Noonan, and Cubas just returned to training this week. Vancouver is coming off back-to-back 3-0 defeats and seem to be finally feeling the effects of their epic CCC run, so with two matches on the road, this is probably not the week to choose their defense, even if Cubas were to start. Meanwhile, Cincinnati gets to face Miami and the white-hot Lionel Messi in their first game and then travel to Salt Lake City, so if anyone’s looking at their defense, you’re braver than me. Godoy is back with SD and went 90’ last week, although SD gave up 3 goals to Houston while he was on the field. Jean Jacques is healthy and played 90’ last week in Philly’s 2-0 win. And Parks remains out with a leg injury.
In any case, if you do go clean sheet hunting this week, remember to check the injury lists and monitor the health of some names you normally might not pay attention to. Even at this point in the season, scores remain surprisingly tight, and 5 points for a CS can make a big difference in your H2H matchups and your OR. Identifying defenses missing a DMid that could end up making them bad chalk can go a long way. Good luck this week, check back for more tips next week, and don’t forget to have fun!
The “Fantasy Physician” is Ron Birnbaum, @Half Century City on Discord
The “Fantasy Therapist” is Mike Leister, @Kenobi on Discord
