MLS Fantasy Boss A Fantasy MLS Community
By: The Fantasy Physician
If you simply leave the team you put in place last week, you are not too likely to do well this week–that means you are going to have to spend some time building a team for this upcoming weekend. FMLS allows for unlimited transfer each week, but with that freedom comes the task of thinking out all 15 players and how you will configure them. The Fantasy Physician is here to guide you on how to best use the time you want to put into this game for this weekend and beyond.
You can spend a lot of time or a little time setting up your team
Time available, personal style, goals, and level of interest may guide how much time you spend on MLS Fantasy. As my interest has grown and this has become my primary hobby, I have seen the time I spend grow to several hours spanning the entire week. For others, they enjoy giving it 20 minutes a week of thought on Saturday morning, and that’s it. There is no wrong way, as long as you enjoy playing the game!
The Shape of the Weekly Team-Building Cycle
Whether it’s twenty minutes or several hours over the entire week, there’s a weekly cycle competitive FMLS managers travel through that’s worth considering: 1) Take stock of how last week went 2) Look at the Matchups for the coming weekend 3) Research players that may be desirable 4) Set a Team 5) Check lineups to see that your players are actually playing.
The Short and the Long: A program for 20 minutes
Last season, my then 14-year-old daughter Lucia – (Cathy’s Cookies FC in the FMLS game) – made the Fantasy Champions League and beat me in one head-to-head in our family and friends league. Lucia has a very full teenager’s life, and she gives FMLS about twenty dedicated minutes a week, not counting listening to the player selection section of the MLS Fantasy Insider Podcast as we drive to and from soccer practice. She looks at the match schedule. She studies the MLS Fantasy Boss Player Positional Rankings. She sets a team that often features certain go-to favorites of hers. On many weekends, the only lineup checking she does – if any – is yelling out from her room to me “Is Wags starting for Philly?” Twenty minutes. Analyzing Lucia’s methods, I assume that she has taken stock a little of the last week, looked at matchups, researched player (between the podcast at 1.5x speed, running her eyes over the Positional Rankings, and looking at player averages), set a team, and in limited ways, checking lineups. She has naturally followed a Weekly Team-Building Cycle, in a condensed way.
The Long and the Short: A program for several hours
I put a lot into this activity, mostly because I enjoy it and want to do well. My purpose in this section is to describe my own ever-changing process as it stands going into Week 8 of the 2025 Season. I hope that gives you ideas and that you can build a process that suits your interests and the time you want to spend on FMLS, maybe somewhere between Lucia’s and mine.
Here’s roughly what I do over the course of the week:
| Day | Activity | Resources |
| Sunday- Monday |
|
FMLS Main Page and
My Notes |
| Tuesday- Thursday |
|
Your Favorite Podcast App
Discord or Social Media or TV e.g. Soccerwise Podcast e.g. FBREF xG data Fantasy Strategy Clinic – Week 7 My Notes |
| Friday- Saturday AM |
|
MLS Fantasy Boss Website
DM a Buddy My Notes |
| Saturday- Sunday GAMEDAYS |
|
MLSSoccer.com, Discord #Lineups |
Is that list intimidating? Think of it more as a measure of how much I enjoy thinking about this game and a menu of thought-steps that might improve your game and your enjoyment of it. You don’t have to eat everything on the menu!
At this point we have to say something about the issue of “tinkering.” Among the very best FMLS managers in the game, there is disagreement about tinkering, or the act of returning to your lineup and making changes again and again. Opponents of tinkering believe that “the first draft is the best draft,” and that most managers regret changes they make after their first full look at matchups and available players. I am not in this party; for me, tinkering is thinking, and I like to adjust my draft lineups as I understand new things about the coming weekend’s games. I also believe some opponents of tinkering emotionally overvalue mistakes they made by tinkering and undervalue improvements. But let me reiterate: some of the best managers rail against tinkering very consistently. Tinkering after game lineups drop can be treacherous, but if a player you picked is not playing, it’s essential to tinker at that point.
In one of the early MLS Fantasy Insider podcasts this year, the hosts interviewed 2024’s MLS Fantasy Champion Jeff Baklund, aka The Priest on Discord. As with most guests, the hosts asked Jeff about his process. I was surprised to hear that he makes his team in one draft Saturday, often as lineups are dropping. After I thought about it more, I appreciated one compelling argument for his strategy–he is making decisions with more or less all available information close to game time. This helps him avoid the inevitable groupthink that happens in our community, as well as keeps him from overanalyzing the numbers and trusting his gut. But he does have to integrate a lot in a very short time. This is where experience is key. A player of Jeff’s experience knows the league and players inside and out. He has a complete understanding of what players thrive in the scoring system, and different team-building strategies he can incorporate to maximize those players. So while I’m not advocating for one program over the other, know that even the best managers in the game at some point put in a lot of time to grow their knowledge base of the game and the league.
How can you apply all this Game Week 8?
This week, take the time to intentionally work your way through the Weekly Team-Building Cycle. Review your player selections from last week–where was my analysis off? What players did I misevaluate? Where could I have maximized my points? Then evaluate this week’s matchups–which team’s attack or defense should I target? Take a look at those teams and research their players–who is in form? Who is producing? Once your team is set, make sure you check lineups to make sure your players are playing. And most importantly, follow your gut. But if your process does not have you captaining Lionel Messi, you might need to tinker your process (and your squad)!
The “Fantasy Physician” is Ron Birnbaum, @Half Century City on Discord
The “Fantasy Therapist” is Mike Leister, @Kenobi on Discord
