MLS Fantasy Boss A Fantasy MLS Community
By: The Fantasy Therapist
Welcome back, how are you feeling after 8 game weeks? There have been some weird results this year, some surprises, and lots of chaos. It can be tough to manage sometimes, and one of the ways many managers like to deal with FMLS’ particular brand of chaos is by using external resources to help inform their choices when building a team. We’re now deep enough into the season that patterns are starting to emerge in how teams play (and their results), so it can be very helpful to look to different sites for stats and suggestions. But how do you determine which of these sources have value for you? That’s what we’ll discuss today.
I think of external sources of information about MLS as falling into one of three categories: 1) fantasy advice 2) stats and statistical analysis and 3) general MLS knowledge. Each of these categories has value and can be more or less helpful to you depending on what type of player you are. Personally, I’m a “pick with your gut, then back it up with stats” type of manager, so my preferences may differ from yours. And I should add a note here that I’m not endorsing any of the sources I’m going to mention here (except for this website, obviously), these are all just highlights of what’s available. Even for a smaller fantasy game like FMLS, there are lots of different resources out there, and more and more fan-created content is appearing all the time, so it’s getting easier to find your own path to the information you need to be successful.
General MLS Knowledge
You’re playing fantasy MLS, so you should probably know something about the league, right? And the most obvious way to do that is by watching games, either through the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV or live games. But since it’s nearly impossible to watch every game, I rely on the official MLS site to fill in the gaps. I watch game highlights and read recap articles when each week is done – Matt Doyle’s tactics-heavy wrap up and Joe Lowery’s What We Learned columns are highlights of the league site – and even power rankings can sometimes be helpful when looking for teams to target. There are other sources outside of the league as well. Bigger sports media outlets like ESPN and The Athletic cover MLS as well, although the amount of attention paid to the league can vary. European football media will sometimes cover MLS as well, but the accuracy of their information can be a little suspect at times (although The Guardian has a very good wrap up column). On a more positive note, some teams still have local journalists covering them, and there are a variety smaller independent media outlets (GiveMeSport, Backheeled, The Blazing Musket, SixOneFive Soccer, Sounder at Heart and many more) emerging which can be great sources for transfer news, injury updates and a more unfiltered view of teams.
Fantasy Advice
Let’s start with the most obvious one: The MLS Fantasy Boss site and socials, the MLS Fantasy Insider podcast, and the MLSFB Discord are all great places to go for advice. The Boss has stepped up his content game this season. The Weekly Fantasy Rankings have found a new home on the site, along with new articles featuring every day during matchweeks (including this one!). A lot of the top managers in FMLS over the past several years are involved in creating content for the site, are guests on the podcast, and are active on the Discord. The accumulated knowledge here goes deep, and you can learn a lot just by listening and reading advice from these managers. Additionally, several members of the Discord have created their own avenues for sharing advice. For instance, Andrew Tingkang (@agtk) writes a fantasy column on Sounder at Heart and you can often find members posting links to their content in the #odds-ranks-stats channel in the MLSFB Discord. Outside the Discord, there are a variety of podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs and even Twitter/X/bluesky threads with FMLS advice.
Stats and Analysis
Should I spend up for Dayne St. Clair this week? How many SPs is Dante Sealy actually taking? Is Cengiz Ünder getting enough touches to make my midfield? When I’m evaluating players on the bubble of making my team, it’s time to dig into the underlying numbers. There are a variety of free and subscription-based sources for stats and analysis: FBRef, American Soccer Analysis, and Backheeled are a few I frequent for my research. Apps like FotMob can be useful, too, especially as a source for player-specific stats (although I don’t recommend relying on them for lineup predictions). The Athletic occasionally does some stat dives as well (some courtesy of the Discord’s own @John). And other Discord members create independent stat content as well – @motleybarnets and @carlos9359 post weekly social links to their own work, and @ryanalytic (Lineup IQ) had a much-loved source of matchup analysis for several years before taking a break to focus on non-fantasy life (apparently that’s a thing that exists).
How Does this Apply for Week 9?
How you choose to use these resources will vary. For my part, I like to start the week reading recap articles to get a sense of what went right or wrong for teams in the week before and determine who’s on form. Once I’ve made my initial team, I listen to and read several sources of advice to see if there’s any players I missed, whether they’re chalk or differentials. And finally, if I’m struggling to make decisions between players, that’s the time when I start to look at head-to-head records, home and away splits, xG, shots allowed and all the other fun stuff that stats can reveal. By that time, I usually feel pretty good about my team and just wait for lineups to drop. Hopefully, these resources can help you feel better prepared going into this week. Good luck, 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
