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2025 MLS Fantasy – Top 10 Forwards
With the scoring changes of 2024, essentially putting the bulk of fantasy scoring on goal contributions, forwards have become a much more dominant position in FMLS. Prior to last year, the weekly chalk was stacked with midfielders, with one (sometimes two) starting forwards, who were more often than not put on the bench for the boom/bust hedge. In 2024, forwards ruled the competition:
- 10 of the top 25 in average fantasy points.
- Captain of the dream team in 50% of the game weeks.
- Seven of the 16 players to hit 200+ points.
The formational debate in 2024 wasn’t whether to roster a third forward, but which forward should be your third choice, often to battle it out with a boom/bust midfielder on the bench, or against a late defender for the clean sheet hunt. I expect this to be the case again in 2025, even more so if aerial duels return as a scoring stat.
My Top 10 Forwards rankings are based primarily on 2024 FMLS performance, combined with my own personal expectations for 2025 (based on off season changes to rosters/coaching/tactics/etc.) and how crucial this player will be to your weekly score (or inversely, how painful your week will be if you choose to go without). The higher the ranking, the bigger the lock this player ought to be (prior to accounting for other factors, such as home vs away, fixture congestion, etc.).
Numbers 10 – 6
- Dejan Joveljic
Dejan had a breakout season in 2024, averaging a goal contribution every 96 minutes and ranking second in the league in xG/90, with .74. He had 15 goals and 5 assists playing for a Galaxy front three so high flying that he didn’t need to be the focus, now on his way to a struggling Sporting Kansas City where he will be, and I see that added pressure as a good thing. He’s ready to take that step up and be the face of a team. Is he the solution for all of SKC’s problems? Not at all. But he’s got a strong nose for goal and great at link up play, and that spells fantasy success.
- Cedric Teuchert
It’s pretty rare for a summer transfer signing to make an immediate impact. Tuechart started in St. Louis’ last 10 fixtures of the regular season, and in that time registered nine goal contributions (five goals and four assists). Teuchert is a versatile attacker, a chance creator and a shot taker, all things that generally translate to good fantasy production. While he might not be as dynamic as the other players on this list, he finished the regular season with a respectable 6.25 average (6.5 if you add in the points from the two games he played prior to being added to FMLS).
- Jesus Ferreira
I can already hear you shouting, “Homer!” Correct. But Ferreira has a proven track record of success in MLS, averaging 18.5 goal contributions per year over the past four seasons. He did have some injury struggles last year, but I’m hopeful the change in scenery will help him find his previous form. The prospect of Ferreria linking up with Rusnak, de la Vega, and Morris, both creating chances and getting on the end of them, has me very excited as a Sounders fan, and I believe he’ll quickly earn his spot in the conversation of the weekly must-have forwards.
- Kelvin Yeboah
Another summer signing that quickly made his presence felt, Kelvin scored a brace in his first match in MLS and never took his foot off the gas pedal, helping buoy this team into the playoffs with seven goals and one assist in his eight regular season matches. Granted, three of those goals were penalties, and the team as a whole still has some question marks regarding quality, but it’s clear that Yeboah is ‘the guy’ for Minnesota, and that’s a good thing for fantasy.
- Jona Rodriguez
Jona is a perfect example of what I like to call a ‘floor-ward,’ a forward with a decent point floor. He rarely scored below a 4, even without a goal contribution, almost always getting bonus points for key passes and shots on goal. He’s a versatile attacker, registering 16 goals and 5 assists last season. The big concern here is whether Evander stays with the team. Nothing confirmed as of the time of this writing, but if he doesn’t, this attack won’t be nearly as threatening, and I’d expect a drop off from the Timbers attack as a whole.
Numbers 5 – 1
- Luis Suarez
I completely underestimated Suarez going into last season. All the talk of his knees falling apart had me doubting his ability to tear it up in MLS. It didn’t take long for him to prove the doubters wrong as he sank his teeth into this league, finishing the year with 29 goal contributions, tied for 4th with Cucho and Bouanga. Easy to say he could have a drop off in 2025, as he’s been expected to for several years now, but until we actually see his leg fall off he will be a threat in the box. Avoid at your own peril.
- Christian Benteke
The reigning MLS Golden Boot winner suffered from being streaky, with hat tricks and braces scattered between weeks of disappointment. While he did find some more consistent form towards the end of the season, it was still hard for him to shake the cheeky (but well-earned) nicknames of ‘Blank-teke’ and ‘Bench-teke.’ Despite the blanks, Benteke had the 8th most fantasy points last year, with 223, and being on the wrong end of a Benteke boom always hurt. All that said, if (and it’s a big if) the aerial dual stat is implemented in the scoring for the new season, then Benteke jumps straight up to the top spot on this list. Here’s why: as listed in the rules of the game at the start of the 2024 season, a player was to score one point for every three aerial duels won. For whatever reason, that stat wasn’t registering correctly in FMLS on week 1, so they scrapped it for the year. Benteke had 310 aerial duels won in 2024, a full 200 more than the player in second. That would have brought his total score to 326, more than 50 pts higher than the games top player (Puig, 272). This stat (if counted in FMLS) would give Benteke the highest base point floor in the game, with an expected 4-5 points minimum per match (2 points for minutes played, 2-3 points for aerial duels won, assuming he can maintain the 2024 average of 10.3 per match). That’s weekly set-and-forget territory.
- Gabriel Pec
Talk about consistency. Pec started every Galaxy match from week 5 on, registering a goal contribution in 19 of his 30 starts. He finished 2024 strong, hitting 6+ in all but two matches from week 17 through the end of the regular season, scoring a goal in each of his last five matches (along with three assists). The big concern here is how well Pec (and the Galaxy attack in general) will fare with Puig out for most (maybe all?) of the season. Pec is perfectly poised to put this team on his shoulders in Puig’s absence, but will the Galaxy still be as formidable? My gut says not likely, but I still expect Pec to be a top FMLS forward.
- Denis Bouanga
Even with 29 goal contributions (tied for 4th most in the league), Denis was also a bit streaky last season, with pockets of blanks sandwiched by braces. Being on the wrong side of those goal flurries can be very frustrating for a fantasy manager. But that said, he’s still the key figure in what is a perennially high-flying attack, and should always be in the conversation when LAFC have a strong matchup.
- Lionel Messi
Goat. ‘Nuff said.
For reals though, if Messi’s starting, he should be in your lineup, and probably captained. Messi had the highest point average per game in FMLS last season, with 11.26, more than a full point and a half higher than the player in second (Evander, 9.54). Should we be concerned that he’s going to miss a ton of time to injury and fixture congestion? Probably. But even when returning from injury, he almost always went the full 90 when he started. The point potential is way too high to risk missing out.
Honorable Mentions:
These forwards didn’t quite make Top 10 Forwards cut, all with some factors that give me pause, but I think could have a very good fantasy season.
- Brandon Vazquez
A proven commodity in MLS who is reportedly already tearing it up in preseason, and looks to be the presumptive penalty taker. The hesitation here is the high turnover with the team. It can take a while for an attack to start gelling fully after a rebuild, and 9’s have historically struggled in Austin – no center striker has registered more than 9 goal contributions in a regular season with the club. I remember hailing Austin’s acquisition of Gyasi Zardes as a ‘home run’ signing, but look how that turned out.
- Alonso Martinez
Seemingly having won the starting spot over a struggling Bakrar, Martinez started every match but one from week 19 on, with 10 goals and two assists in 14 starts at the end of the regular season, with an average of 6.43 across those 14 matches. A couple of question marks remain, however. Will he still have the starting spot locked down? And while he’s scoring goals at a decent clip, he rarely goes full 90, hindering his ability to earn bonus points (he only registered 8 in his last 14 matches). I’m optimistic, and Martinez has earned at least a look when NYC have a good fixture.
- Chucky Lozano
Lozano’s positioning in FMLS is still TBD, but I suspect he’ll be a forward, and I fully expect him to be ‘the guy’ for the expansion club. The roster build looks good on paper, but it remains to be seen if that translates to on-pitch success. I’m cautiously optimistic.
- Chicho Arango
Chicho started 2024 in MVP caliber form then fell off a cliff in the summer, logging just one goal and two assists after week 15. Despite that, he still ended the season with the 17th highest average in the game (6.87). Will the change of scenery get him back to his previous goal scoring ways? San Jose have typically been a wing attack team, with Cristian Espinoza lobbing in crosses, but Chicho’s aerial game isn’t that strong. If anyone can figure it out it’s Bruce Arena, but I’m hands off until we start seeing results.
Contributor: Isaac Jensen, @ZenVikingFC aka @KungFuOrca aka @SamuraiPanda on Discord
