MLS Fantasy Boss A Fantasy MLS Community
By: The Fantasy Physician
Round 1 Big Questions – How Do I Navigate the MLS Fantasy Landscape After the Earthquake that Struck in 2026?
Fantasy Strategy Clinic is back in 2026! Now do you hear that Aladdin music playing in the background? Well, on February 9 – twelve short days before the MLS’s season kickoff – we learned that everything we used to know (and in most cases love) about the Fantasy MLS game has changed. It is indeed a whole new world. Major League Soccer announced the replacement of the Fantasy MLS game that inspired the first year of this column in 2025 with a new game via an official partnership with German fantasy football outfit Kickbase. Kickbase has operated games for the Bundesliga and La Liga for over a decade, and that day launched their strictly phone application-based product for MLS. At the same time, well known soccer stats website Sofascore launched its own MLS fantasy game as have at least two other organizations.
If you are figuring all this out as you go, so are we. We at Fantasy Strategy Clinic had spent years mastering the legacy FMLS game (we will call it that). It’s like we had spent a career in medicine taking care of human beings and have now been asked to go back to veterinary school to learn to take care of cats, dogs, lizards, and parrots.
The MLS Fantasy Insider Podcast will continue to do what it has always done: give tips and tricks for the official MLS Fantasy game, which is now Kickbase. Naturally, this article will provide Kickbase managers advice as we did last year for legacy FMLS. The broader MLS Fantasy Boss community that lives and breathes on Discord (join it – now is the time to communicate with people building understanding of the altered MLS fantasy landscape!) is taking on Kickbase but also has shown significant interest in the Sofascore game, in part because some features look like the legacy game.
Fantasy Strategy Clinic articles will have advice on one or the other or both, and we will try to make that clear in the title by ending it with either (Kickbase), (Sofascore), or (Kickbase/Sofascore). We will be learning these games as we go, just like you, dear reader.
Where to Start
Go to the App Store on your phone and download the Kickbase App. It is generally free to play with some features that live behind paywalls, but it is fundamentally playable in the free version. If you want to also play Sofascore from the get-go, head here to sign up.
Kickbase has multiple game modes for its MLS product. Seasonal or Arena mode centers around leagues of up to 18 players. There are both public and private leagues, and of course you can make your own with latitude to set budgets and other features. Rush mode – designated by a lightning bolt at the bottom of the app, involves “challenges” that are either single week (so hop in or hop out when you want to) with changing player-selection rules every week (some set by celebrities) or multi-week challenges. In some, managers pick only 6 players; in others they pick 11 (not 15 because there is no bench). Significantly, Rush mode also includes a bespoke season long MLS Challenge that was developed in close consultation with key figures in the MLS Fantasy Boss community. It is the closest thing to the season long format that anyone who has played legacy FMLS has known. SIGN UP FOR THAT BEFORE THE FIRST MLS MATCH KICKS OFF SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22 SO YOU CAN PLAY THE WHOLE SEASON. Don’t miss that boat!
Understanding Kickbase Scoring: Who Scores Best?
The Kickbase game(s) have different rules than legacy FMLS, notably no rolling lockouts (so you must pick your team each week before the game week starts AND figure out who is going to be playing), no benches, fixed budgets (though different leagues can set different budgets), more possible formations, and a significantly different scoring system which has many more scoreable events – over 100 – than legacy FMLS. You can deep dive the scoring system here.
Instead of parsing out every possible way to score right now, let’s learn a little bit by deduction. What kinds of players score best in Kickbase? Kickbase developers kindly shared a Google Doc spreadsheet with the scores the entire leagues worth of players would have earned based on OPTA stats tracking of their performances in 2025.
Look at this table of the top 21 players by average per week score using the Kickbase system:
Right away we see some things you might expect and some surprises. First, the scale of scores is quite different; top players in legacy FMLS had double digit averages while the best in Kickbase have triple digit averages. The logarithmic increase allows for much more granular point accumulation without using decimals. Top real-life players have top scores, and these are forwards and attacking midfielders, with certain players designated as midfielders in the past now considered forwards (e.g.. Anders Dreyer). There are a few defenders among the top scorers – Jordi Alba, Kai Wagner, and Max Arfsten (the first two of which are no longer in the league) – and they clearly stand out for their attacking prowess. What is Jeppe Tverskov doing in there? Tverskov – the brilliant deep-playing midfield orchestrator from the 2025 debutantes in San Diego FCs – was a rare differential choice at best in 2025 under the previous system. The new game rewards defensive and other actions by midfielders that now appear to put the 6’s and 8’s into play; Mark Delgado and Sergio Busquets were also high performing in this system. Maybe even more surprising is goalkeeper James Pantemis from Portland as the top ranked goalkeeper. Pantemis saved penalties at elite levels and was very active behind a very shoddy defense in 2025. Some combination of these actions made him the best goalkeeper in this system. In the old game, bonus points for goalkeepers and defenders were sparse and a lot of picking them was about identifying teams with higher chances for shutouts and the 5-point bonus that came with those clean sheets. The new game gives decent points for clean sheets (goalkeepers>defenders>midfielders>forwards) but, relatively speaking, these count less and bonus point accumulating actions count more. Clean sheets are no longer king for defenders and goalkeepers. Suffice it to say we will analyze the scoring system more in future articles.
New Faces and Old Face in New Places
The granular Kickbase scoring system seems like an attempt to capture “good player” numerically, and any fantasy game worth its salt wants to give good scores to good soccer players. So regardless of which platform you play on, you will want to keep an eye out for these new and newly relocated players, keeping in mind that arrivistes take time to adjust to MLS.
Players New to MLS
- Anton Saletros, M (CHI) – new Swedish defensive midfielder, will be on some set pieces
- Guilherme, F (HOU) – Brazilian transplant, designated player, part of retooled Houston attack
- Steven Eustaquio, M (LAFC) – centerpiece of Canadian national team now a centerpiece of LAFC’s midfield, looked great in first competitive match in CONCACAF – box-to-box
- German Berterame, F (MIA) – transfer in from Monterrey, prolific Liga MX goal scorer, Messi will feed him breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Facundo Mura, D (MIA) – new starting right back from Racing club in Argentina
- Sergio Reguilon, D (MIA) – new starting left back taking over Jordi Alba’s spot, EPL resume
- Jorge Ruvalcaba, F (RBNY) – new frontline complement to Choupo-Moting and Forsberg
- Ezekiel Alladoh, F (PHI) – Young striker from Ghana via Sweden, will have to watch if he plays with Bruno Damiani or if they platoon but Philadelphia front office has consistently given us strikers that generate goals on the field and points in the fantasy game
- Morgan Guilavogui, F (RSL) – French attacker, designated player, experience in Ligue 1 and Bundesliga
- Timo Werner, F (SJE) – EPL/Bundesliga pedigree, San Jose’s all time biggest signing
- James Rodriguez, M (MIN) – Colombian itinerant superstar
- Iago Teodoro (goes by “Iago”), D (ORL) – 20yo Brazilian CB, captain of Brazil U-20s, will likely start given injury to Robin Jannson
Strong Players Returning to MLS from Stints Abroad
- Facundo Torres F, (AUS) – strong fantasy player, formerly on Orlando, now back from Brazil
- Mateus Bogusz M, (HOU)- strong fantasy player, former LAFC man, now back from Mexico (Cruz Azul)
- Micael D, (MIA) – Brazilian central defender who shined at Houston and will anchor Miami’s strong defense
- Griffin Yow, M (NER) – American youth international brought in by New England
- Mamadou Mbacke Fall (Mbacke in Kickbase) D, (STL) – previously on LAFC, featured on Barcelona’s B team, now back to anchor St Louis’ central defense
Important MLS Veterans Playing on New Teams
- Jayden Nelson, F (AUS) – energetic winger there with Facundo Torres to breathe life into Austin attack
- Joseph Rosales, D (AUS) – defender/wingback transferred from Minnesota – gets into attack just like Anthony Markanich of Minnesota so one of them had to go
- Robin Lod, M (CHI) – skillful MLS Veteran, left Minnesota for Chicago looking for a team that wants to play with the soccer ball
- Dante Sealy, F (COL) – considered a defender in the past, breakout season at Montreal last year
- Tai Baribo, F (DCU) – replaces Christian Benteke as the goal scorer at DC United.
- Jakob Glesnes, D (LAG) – former MLS defender of the year left Philadelphia to anchor Los Angeles Galaxy defense. Players in his position have seen a lot of the ball and should score well
- Justin Haak, D (LAG) – broke out at NYCFC last year playing center back and defensive midfielder, joins retooled Galay defense
- Joao Klauss, F (LAG) – Target striker with hold up skills will play beside Galaxy’s blazing wingers, Pec and Paintsil
- Erik Thommy, M (LAG) – Good fantasy midfielder who could see a lot of action if Marco Reuss is out as he often is
- Dayne St. Clair, G (MIA) – Top MLS Goalkeeper and Canadian international took pay cut to play with Messi and a defense that looked great at the end of 2025 and upgraded in the off season
- Drake Callender, G (MIN) – previous starter at Miami recovered from injury and will now start at Minnesota
- Dagur Dan Thorhallson, M (MTL) – Icelandic attacking right back (now considered a midfielder), was a strong fantasy performer who lost his job at Orlando to Alex Freeman last year. Both have moved on.
- Christian Espinoza, F (NSH) – one of MLS best chance creators of all time, joins front line with Surridge and Mukhtar
- Lewis Morgan, F (SD) – joins San Diegos goal-productive attack – when healthy has been a standout fantasy point-accumulator
- Walker Zimmerman, D (TOR) – dominant center back relocated from Nashville, getting longer in the tooth
Whether you are mourning the passing of the old game or brand new to fantasy soccer or following MLS as a fantasy manager, everyone has a lot to figure out with these new changes, new platforms, and new faces. Fantasy Strategy Clinic is there with you for the ride.
The “Fantasy Physician” is Ron Birnbaum, @Half Century City on Discord
The “Fantasy Therapist” is Mike Leister, @Kenobi on Discord
The “Fantasy Meteorologist” is Asher Malaschak, @Storminator on Discord
The “Fantasy Gastroenterologist” is Christian Ward, @xward on Discord
