MLS Fantasy Boss A Fantasy MLS Community
By: The Fantasy Physician
Weeks 5 Big Question – How do I factor player exhaustion/rotation from CCC in my Week 5 player choices
Last week we examined lists of top Kickbase players from 2025 and the nascent 2026 season. I handed out some warnings that quite a few of those players – often found on the best teams – had a total of 5 matches over the course of two weeks because of midweek matches in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC); those players are at risk for either rotation or exhaustion. Usual go-to point-getters – Lionel Messi and Anders Dreyer – saw respectively zero and 42 minutes and scores to match those times last weekend. Sebastian Berhalter played 69 minutes in Vancouver’s thrashing of Minnesota, posting a monster score, but has now played nearly 4 full games in 10 days’ time as he approaches this weekend.
This special FSC Urgent Care Edition will update you on where many of the top players – according to Kickbase Scoring – are as they approach the last match of that grueling stretch. Many can see the light at the end of the tunnel with an international break in MLS just ahead. You want to know who will be sprinting into that break and who may be crawling.
Going into Week 5, which top players got some rest and which are going to need it?
In last week’s column we looked at 2 charts – top players from 2026 ie who is hot now and top players from the full season of 2025, acknowledging that a bigger data set has its own predictive strength. And we speculated on how CCC action would impact some of these players. With both legs of CCC under teams’ collective belts, there is a lot to consider going into week 5.
Let’s start with this chart of the top 2026 players after the first four weeks of the season. Players on this list were in the top 25 in point totals after week 3 or week 4 (or both) and are ranked by their current average.
(highlights key: yellow – caution taking this player as may see limited minutes or may see upside limited by his or his team’s fatigue , red – do not take this player, almost certainly out, green – likely limited or no impact of CCC duty)
What about the Top 25 from 2025 (again, 2025 averages represent a lot more data)?
(highlights: mint green on left – also in top 25 in 2026, yellow on right – caution in taking in next two weeks, green – no impediments likely from CONCACAF duties)
Players to Fade and Players to Take from CCC teams in Week 5
Let’s look again team by team:
- Philadelphia: Not a lot of good choices and fatigued by CCC action. Lost to Club America in Mexico on Wednesday.
- Cincinnati: Evander seems to be back from injury. They won 3-0 win over Tigres in Leg 1 of CCC but then blew it in a tough 5-1 loss in Mexico late on Thursday. I would consider Evander because the opponent is Montreal, but there is some risk in taking any Cincinnati players.
- LAFC: Won the series, tying stout Costa Rican side Alajuelense in Los Angeles and then beating them 2-1 in Costa Rica. LAFC has not rotated too much, and some of the key players have played a great deal. Kickbase darling Stephen Eutaquio remains out due to injury. Denis Bouanga is known for his fitness but even he has his limits. I like David Martinez who has rotated and is in electric form. He is going to play and is going to keep shooting.
- Miami and Nashville: 0-0 high energy draw in leg 1 and then Nashville won the series with a 1-1 draw in Miami by virtue of the away goals rule this past Wednesday. Messi and DePaul rested last weekend, and the big three attackers from Nashville – Surridge, Mukhtar, and Christian Espinoza – came in late last weekend in MLS week 4. Any one of them could rest more, but managers will be tempted to take them anyhow given the difficulties Orlando has faced, having already fired their manager this early in the season. Unless I hear unexpected news, Messi is my captain this week, even though (or perhaps because) he burned me and others by not playing last weekend. I like Espinoza most from the players in the Nashville front line.
- Los Angeles Galaxy: Beat Jamaican side Mt. Pleasant Academy somewhat handily 6-0 on aggregate though will have travelled a lot in a short time. Joao Klauss, Marco Reuss, and Gabriel Pec got enough rest to consider any of them against a leaky Portland defense this Sunday. Pec in particular is on fire, having scored 5 goals across the two Mt. Pleasant games, and he will want to redeem himself after serving a red card suspension in MLS last weekend, knowing his absence may have cost LA the game again Sporting Kansas City. Centerback Jakob Glesnes is injured, his absence may make Portland attackers more attractive.
- San Diego FC: Remarkably, San Diego beat Toluca 3-2 in the first leg after red cards brought them down to 9 men but were crushed 4-0 in Toluca on Wednesday night. Defender Manu Duah and forward Marcus Ingvartsen are the safest choices because they did not play midweek; they were the people who got the red cards in leg 1. Dreyer and Tverskov did get some rest last weekend, but the combination of the emotional and physical demands of this past two weeks and opponent RSL’s unexpected pluck in 2026 has me fading San Diego mostly. This is a calculated risk because Dreyer and Tverskov are top Kickbase players.
- Seattle and Vancouver: Seattle beat Vancouver in leg 1 of CCC in Vancouver and then took care of business in Tacoma (still a four hour drive from Seattle) in leg 2. Seattle rotated enough to consider their top players, but I expect that the Minnesota team – returning from a 6-0 comprehensive evisceration by Vancouver last weekend (apologies to anyone who faded Berhalter at my behest) will likely try to lock things down. Rusnak and Christian Roldan are viable but not risk-free choices. Last week’s top point getter – defender Matias Laborda – and the current top player in Kickbase – Sebastian Berhalter – were brilliant choices last week, but I think may hit the wall this week, if they do not rest. Brian White may have rested enough to make him a viable choice against a resurgent but not flawless San Jose Earthquakes.
Kickbase managers must consider CCC impacts on player selection, but keep in mind that other managers are in the same boat as you. Accept that you will make incorrect predictions. There are thirty MLS teams playing this weekend, and 21 of them did not play in CCC. The menu looks different this week but still has plenty of great choices, maybe more than the usual number.
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
