DiffeRANCHals: 2026 Week 2

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Welcome back to diffeRANCHals season 5! I can’t believe we already are at 5 consecutive seasons of doing an article about differentials. I wouldn’t have been able to continue for this long without the support of all of the readers along with the contributors who have stepped up to help out. This season is going to be a little bit different compared to previous season due to the divide among locations of where people are playing the fantasy MLS games. For this reason, Meg and I will be focusing on differentials with Kickbase while Matt is focusing on FUTD and xChandyo will be joining the team to write about Sofascore. We’re so excited for this season and hopefully all of you are too. Let’s get into it!

Ranch & Meg’s KB Differentials

Week Results: KB has a color coded system that lets managers know if their picks were great, good, average or a bust so this season, we plan to use the colors to show how our differentials score.

Ranch: Roman Burki, $16.4m (Goalie – St. Louis)

I’m going to start with a goal keeper for the first time in a very long time. This week, I’m looking at Roman Burki for my differential on the week. We’ve always known that Burki is a strong goal keeper, however, with this new scoring system, I believe (and have seen stats) that Burki can perform with amazing scores when a lot of action comes his way. After seeing how Crepeau handled last week and still able to get a 200+ score, I saw the matchup with Burki facing a dominant San Diego team and figured he could do the same. A strong, top tier goal keeper with a sub-par defense against a strong offensive team. Let’s see what happens!

Meg: Joel Waterman, $14m (Defender – Chicago Fire)

The Fire are playing at home and against Waterman’s former team? Sounds like it might be a good time to see how many points one can score versus Montreal. We know the struggles surrounding Montreal, which leans us to think that Chicago automatically should positon themselves in favor of winning this match. I would like to see Waterman back to doing typical game play decisions this week. Will he capitalize and walk away with some avenged points? Who knows… but maybe I want to find out… 

Meg: Samuel Gidi, $11.5m (Midfielder-  FC Cincinatti)

Gigi seems to be comfortable moving around the midfield aiding offensive ball movement while also locking that defensive zone down. Regardless of Evander starting or not, Gidi is a lock. This week they travel to Minnesota but even being on the road, Gidi has the potential to rack up a bunch of points with the KB scoring system! If you have room in your midfield this week, he might very well be worth the look! 

Ranch: Beau Leroux, $17.9m (Midfielder – San Jose)

Beau Leroux and San Jose took me by surprise on opening weekend. Leroux scored 179 points with an assist, which is surprising in and of itself. However, even without the assist, Lerouux would have scored 144 points. That is quite impressive for a player on a team that I was not expecting to be competitive this season. Maybe he can repeat that type of score?

Ranch: Warren Madrigal, $10.7m (Forward – Nashville)

With all of the popular forward this week, I would not advise finding a differential. However, if you do choose to look for one, I would put your eyes on Warren Madrigal. The winger for Nashville was electric in the opening game, ending with a goal and an assist. Although Surridge took the spotlight, Madrigal was not far behind him. With the likes of Mukhtar, Surridge, and Espinoza overshadowing Madrigal, I would think that this entire year he could potentially be considered a differential. Do you want a winger who pushed up in the attack against a leaky FC Dallas defense? If so, take a look at Madrigal.

Meg: Julian Hall, $4.6m (Forward – NY Redbulls)

After banging a brace in week 1, Hall and the Redbulls squad return back home to keep up a winning record. With Michael Bradley as head coach, we still are unsure of how he changes starting lineups matchup to matchup. One would think he will continue to start the hot hand with these young players, which means Hall should for sure be someone you consider this week. If for some crazy reason Hall does not start you could pivot to ECM if necessary but I do believe that Julian Hall will make the starting 11. Plus running him truly frees up a bunch of funds to splurge on other players, making him the true definition of a differential. 

Matt’s FUTD Differentials

While last week didn’t look great on a points, I’d argue Fall, Corbeanu, and Jabbari are still great holds for at least the first part of the season.

Assuming the Week 1 smashes like Hall, Ricketts or David Martinez were already picked up, here are a few under the radar players to bid on now to gain an advantage in Week 2

Week Results: DNP, DNP, 2

Matt: Rafael Santos, $4m (Defender – STL)

St. Louis shocked us all by dominating Charlotte in their 1-1 draw. While his FUTD score didn’t reflect a promising fantasy season, Santos was heavily involved in the attack. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see him on the score sheet more than once this season and a player with that high of upside is someone you want on your team.

Matt: Brooklyn Raines, $2.7 (Midfielder – New England)

I love me a good floor mid. Some of the best draft teams I’ve played relied on consistent floor mids to get me over the line. Raines looks the part after putting up 6 points while getting dominated by Nashville, getting most of his points from passing BPs. That’s something that should last and could make the difference for your team.

Matt: Osaze De Rosario, $4m (Forward – Seattle)

This might be cheating to put DeRo down since he was pundits were singing his praises going into the MLS season, but it’s not hard to imagine the Seattle forward might have gone overlooked on transfer deadline day and after week 1 when other forwards took the limelight. The Sounder’s number 9 spot DeRo’s to lose at this point and while Seattle has a tough road stretch ahead of them, it’s not hard to imagine him scoring 2-3 goals over the next few games against RSL, STL, SJE and Minnesota. 

Chandyo’s SofaScore Differentials

Week Results: 1, DNP, 5

Chandyo: DEF – Rudy Camacho – $4.0M 

Completed 75 of his 80 passes, and 11 Clearances en route for 7 points last week. They play a bad SKC team. I really like the clean sheet chances. 

Chandyo: MID – Andres Cubas – 6.5M (TOR)

Cubas was the 2nd highest scoring MID in VAN last week behind Berhalter and above Mueller. He Registered points in 4 different categories and had a good Sofa score rating. They play Toronto whose defense doesn’t great. He got 7 last week and that was with a YC. I can see the points being there for Cubas again this week. 

Chandyo: FWD – Marcus Ingvartsen – 5.0M (STL) – This one could be a little riskier. He only played 60 minutes but San Diego were up when he got subbed at the 60 minute. He got a goal and an assist, They play STL.