Matchups are one of the most important factors to consider when crafting your fantasy lineup each week. In MLS, where home field provides a greater advantage than most leagues, players frequently deal with cross country travel and multiple competitions, which can impact performance. It’s important to consider these factors, as well as performance metrics such as home/away form and player injuries to pinpoint favorable matchups. Each week I’ll focus on a few matchups you should target to help your team collect those precious fantasy points. Let’s dive into the week 14 slate.  

Seattle Sounders vs FC Dallas (Sat, 3:00 PM ET)

The first match on this weekend’s slate is a fantasy goldmine on paper. FC Dallas head to New Jersey midweek for a U.S. Open Cup clash with the Red Bulls before flying straight to Seattle for this one. That’s a lot of minutes and mileage for one week, and with Dallas likely to go all-in on the Open Cup match, we could see a heavily rotated—or just dead—lineup on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Sounders will be fresh after a full week of rest. According to bet365, Seattle’s implied odds are 70% to win and 50% to keep a clean sheet—you don’t often see numbers that high in MLS. This is a prime spot to load up on Seattle and hopefully cash in on some early points. 

PLAYER TARGETS:

• Albert Rusnak (MID, SEA)
• Alex Roldan (DEF, SEA)
• Danny Musovski (FWD, SEA)
• Stefan Frei (GK, SEA)

San Diego FC vs LA Galaxy (Sat, 4:45 PM ET)

This is a rematch of San Diego’s inaugural game in Week 1—in which they stunned the reigning MLS Cup champions with a 2-0 win on the road. Now in Week 13, the two sides meet again with very different outlooks. The Galaxy remain winless, as well as leading MLS in GA and xGA, though a 2-2 draw led by Marco Reus against LAFC may inspire some confidence going into this one. San Diego, on the other hand, continue the dream start to their inaugural season in MLS—sitting third in the Western Conference and playing some of the best attacking soccer in the league. I’m not going to fully count the Galaxy out, but I definitely lean towards San Diego’s fantasy options here. Anders Dreyer and Chucky Lozano will be the first names on my team sheet this week, and depending on lineups, I might get into my DiffeRANCHals bag and take a shot on a Galaxy attacker. 

PLAYER TARGETS:

• Chucky Lozano (FWD, SD)
• Anders Dreyer (MID, SD)
• Christopher McVey (DEF, SD)
• Gabriel Pec (FWD, LAG)

Orlando City vs Portland Timbers (Sat, 7:30 PM ET)

The Portland Timbers, like FC Dallas, are facing a tough schedule with two away matches this week. The first came last night in a 1-0 Open Cup loss to San Jose after a long match that went to extra time. Most of the Timbers’ attack was rotated, but their defense remained near full strength—and I imagine Orlando’s attackers will be licking their chops at the prospect of a tired or rotated backline. Although they have an extra day of rest compared to the teams that play their Open Cup match on Wednesday, the Timbers still have to travel coast to coast for this out of conference matchup. Orlando also play midweek, but they have the luxury of staying home, which should give them a nice edge here. This is a great spot for Orlando. Portland come in on tired legs and low spirits after getting bounced from the Open Cup, and I’m seriously considering a Martin Ojeda, Marco Pasalic, and Luis Muriel triple-up. Just me? 

PLAYER TARGETS:

• Martin Ojeda (MID, ORL)
• Marco Pasalic (MID, ORL)
• Luis Muriel (FWD, ORL)
• Santi Moreno (MID, POR)

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Contributor: Eli Redpath, @vurkes on Discord