So, you’ve decided to play Fantasy MLS, but you don’t know where to start. You’ve come to the right place! Believe it or not, I was like you not so long ago: wide-eyed, uncertain, and generally perplexed. The world of Fantasy MLS contains a ton of data to take in. Luckily, playing is relatively straight-forward. Winning, on the other hand, will take strategy, perserverence, and a sizeable helping of good-old-fashioned luck. I’m here to help you with the first two. Before I do that, though, let’s take a look at what it takes to get your team started.
The Basic Rules
Managers of Fantasy MLS teams will each select a roster of 18 players. Each MLS player is assigned a certain value in fantasy money, and the team value of the roster cannot be more than $120 million. Managers cannot have more than four players on the same MLS team in their roster at any time. The positions are divvied up as follows:
| Position | Amount on Roster | Value Range |
|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | 2 | $4.0 - $6.0 |
| Defender | 6 | $4.0 - $9.0 |
| Midfielder | 6 | $4.0 - $11.0 |
| Forward | 4 | $4.5 - $11.0 |
How Scoring Works
Players will earn points based on their performances in each match. Goals, assists, and clean sheets are the bread-and-butter of FMLS points scoring, but there are several ways to earn bonus points, including clearances, blocks, interceptions, key passes, and crosses. MLSSoccer.com provides real-time scoring to keep the managers up-to-date on all of the players’ points tallies.
Match Management
During each fantasy round, you will select 11 players from your roster to form a fantasy team. Your team will consist of exactly one goalkeeper, 3-5 defenders, 2-5 midfielders, and 1-3 forwards. In addition to that, you will select one of the 11 to be your captain. The captain gets double points, so choose carefully. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of a captain with negative points in a round, which were then doubled. It’s not pretty.
Your remaining seven substitutes can replace your starters in two different ways. One way is to set them up in order of preference, and have the game automatically substitute out any of your starters that did not play any minutes in the round. Alternatively, at any point in the round, you can manually make substitutions, but if and ONLY if the two teams of the players that you are trying to swap have not started a match for the round. Be careful with manual substitutions, though! Once you make a manual subsition in a round, automatic substitutions *will no longer take place* for the round.
Salary Captain
$120 million may seem like a lot of money, but you will be hard-pressed to field a team of 18 players that are all regular starters. Balance the expensive players with two or three cheap reserve players to start the season, but make sure you have at least 12 or 13 that are going to start every match. Unlike previous Fantasy MLS seasons, the players’ values will rise or fall based on their fantasy performance. If a player does better than the average weekly score for all of the players in his position for any given match, the player’s value will rise. Be careful, though! If a player does poorly enough, the value will drop.
The Revolving Door
Managers are provided with two free transfers each round in order to make adjustments to their roster between match weeks. Managers are allowed to make as many transfers as they like, but the cost is four points to the weekly score PER TRANSFER, so spend them wisely! One unused transfer can be banked for future weeks, but managers cannot have more than one extra banked at any given time, and banked transfers go away during each of the five “unlimited transfer weeks”. On top of that, Fantasy MLS is kind enough to offer each manager one “mulligan” — a transfer wildcard, usable once, that allows the manager to make unlimited transfers with no penalty.
What Now?
Now that you know the basics, the best advice I can give is to go sign up your team and start tinkering with your lineup. Transfers are unlimited until the MLS season kicks off, and the best way to visualize how your team is going to shape up is to try and actually build one… or ten! There are a ton of combinations to choose from. Don’t get frustrated about being somewhat limited in your selection, though — you can’t make an All-Star team at the start of the season. Go forth, and let me know how your teams are shaping up!
(image courtesy of Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports)
