MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 12

Written by

Updated on May 15, 2019 10:08AM EST

The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 12. While they can be used for DFS purposes, they are done with a focus on the league's season-long game.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, or hit up JD on Twitter @dfsMLS.

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	14.4	He's averaging a goal and half of an assist PER GAME. This is easy.
2	Alberth Elis	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	11.3	Elis hasn't been noticeably better at home than on the road this year, but I won't complain about him getting to stay in Houston for both games. He has four goals and five assists in just eight full starts.
3	Mauro Manotas	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	11.2	A different playing style than Elis, but one that has resulted in very similar production making him a good pivot if you need to take a chance to make up ground. Manotas looks to be heating up a little lately, too.
4	Josef Martinez	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	10.2
5	Wayne Rooney	DCU at TOR, at HOU	10.7	Neither of these are appealing fixtures for Rooney, but thanks to his role on set pieces on a quality side, he still has enough to justify strong consideration.
6	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	9.4	Since his hattrick in DC, he has no goals and one assist in six games. That's not good enough for a featured attacker on the league's best team. I'm not concerned about Rossi's production finding it's way back but using him in one of your precious three LAFC spots this week is a little risky.
7	Latif Blessing	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	8.8	Blessing's recent social media grumbling may not sit well with Bob Bradley and the LAFC Front Office, but should he avoid discipline and play in both matches, he'll be squarely in the second tier of fantasy forwards.
8	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	10.1	Fresh off of his first start since getting injured, Ruidiaz isn't a lock to play both games, but Orlando is a tasty opponent and Seattle have enough firepower even without Victor Rodriguez.
9	Hector Villalba	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	7.9	I'm not certain what rotation will look like for Atlanta this week, but Villalba deserves to keep starting given his strong recent performances.
10	Christian Ramirez	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	6.3	Like Rossi, he keeps starting with little fantasy production but LAFC keep winning. Stay the course.
11	Dom Dwyer	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	7.5	Starts are not assured for Dwyer, but you'd think he's a lock to play at home against FC Cincinnatti. Anything in Seattle is a bonus.
12	Jordan Morris	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	7.3
13	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	11.3	Jozy missed three games and then entered as a substitute in the last one, so betting on him in this double game week may be optimistic.
14	Fredy Montero	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	8.3	I'm not certain he'll continue to take all of the team's set pieces as he did last match, but that'd be a nice boost to try and smooth over his quiet outings.
15	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. COL	12.8
16	Jesus Ferreira	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	6.4
17	Adama Diomande	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	7.9
18	Jordan Hamilton	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	5.6
19	Krisztian Nemeth	SKC v. VAN	8.3
20	Kacper Przybylko	PHI v. SEA	6.2

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	13.3	Attacking upside lifts him over Lodeiro for me.
2	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	10.9	He's put in way more disappointing fantasy shifts than Pozuelo this year. That said, Orlando presents a nice cupcake matchup at home.
3	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	10.7	The hero of the last LAFC DGW. He has six or more points in a whopping nine straight starts!
4	Mark-Anthony Kaye	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	11.0	Another strong play from LA, but just lacks the consistency of Atuesta.
5	Cristian Roldan	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	9.8	This ranking has little to do with his fortuitous pair of recent golazos and more to do with virtually guaranteed playing time in a pair of solid matchups. Roldan consistently finds ways to milk points out of most of his appearances.
6	Tomas Martinez	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	8.9	I'd rather not play a midfielder that seems to be allergic to earning FMLS bonus points, but Houston does have a nice pair of home games.
7	Pity Martinez	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	8.4	With a rough travel schedule, I'm not certain Pity is going to be playing three in eight days.
8	Memo Rodriguez	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	6.9	If Quioto is ready to start a match, Memo could be sacrificed in the starting eleven.
9	Jonathan Osorio	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	10.1	Osorio always finds himself just outside of my fantasy lineup, but he deserves credit for far more quality shifts than disappointing ones. There's no reason to go with Michael Bradley instead if you can afford the extra $0.4.
10	Julian Gressel	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	9.4	Gressel is one of the surer bets to play in both Atlanta games this week.
11	Luciano Acosta	DCU at TOR, at HOU	9.8	If he wants to be sold this summer he, uhhhh...better pick his game up.
12	Michael Bradley	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	9.7
13	Bryan Acosta	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	7.4	I wouldn't balk at somebody ranking Acosta as high as the #5 midfielder this week.
14	Michael Barrios	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	9.1
15	Paul Arriola	DCU at TOR, at HOU	8.4	A lack of bonus point production hurts when there's no guarantee for a goal or assist over two games this week.
16	Hwang In-beom	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	7.6
17	Chris Mueller	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	6.0	Some amateur Twitter sleuthing makes it sound like Nani didn't travel to Seattle. Mueller remains one of Orlando's most dynamic players and while two starts may be wishful thinking, I'd take 120 minutes at this price.
18	Eric Remedi	DCU at TOR, at HOU	5.8	Cheap and fairly reliable points on a team you probably aren't using three guys from.
19	Pablo Aranguiz	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	5.8
20	Darlington Nagbe	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	8.2	Junior Moreno was neck and neck for the final spot, but Nagbe is slightly more consistent and I like his matchups better (both have double road games).

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	10.0	There's a pretty clear hierarchy of clean sheet potential this week, and LAFC sits at the top.
2	Steven Beitashour	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	8.5
3	Eddie Segura	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	8.3
4	Maynor Figueroa	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	6.9	It's easy to forget how well Houston has been playing. They have five wins and one draw at home, and have allowed multiple goals just once of those six.
5	Jordan Harvey	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	7.9
6	Kim Kee-Hee	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	7.2	Orlando travelling across the country and probably resting a handful of starters would be enough for a high ranking in and of itself. While the cross-country trip to Philly isn't ideal, and the Union are playing well, I don't hate that game either.
7	Adam Lundqvist	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	5.2	A piece of the set piece action at a low cost.
8	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	8.0	More assured of two starts than the Seattle left backs.
9	Brad Smith	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	7.8	Joevin Jones is more of a winger now than left back, so I think Smith might be ok for now. If he starts on Wednesday, I'd feel comfortable enough to use him in FMLS.
10	Aljaz Struna	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	5.8	Struna missed the last match with what sounds like a very minor injury. I'd expect him to return in place of Fuenmayor for both, but there are surely safer options.
11	Miles Robinson	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	8.3	Atlanta have been rock solid in defense lately. Two road matches is far from ideal, but the opponents are beatable.
12	Chris Mavinga	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	7.4	Laurent Ciman's short-term injury may be addition by subtraction for the Reds who could conceivably hold either of these opponents scoreless.
13	Leandro Gonzalez Pirez	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	9.2
14	Reto Ziegler	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	8.5	This is a shameless hope for Dallas earning a penalty kick, because they aren't likely to keep LAFC at bay.
15	Ali Adnan	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	6.7	Two very tough games, but it's impossible not to recognize Adnan's dynamic attacking contributions.
16	Justin Morrow	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	6.6
17	Eriq Zavaleta	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	4.0	Ciman appears likely to miss the next two which would make Zavaleta a minimum priced addition to my fantasy bench!
18	Steve Birnbaum	DCU at TOR, at HOU	8.7
19	Chad Marshall	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	7.4	Marshall has been battling through some knee issues lately, which means him and Torres are pretty likely to at least split this week. Marshall playing both would vault him up into the top #10, whereas Torres playing two would be a few spots below that.
20	Joao Moutinho	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	5.7	I'm expecting some heavy rotation for Orlando on Wednesday, but with a nice second matchup at home over the weekend, any points from a usual starter would be enough to put them in consideration.

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Tyler Miller	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	7.4	Dallas are not a cakewalk, but it's tough to bet against the league's best team. I'd probably look elsewhere for my keeper though since we only have three precious spots for LAFC players.
2	Stefan Frei	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	7.4	Frei sees a lot of shots. Frei saves a lot of shots.
3	Joe Willis	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	6.6
4	Brad Guzan	ATL at VAN, at NYRB	8.3	Not at this price. The 5-Stripes have been shutting teams down, though.
5	Brian Rowe	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	6.7	The second leg against FCC will hopefully be able to outweigh the Seattle match.
6	Bill Hamid	DCU at TOR, at HOU	7.8
7	Quentin Westberg	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	5.3	Remains mildly likely to rotate with Bono, but has the upper hand.
8	Maxime Crepeau	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	6.7
9	Jimmy Maurer	DAL at LAFC, v. LAFC	5.0
10	Tim Melia	SKC v. VAN	6.4

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Russell Canouse	DCU at TOR, at HOU	6.6	Rookie star on the RotoWire Fantasy Soccer podcast Daniel Bramlette, correctly pointed out that Canouse's return to the lineup massively helped DC United. He should continue starting.
2	Harry Shipp	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	4.9	With Joevin Jones and Handwalla Bwana lurking, I'm not super comfortable taking the discounted Shipp and assuming he'll play both games.
3	Romell Quioto	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	7.0	He's been working his way back from a knee injury, and those sub appearances have brought his price down to a very appealing level. If he's starting Wednesday and you need the savings for a third forward, this would be tempting.
4	Marquinhos Pedroso	DCU at TOR, at HOU	4.9	I can get behind Pedroso as an option from our fantasy benches.
5	Marco Delgado	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	6.6
6	Lucas Venuto	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	5.5
7	Lee Nguyen	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	6.9	I'm not using my LAFC spot on somebody highly unlikely to start two games, but he might be ready for one full appearance.
8	Jhegson Mendez	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	6.1	We could certainly unearth some DGW values if we knew Orlando's starting lineup for both matches ahead of time. But we're left to guess if Kljestan, Akindele, Will Johnson, or some others will be in the mix for 150+ minutes. Mendez is currently my best bet.
9	PC	VAN v. ATL, at SKC	4.8
10	Dominique Badji	ORL at SEA, v. FCC	5.6

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	14.4	If you're chasing a top spot and need to pivot, sorry!
2	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. DCU, at RSL	13.3	He IS averaging more fantasy points than Vela...
3	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA v. ORL, at PHI	10.9	Have to hope VRod being out pushes Lodeiro into the offensive action a little more.
4	Alberth Elis	HOU v. POR, v. DCU	11.3	If I needed a huge, last gasp chance, type of captain to catch up then Elis may be my pick.
5	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC v. DAL, at DAL	10.7	I guess Atuesta would be a good captain if you found out right before the match that Vela twisted his ankle tripping on a sprinkler or something.