SoccerWise - Over/Under 2026 MLS Lines w/Matt Doyle

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Our favorite annual tradition is back for the second time ever. Matt Doyle the keeper of the numbers rejoins the show to take Tom & Gass through the rankings. The three of them way in on every team in MLS and add in their locks for the five picks they each feel most confident about. Spoilers from DC United at the bottom to reigning MLS Cup champs Inter Miami at the top they talk through it all.**Note this was recorded on 1/27 due to the birth of Carmelo Skattebo Bogert. So some host takes will be dumber than usual.**

Welcome everybody to the biggest moment of the year. 2026, a year in North America that will surround the game of soccer. And the moment that everyone's been waiting for is this, the over under show at soccer wise of the 2026 MLS season. It means Tom Bogart's here. And most importantly, it means the man, the myth, the legend. Matt Doyle, you're back with us. It's good to be back. I just want it for the record.

the over under podcast last year was the most listened to episode of soccer wise is that correct correct yeah correct yeah I thought so Matt Doyle was the most viewed on YouTube as well Matt Doyle moves product that's what I'm hearing right there no it's good to be back boys I look forward to this for the past 365 days I had a blast

doing the numbers last year trying to come up with these lines and for the listeners who are unaware of the lore here. For Tom and me, our favorite podcast of the year is the NBA preseason over under podcast that Bill Simmons used to do with Ryan Rosillo, no, does it with Zach Lowe. It gets us, Jack.

Not David's favorite. For whatever reason, I don't know why. I guess I'm a bit less of a prep school raise middle manager personality. So I'm a little bit less high on the Bill Simmons product there. But I will say this. And as I found out when this came up earlier, I listened to anything on Zach Lowe's feed since forever.

So whatever Bill Simmons and him did on that feed, I listened to. But when they're like, oh, it's split across two parts. Go listen to it on the other side. It was a big unknown and a mystery for me on one side of things. So I hope no one treats our show that way. but if you do, I guess I see you and I understand you. I guess I see you and understand you. I'm learning from both of you.

Tom taught me the word lock earlier, which is a big phrase. He's been tweeting that in the group chat for seven years. He just like not read it. Just like you couldn't even use context clues to figure out. I don't even know what group chat you're talking about. I don't think I'm even a part of it. It's not on LinkedIn.

So God doesn't look at it anymore. Absolutely. So it's not rocket science, but we'll actually, well, it is a little. bit. Apparently it is. We will talk about the method going into this, but we are going to be going through every single team in MLS. Matt Doyle is going to give us an over under estimation number on their points total for the season. And we are going to start to talk about the teams. And then we will

all give an answer at the end. We are recording this last week when this comes out and earlier than we did last year in honor of the impending birth of Cle Anthony Galloway, a follow who is going to be the first born son of Tommy Scoops. And so in worry that we don't know the exact date of that happening and Tom disappearing on us, we are doing this little earlier than last year so we don't have all of the moves locked in. We don't know exactly what every single roster looks like. We feel pretty good about the teams we like and the teams we don't. Doyle, I have been extremely impressed by your ability to just work on yourself day in and day out.

Since last year's over and under. One percent better every day. every day. Optimizing every minute you're awake just to get better. Last year you were inspired to do this, one, because of the show and two, because these numbers didn't really exist. Yeah.

In the MLS stratosphere. How did you feel coming out of that? And how have you felt over the last year you were looking back at your number? I felt a little bit disappointed that I couldn't find MLS futures beside, you know, MLS Cup winner on any of the main betting platforms

nor any of the illegal ones I'm aware of. So I had to make him up. And what I did last year was I talked to the rocket scientists and brain surgeons over at American Soccer Analysis. And I asked them to help me. And they came up way short. So I just did it myself this time. I just used to be clear, that's probably free help on their free time. Correct.

Probably. What do you think? What do you think is coming out of our budget? So I just, I just did, I'm just using my own intuition and vibes and gut feeling here. And, you know, last year I went through the numbers and then I, I revisited them. I think we did it on a podcast late in the year to see how I did. And first of all, I had the best record out of the three of us by actually a pretty good distance. And second of all, you had the most comfort with the numbers because you sat with.

with them the longest. Well, I'm going to talk. I'm going to talk. Well, I don't know if it's that, but I. Christ. Wow. I will say that I did, I, I used some math, some advanced math that Tom would not be capable of doing to compare my lines to the lines that the official sports books put out for the NBA and for, you know, NFL. in Major League Baseball.

And my lines were actually a lot closer to what I would consider to be the quality of a sportsbook line than, like, the Fox NFL experts' lines were to the actual lines and subsequent record in the NFL season. So I'm pretty happy with the way everything went last year, including, again, beating the both of you guys. I just needed like a first, it's GOS theorem. I needed a first year to get my feet wet, understand the country, understand the culture, how to drive to the grocery store, all those types of things. But now I'm locked in and I'm ready to go. I feel very good about this one. Tom, is there anything you'd like to say before we start?

Should I just do the bit that Doyle's been trying to do about the Golden Boot draft where just he just incorrectly claims that he won several years that he didn't? Like, just hang on to that like for this? I mean, the non-penulty golden boot draft, I won like three or four years in a row. Yeah, it's really sick that all of a sudden they stopped counting penalties. They're the second assist of Major League Soccer now, so they no longer count. The XG Golden Bootraft.

Speaking of, we still got the Golden Bootraft on the schedule. We will be doing that as the season gets closer. We will be doing predictions as well in terms of Best 11s, Awards, champion, all that type of stuff. But this is purely for the sweet, sweet, sweet numbers of over under. Matt Doyle, get us started. Drumroll, please, for who you have as last. Oh, we're working bottom.

Yeah. Of course we are. All right. I have DC United last year's wooden spood winners defending their title. I have them at an over under of 28 and a half. I want to point out this is despite the fact that I think they made the right pick with the number one pick in the Superdraft, the Canadian centerback.

Everybody I talked to is like, this kid's going to be a stud. And despite the fact that I really actually do like the type of rebos signing quite a bit. He's the type of goal score who continues to get goals. But I just don't see. Like Sean Nealis is good. Sean Johnson was good last year,

but that kind of an outlier year relative to his recent performance, I don't see enough there. So 28 and a half. I would like just for the show, for the record, it is, I believe, just culturally, you're supposed to call them Dr. D.C. Unite. Right, Dr. D.C.

It's respectful. If they go through the schooling, it's respectful to use the title. Tom, reaction. Go first. I'm going over. I think my general thesis for this one is, like you said, do I do like what they did? They had 26 points last year. I don't see them being worse than last year, and I know that that could be a false premise to start going down just to be like, oh, well, like, this is what they did last year because the league is going to change as a whole. For me, they have a new coach. I can't really see a realistic scenario where even if things are going wrong,

that he's not the head coach. So you're not going to get a season where, you know, think about Toronto FC. Was that the Bob Brett, whatever year in recent memory, where they, it was before John Hurdman took over because he was like, this team sucks and I don't want to put losses on my record. And it was just the poor interim coach lost like 15 games in a row. I don't see that happening with D.C. And my general point is I think that the bottom tier,

teams won't be as bad as it has been in previous year. So I'm going over on DC. Shout out to Terry Dunfield, getting a random shot here in this DC and I did conversation into the year our Lord 2026. I kind of agree with Tom. I think a decent amount of these pieces are coming back and are together. I think there'll be some level of cohesion. I think there is going to be a talent increase in terms of the players they're bringing in

versus how much they're losing. So I'm going to go over on this for context. DC was 26 points last year. You have them at 28 and a half. So that would be at a minimum a three point increase from last season, which I'm going to take. All right. I'm going under 28 and a half because even though I do think they have more talent on the roster this year, I think the East is actually tougher.

If you look at the other bottom teams in the East, I think Toronto is going to be a lot better. I think Montreal's probably going to be better. I think Atlanta is going to be better than they were. I just don't think there's easy points to be found in this conference. So even though DC will probably be a better team overall, I'm taken under 28.5. In the same context to what you just said, though, I think the top's going to come down. I don't think the top four in the east is going to be as strong, which might be a bad way to go about DC and I getting points by getting them off the top four. But I think there's going to be more points to be had for that bottom half.

All right. Good. This is a good disagreement. 29th in my list, Sporting. Kansas City 30 and a half points they have about 12 players on the roster right now go ahead boys Tom I'll go for us on this one I don't see a world in which a team can come together fast enough for this to be a team that is really interesting or takes a jump at all this year I won't be shocked if I feel fine about sporting Kansas City at the end of 2026 like they're moving in the right direction I like some of the moves they make. I like the system they've created and then the types of players they're bringing in.

I just don't see a world in which all of that can happen and be cohesive for a full season when we're at this point in the off season and there's so much work left to do. And none of the staple pieces that are there are like, they don't have Carlos Heel in the team where it's like, all right, as long as you get something around it, it will lift it up.

So I'm going to go under on this sporting KC number. I'm an under as well because 30 and a half, again, there's just too many question marks. As Doyle joked, there are 18 players under contract as of January 27th. Five of those 18 are 20 or younger. Four of those 18 are goalkeepers. And none of the goalkeepers, I think, are particularly good.

Dejan Yovelich, I love, like, just an awesome player, awesome signing. I think he's going to score goals no matter what. Mondagorzi is fine as a DP 10. Is he? Maybe the possibility to go up. We'll see. I think I think fine and we'll learn more obviously this year. I like Jake Davis.

I like Jacob Bartlett. They need new starters the entire backline. So to your point, Goss, that's other teams with holes. Nobody has this many holes, just the sheer lack of quantity on the players. It's not like, hey, let's just, we just need to add a winger. We just need to add a box-a-box midfielder. Yes, that's difficult, but it's more difficult to be like, hey, two new starting centerbacks and two new starting fullbacks or whether it's a total of

three across those four. That's just too much to come together at this point. It's January 27 or less than a season starting. So it's an under. Yeah, it's an under for me too. And I guess I kind of blew it with this line right here. But I just, I don't see all that much to be optimistic about for the 2026 season. Going forward, it's going to be fascinating because we know that David Lee is the new CSO. And, you know, coming from city. football group where he was just a cog in the machine and you have no idea what signings were her it were his and what signings were sort of mandated from the top down now if you um it has been leaked out that like all the good signings were actually his you know all the

all the u22 failures those were those were mandated from manchester um we'll we'll see how true that is and then the coaching hire is like like rathale viki had a lot of success in Switzerland. In MLS, he was one of the worst coaches in league history who had more than 50 games under his belt. So it's like that that Chicago, I don't care if Pep Goreola was the manager of a Gayorke Chicago fire team, right? Like, again, that doesn't necessarily mean that Vicky's going to be great, but I think

that you just toss out everything from that Chicago fire era for the head coach. All right. Well, let's note that down. And let's note that all three of us took the under. on sporting Kansas City. Anybody feel like making that a lock? I don't because if they go and get someone, like I don't want to say Andres Dreyer

because that's an unfair way to go about it, but if they go get someone that I don't expect and it comes together quicker and all of a sudden, sporting Kansas City is playing really hard in August when other people aren't paying attention and they steal six points in a week, then it tanks the whole thing.

The last year, the LA Galaxy who were winless for the first half of the season had 30 points. So like it's it is more difficult to go under that. So it really it really just takes a couple of signs. Yeah, but Eric's Avaletta is not walking through that door. He might. He's a reagent.

St. Louis City went over last year. The Montreal impact are next 28th in my rankings here. 34 and a half points over under. Can I make you start on this one? Because it seems like you have a little confidence here. I actually like their centerback depth. The Chilean goalkeeper they got midway through last year was spectacular. I thought Prince Ousu with Toronto FC was one of the worst center forwards I'd seen in recent MLS history.

He was legit good last year. And not just in one phase of play, right? He was actually able to do a little stuff in terms of combination play. And obviously he's kind of a monster on set pieces. They went out and they spent, or at least they looked prepared to spend on Ivan Jaime who didn't blow everybody away, but this is a guy who's good enough to have, what, Porto and Via or Valencia spend 10 million on him? Like, this is, he has legitimate talent. Now, there's nothing on the wings at this point unless Sinchuk turns into is something good. I have real questions about the roster build through central midfield, but like, I think I named enough already to be confident that this is a team that's going to be better than 30.

34 and a half points. Not a ton better, but I, like I'm taking the over, 34 and a half. Tom. For me, I went back and forth on this

because I do like some of the pieces. Jaime, that's a serious signing. Like you said, that's not something to be done to the best. I'm not doing a bit here. Do we like Jaime as a soccer player or do we just like the theory of it?

Because I'm not sure I saw a ton that I like from him as a soccer player, but the theory seems good. So it's a, I get, I get the point. And I think that a lot of it goes in, like I am putting a lot more on pedigree than maybe necessarily what I saw in Montreal, but that goes back to, I would have done that for anybody, really, that played, what did he have, 600 minutes, whatever it is, right,

at the end of the season for a bad team at that point. So it's more of a bet on pedigree and betting in. He's coming back from injury. I think he's back in full training by now, but I know that he wasn't a full participant from day one of the off-season. season. A Wusu's good. I like the options at centerback.

I don't know if I like how it's all going to come together, right? I can simultaneously be like ovulase, good roll of the dice. Jay and Neil, I liked that deal last year. Brian Bear was a bit of an overpay, but at least he's not a B. He's a competent MLS centerback. And he's, but like, do you trust him to be the best centerback on a team that isn't the worst in the conference? That's why we're 34 and a half points and not 44.5.

So, like, I want to say over, but. there's just too many question marks. There is a world where they get to a Wildcrite game. But I'm going to go under it. If Brian Vera gets hurt, there's a world in which Brandon, Craig, Thomas, Avulays,

and Jalen Neal are starting centerbacks for this team and Tom could win a header over this group. That is a light group of centerback pairing. Meanor guy wins sometime. I don't love the spine for this team. I don't know that I saw anything from a coach. side that makes me feel like this team steals points but at the same time 34 and a half is not crazy and i do think ivan hyme is a better player than anyone that was on the rouse last year and i agree

with you on prince of wusu and i'm still hopeful on some of these younger attacking pieces that some of it comes through and becomes relevant so i'm going to go over on this one even though i feel terrible about it any locks we'll say you went under yeah Okay. All right. Now, 27th. So I feel bad about this one at 27th. I have RSL at 39 and a half points.

Why do you feel bad? You didn't say that about the first three teams. Because they've made the playoffs like five straight years. But they were pretty terrible last year. They ended up on 41 points last year. They might be a little bit better, but like they sold Brian O'Heda, who to me was their most consistent central mission. fielder and they sold brian vera who is a starting caliber center back in this league we are hearing

for like the fourth straight year that they're changing the formation and preseason like every year i'm totally yeah it's going to be a three four you know two one and by game eight it's a four four two uh i don't know i i knocked them down a point and a half 39 and a half gosh you have to go first uh i'm going to go under on this one it feels like Well, one, I'm not going to fall for some of the stuff I fall for in the passive. It's going to be better this year. It's all going to work out. It seems like there's a clear bracket in which they are shopping to improve the team.

And there is almost no return so far in that bracket of players. So why is it that this bounce between league on league due mid-tier European signing is going to be better than the last ones? I don't know where the confidence would come from for that for me. And then you take that out. I don't, there's not a single position with this team that I'm in love with or a way in which I think they're a dominant team. So I love Zavir Gozo. I'm hopeful Luna has a better year with some stability around him.

You love Zavirgozo as a prospect, but not as it go out and get, you know, 18 gold contributions. Yeah, not that. No, but if they were good, you could convince me 12 or 14 to start a year. Like he showed that he could be a real piece last year, except he had to be a full-time starter and do a lot of work and all that other stuff. Tom's telling me Marchuk now is ready to turn the corner. So that's like three years of that experience. Did I say that?

Two years of the Kobe Henry experience. Like, oh, he's definitely going to start. Exactly. So I like Yedlin being in the team full time as like an experienced piece and a little bit of veteran leadership. And he's won things. And I like the teams he's played on for the most part. But yeah, there's nothing about this team that makes me think they are.

are equal or taking a step forward from last year. I'm with you there. We saw a team that was led by Diego Luna that can get to the playoffs. There was some highs earlier in the season with him. But for me, like, it comes down to their new DP signing, Morgan Giovugi. If he stinks, this team has no ceiling. There are guys that I like on the team again. Obviously, Luna's the most, I like Victor Olatunji, but you put him up with the other starting

nine's in a league and where he's probably down towards the bottom third because that's where teams spent a lot of money like both of those things can be true. The defense is fine. I like the goalkeeper but that's not going to save everything. I like Catronis as a wingback but there's not enough

high end potential. Like if this team hits their like absolute apex, everything went right, we got all the bounces, the highest realistic outcome for five players all hit, is that 50 points? Is that 50 points?

Like I just I just think that there's more likely to be under 39 and a half There's like then then it to be over and particularly if this DP attacker isn't like if he doesn't do well If he's another Diogo Gonzalez, the attacking trio is bottom five in the league I think the one thing we should add to this is if all of us pick the under that is the last piece they need to go over You're right yeah because it will make Pablo's off season as easy as possible Do you think he would laminate that one? Potentially. I hate picking against Pablo Maastorani because let's give him credit.

That's fair to. He gets his team to play hard more often than almost any other coach in MLS. And part of that is like, oh, you think you're a starter? You've had two bad games in a row. Here's this kid that we drafted in the third round. He's now the starter. And that kid is going to go out there and, you know, play like his hair is on fire. And from what I'm hearing, like we're already seeing that in preseason.

Like left wing back, central midfield, like all of these jobs are up in the air, specifically because of that ethos that Pablo has been so good at. I just don't think there's enough talent. I don't think there's enough talent. And if there's any sort of regression from Cabral in goal, and I think there's likely to be a little bit, it falls apart pretty quickly. And let's remember, this team went from 59 points two years. years ago to 41. So and they like had to it was desperation time down the stretch for them to

to even crawl up to 41 and and getting to the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. So tiebreaker. Yeah. I'm going under as well. All right. We all agree is the second time we have all agreed so far. I don't like that. I don't like that. Doyle what's next? Number 26 on my list. Uh, how the mighty have fallen. Uh, New York Red Bulls. 40 and a half. half points. Go ahead, Tom. I like this. I like the over 40 and a half on this team.

Emil Foresburg and Triple Motang are two good players, good DPs. There's a lot of talent I like in the midfield. Cade Cowell, I think, is a solid signing. They still need to add another key winger. So that is an if at this point, as we record right now. There are enough pieces to like in the team. team and 40.5 is a low total. And I truly believe in in Michael Bradley as a head coach so much so that I'm going over 40 and a half New York Red Bulls.

This is my first lock. Wow. Tom with the notebook out, writing it down by hand. Do you, is there going to be any style change or it's all the same? Yes. Yes. It's going to be that, like that's part of the whole point. How is Kate Cowell a style?

style change signing. Like he literally is built for the Red Bull system, right? He's a bowling ball that runs up and down the way. Sure. And the San Jose earthquakes, I mean, Matea Sameda, I mean, that was a whole trip anyway. But like, while he could be the Carcraft Soccer type of player, he's still going to be useful in the scene,

particularly when your center forward at Chopin Moteng is a complete nine. He's a back to goal, get like, let me receive the ball play in home. hold up. You need somebody who's running on beyond, running behind. So that's why I like Kit Cowell's fitness team. We'll see if they do add a DP to right wing. I know that they have some targets and I know that the fans have heard that before so I'm not going to harp on that too much. But Ronald Doncor, Doyle, I know you're high on him. I am. Noah Ila. Again, maybe another centerback would help. But this is more of a play on a handful of their top

talent and Michael Bradley. I think Michael Bradley's probably going to end up being a really good coach. I don't think they're going to get like Emil Foresburg and Chippo Moting are both in their mid thirties and played a ton of minutes last year and this team ended up on 43 points and they got a great season in goal from Carlos Cornell who is gone. I just like I don't think that they're going to get that level of productivity from their two DPs and their goalkeeper this year. they don't have enough talent in other spots.

Like if Kate Cowell is your big needle mover of a match winner who's going to carry you to, you know, play off glory. Like you're probably going to have a pretty tough time, especially because again, I think most teams in the Eastern Conference are going to be better this year than last year. So I'm taking the under. I just don't, I don't, I don't like the people.

pieces. I don't think that they have enough match winners. And I think it's going to end up being too jarring a transformation, even though, you know, Sandra Schwartz, too, whose credit tried to start the ball rolling on that. But we saw how that kind of went in 2025. Yeah. Alexander Hack played a lot of games of this team last year, too. I just want to point out. But as the time of this recording, Alexander Hacks technically better than his replacement, who's no one. Right? No, he's not. No, he's not. That was one of the worst players I've seen in the league. That's fair.

I'm with Doyle on this one, which is, I mean, the odds that Michael Bradley is the perfect coach who is worth more points than against his first year as a head coach. I mean, this is literally his first preseason as a head coach. Like, he wasn't even in preseason for the two team last year. He has not coached a full calendar year. The odds of that are pretty low. And even if that does happen, there is. is not enough with this group to make me feel like it's different. The Kate Cowell move again, as I said, like, it just, it's, it's all a little bit murky to

me. If you're telling me you're going more possession. And again, I said all year, Alexander Hacks, one of the worst centerbacks. But, like, his issue was defending in space and athleticism. That, his issue was not ball to his feet. So I like Ila. I really like him in this setup. I think he's going to be one of the better centerbacks this year.

I, like, would shortlist him as a best 11 to start the year. I think he's going to be a standout. but it's a lot of work for a lot of players in central midfield that haven't played together there's a lot of expectations on forsburg shoulders and it just feels hard to believe that all of that will hold together uh in a second straight year for him and then for this whole team so i'm gonna go under with the red bulls as well one last point and i know that we're taking probably too long at each team but um we're talking you guys are talking about it as if it's like a 49 but like 41 points was the disappointing real salt lake san ozay earthquakes car rada yeah red bulls had 40s at 40

three points last year. Yeah. Like, it's, it's not a high board to clear. Do you, do you think,

do you think they look better than last year? I think they're going to be better. Yes. Okay. I just, I think that just the difference from Coronel to Ethan Horvath

could be like six points in the wrong direction. Like, Ethan Horvath is a 30 year old who's never been able to hold down a starting job anywhere, including worse leagues than MLS. And he played in the championship. He's, yeah, yeah. He is their presumptive starting.

USL or Engel? So I think there's just a lot of, they're going to lose on the margins, I think pretty often. Okay, 25, uh, Portland Timbers, 41 and a half points.

Uh, I, I will start and I will say over. Um, this one is, whoa, tough, uh,

because they, they lost David Ayala and they have not really replaced him yet. And if you look at that depth chart, central midfield is really, really thin. And I also frankly do not have a ton of faith in their head coach. But I do think that there is enough in town to get up to like 43, 44 points. I just want to interject quickly. By the time people are listening to this, they will have addressed central midfield. But continue.

that's such a cool thing to be able to say while wearing a grateful dead bucket hat and sunglasses I'll go second I'm going to go over on this one I think Tom you're going to go over right yeah yeah so I think this one's probably was a little bit too easy of a line all right on this one but I will say this so they got 44 points last year Tacosta wasn't there for preseason Feld came in the middle of the season they're going to be the two best players on this team they will be there from the

start and I can't imagine that centerback could go any worse for them ever like there can never be a player they signed that was worse than the one they just signed before so I've got a little bit belief in this team that they're able to take a step forward defensively and I think from an attacking side they're going to take a pretty big step and even the loss of Ijala I would say whatever it is that they replace him with and Zhao Ortiz in a second year like I'm I don't think this team's going to be worse than 44 points. expecting this team to play with some more energy as well. And one more thing on De Costa, he spent half of the year with a separated shoulder that just kept on popping in and out

before he got surgery in the offseason. And there was a clear dip. Like, I thought that he's, he wasn't like elite, oh my God, what a signing. But the first bit of the season was like, all right, he passes the eye test. He's, he's performing well. Let's see how it kind of goes for full season. And I don't know if it directly coincided with the injury. I'd have to go back and look at the age or everything. But he definitely fell off a cliff by the end of the season. And, I'm willing to one, as you said, Goss, full preseason, second year of the team, and also just he had a shoulder that was popping in and out the whole season. I'm going to make this my lock.

Wow. Locks number one. I write that down. Mainly just because of the line, not because of the confidence. So. Did I pick on this one yet? Yeah, you went over it. Okay.

I want to change that now? A little bit. You want to go on? you get it I just the they just anti group thing

no the more in his newspaper the more David the more David talked through it the more David talked through it the more convinced I was

it's like is it not going to be great for the like Ortiz was was bad yeah last year and like you're counting on him

to to you know be the guy who who improves that central midfield is either him or like a 41 year old 42 year old How old is Diego Charra going to be?

Is any 39? I think he's just perpetually 32 years. Yeah. He's got father time and a death grip. But still, like, that's, that's it. And, like, we're going to count on the front office that signed Ortiz to be the front office that replaces him and or upgrades on him and replaces David Ayala. So, like, there are concerns there. They spent a lot of money on Kevin Kelsey who's not a very good soccer.

Like, I don't know. I'm going to change mine. I'm going to go under. I'm going to go under. If they. Free money for us. That's sick. If they sign a new DP, Javiro Diro son.

Not a BP. Not. Oh, wow. Okay. Changing Doyle's world. Okay. Doyle's going under. He's going to be affected by the people around it.

24. 24. 24, New England Revolution. 42 and a half points. I'm taking it over. I am making it an absolute. Locke. I think this team Absolutely. I think this team gets a

15 point bump from not having Caleb Porter in the locker room. Yeah, that's a pretty convincing argument. Is there anything from a soccer point of view? I thought Dor Turgman Turgerman looked really good. Too good men. Okay.

When he came in. He's too good man. Carlos Hill is just still awesome. One of my favorite players to watch. Brooklyn Raines. being with the coach who really trusted him to sort of run the show for the USU 20s. Like he's a starter with this team and I'm looking forward to that.

I think both wingbacks will end up playing a lot higher, including maybe Griffin Yow playing inverted on the left if they sell Peyton Miller. And I kind of like that as well. Like there's some stuff here. Like they blew it with a lot of their signings, you know, spending the money that they did on Campana and a few others, not great. But I just think that it'll be a breath of fresh air, and I think they'll look like a real team again.

So, yeah, a lock for me over 42 and a half points. The issue there is that all of those players they signed was for Caleb Porter. Yeah. Like, I agree with your general point. I like Turgamon. Obviously, Carlos Hill is a favorite among everybody. But Turgamon, I can. see a scenario in which he does what Toklamati did last year, and that's not because of the

nationality. I'm saying a U-22 player who's the same kind of profile and overperformers' expectations. I don't think that it's fair to expect that. And if you're not expecting that from him, you have to expect that Leo Campana is going to be available enough and score enough goals. You shouldn't expect him to do better than what you expect. You should expect him to do what you expect or else you're expecting too much. Did I parse that correctly? the point is if he i can see him overperforming and being a positive story and if he doesn't become edon toclamati 2.0 it's not a disappointment and this for this team to go over he has to be so if if you had if i had to make you pick do you think leo compania plays for the new england revolution

in september of 2026 i'd say yes just because like what's the return right um and and i will say they do have an open DP spot. Matt Turner is currently occupying one. He could, depends on the cap machinations of what they want to do. And Matt Turner, if he becomes Matt Turner from 2019, then probably over.

And I hope that they do, but for me, it's under. This one I find really hard. The argument Doyle made of the No Caleb Porte start of season is really, really strong. It's a,

yeah, it's a good argument. What is they, whether they have 37 points last year? No, they finished on, yeah, 36. 36. six yeah yeah so you're asking for a six or seven point improvement by not tanking out the gate

yeah and being just miserable then having to reestablish i just one i i don't know fully the soccer ideas from mitchrovitch of just a national youth national team is different like you don't get to see a ton of it the one thing i'm trying to remind myself is i like fofana and saballios as players individually so i'm going to believe that defensively they're going to be fairly strong getting to play together for a year and establishing things, even if I don't love central midfield against the ball in this team. I still don't think Brooklyn Rain is like an elite ball winner. And obviously Carlos Heel is not going to defend and that's not a part of what he does. And then you become reliant on the attack. But as long as Peyton Miller's on this roster, I'm going over. So that's,

that's my caveat. It's a vote for Peyton. Tom, you were under? Yeah. All right, we're on to the next one. St. Louis, 42 and a half points. Who wants to take it? Tom. I'll go ahead. I really like the hire of Yon-Dameh. The squad is starting to come together. I don't know if we'll know a week after recording this if there has been significant additions. As of now, Klaus has officially left, has not been replaced in anyway. Correct. I like Hardle and Toy shirt. I don't know exactly how they're going to fit under the way Yon-Dame wants to play. I think he's going to be a good head coach in this league. I think Falu Fall got injured in preseason.

Like today, I have not seen something. So maybe it's nothing, but maybe they're really thin if Falu Fall either gets hurt or has periods where he struggles, where young centerbacks do. So I think for all of that, I'm going slight under, even though I think this team is trending in the right direction. Yeah, this is a 10 point jump or 11 point jump this year. I'm going to go under as well. And I agree with you, Tom, which is I think I will come out of the year feeling good about the direction of this club and feeling okay. I don't know that I'll see that jump. The one thing I keep falling back on is I think overall the floor is pretty high in terms of talent on this team.

And the technical quality of most of these players is pretty high, even if no one is a game breaker or a match winner, which is hard to generate points in MLS. week in and week out. So I'm going to fall. My guess is somewhere around 3940 with this one. So Mama do fall. The last time he was in an MLS was a match winner, right? He was the best young centerback in league history. Like what he did with LAF.

I mean, there's a reason Barcelona paid $4 million for him. Now, everything he did at Barcelona was derailed by injuries. And I'm worried about that. And obviously what you just said about follow fall, the fall guys um is that what we're working on with the with the yeah fallout boys fallout boys is really good okay the fallout boys is really really good and i'm sure they're both huge fans of the group um well i mean they could be fans of the show you should be watching that show if you're not fantastic show um if those guys stay healthy with roman burkey behind them and daniel edelman

in front of them like that's nasty like that's nasty like That is a group that is not going to give up a lot of goals. True. Based upon that, and I'm wishcasting here because injuries are real and they have hit all four of those guys, I'm still going to take the over just based on that. And then hoping that Edward Luhin and Marcel Hartel, and they find some sort of answer as a goal scoring number nine.

Like if they have that, then this is a team that could climb maybe even towards 50. I'm not going to make it a lock, but I like the over 42 and a half. And so I think that a team that had a similar, like, hey, let's just be really hard to play against. Let's not make too many mistakes. And yeah, maybe we're going to be limited going forward sometimes to see their talent efficiency or whatever else. Austin FC finished with 47 points last year.

I know that they were doubted a lot during the year. They didn't play beautiful soccer. I think Yon DeMay will be a bit more expansive than that. But I like, I try to just look at examples of teams. last year where I'm like, oh man, like, heck, like, again, Portland, Dallas, Austin, like, that's 44, 44, 47. So these things happen every year. And if you're hard to beat and don't beat yourselves, um, there is a high floor. So I, I, I could see that as well, but I'm still sticking with the under. This one's one of the ones I don't feel great about. So I, I don't mind being

convinced. I will say this on the Mamadu fall side, he was able to be that guy because he was playing next to an elite center back. And he could, I mean, obviously a lot of it was on set. but he could like go and find the game and that's if they are able to weaponize the whole team and everyone's playing front foot and the way they're generating chances and being a special team is by winning the ball really high and being elite at it in major league soccer with the addition of daniel omen great outside of that i just and i don't want to reference too much to four years ago when he was a teenager and all of that but we don't have anything else to go with in between um but that's sort of my worry at some of those positions

with some of these guys. And yeah. So we are at, we have an over and two unders. Colorado Rapids. Did, hold on. Did we do Atlanta? I moved Atlanta up.

I told you that. How much further? Tom, you're going to find out. You're going to find out when you find out. I thought that it, I thought that the number was 42. This guy shook. He had his whole locks system built in in advance.

Colorado. I thought that you were old. then forgot to move them in your rundown. Colorado Rapid, well, wow. That is people over 40 are a protected class in the United States of America. You will be hearing from my lawyers. Colorado Rapids, 43 and a half points. I have 22nd on my list.

They were what? They were 41 points last year. Yes, they were 41 points last year. So I technically have them better than last year. I actually like the balance of this team. if you look at the talent that they've collected, like it's a lot of guys who I've spent a lot of time being like, this guy's really good.

Ted Coutipatro, left wing, Josh Atensio, I really liked him on the sounders as a defensive midfielder or a centerback. I love Cole Bassett. Paxon-Earrensen, I thought was really good. Even though he wasn't productive, I thought he was actually really good when he came in last year.

And I assumed they brought in this new. coach to play a system that actually sort of works with Bassett and Aronson in particular, because they should those two guys and then maybe Huffin Navarro up top, though I think he'll probably be sold. Like that, that looks like the strength of the team to me. And hopefully then Zach Stephan will have another excellent season and goal. So you're going to go over. Yeah, like slightly over

Because I'm still not convinced about the centerbacks The centerbacks scare the shit out of me Yeah, I'm gonna go over as well I really like Paxon Aronson when he came in like you said I thought obviously not having not watched him in this scenario Yet really in his career I thought he was comfortable Being the man I thought he went and got the ball I thought he tried to push the game

I thought he got comfortable fairly quickly in the league And so I think he gives him a an attacking output. I like a lot of the solid pieces, even at centerback, if it worries me, like if Reggie Cannon ends up starting a bunch of games at centerback, that's not going to,

I think, tank a season. My biggest worry is a first time head coach and a first time in the league. I think there's some advantages of like wrinkles, tweaks, people don't know it early, but I think there's a lot of disadvantages as well.

And that's my biggest fear about this team is off the field, not on the field. And if they lost Hoff and Navajo, that would be really bad as well. Donovan Phillips. Donovan Phillips going to be better than Haffa Navajo. So back to factual.

I thought you would be all over that, gosh. Come on, man. Hafe Navajo, as of now, I don't believe that there's been any bids, but the landing spot for him would be the Brazilian League. So that's not something that's beholden to the February 2nd transfer deadline in Europe. So while there's been nothing yet, and I can say that now that they're planning on him being there, That's where things stand. As of right now, Paxon Aronson, I love, I do think that we're going to see a big season from him.

We'll see what the midfield combinations look like behind him. But like you said, Atensio, Connor Ronan, a couple good players. They're really excited about the new D.Mid that they signed. And I've heard from, like, in training, he's looked good, like, that doesn't mean anything at the moment. But it's been a low bar to clear from some of their other imports at that. position in previous years. So that kind of trio being the engine room, which I know Matt Wells wants that to be super energetic room, technical, of course.

He wants the wingers to be inverted. So Dante Seeley, I know I think we've disagreed on what the price was. I think he'll be a good player for this team. I'm over as well on the Colorado Rapids. And I think some of it, like any other team, though, but some of it are going to hinge on how well the goal keep, like how you perform in the boxes. because if often Navar was just center forward, I feel great about this.

If he sold in March, that's a bigger question, but we'll see. So Tom goes over, I went over Doyle. Does that mean I need to change you to under? No, I'm going to stick by your own morals.

I'm going to stay over on this one. Okay. Tom, you want to take your phone off your desk just so that every breaking news story doesn't, doesn't vibrate everyone in our listeners? It's not vibrating. It's not a clown.

Oh, is that a Doyle? And he was just going to laugh through that as I got. Oh, yeah, that was me. That was Anders and Weeby Blowing up Blowing up the text I do have that thing muted I do have it muted

I just apologize to the family David Goss You disrespectful to the family 21st You know almost You know what the family Can I just real quick before you do that 48 minutes

Less than 10 teams Over Under on this show Is two hours and 47 minutes Yeah we might have to split this one in two One of the text One of the texts that I replied to Is somebody saying Hey can I give you a call soon

and I was like, no chance. No, absolutely not. All right, Doyle. Nothing soon. 21st, Atlanta United, 43 and a half points. Is Tata Martino worth 14 points? Dude, I, like, I looked at this line and I just went,

gotta be an under. And then I sat there and I was just like, I kind of think that he is. So I'm going over, right? Like, sometimes it's not that deep. I just, bro, there are not, there's not been enough stories told about the Ronnie Diley year in Atlanta United.

And you talk about, about the Caleb, just Caleb Porter not being in New England. Yeah. This is much more of an impact of Ronnie Tyler, not being in Atlanta. Trains will start on time. So that's nice. Then, and let's not forget, like, we were, I don't want to say the Royal Wee here because I'm good, I will die on this.

I was, I was Atlanta United to their fully back last year. Yeah. It's most of the same players in the attack. Yeah. So for me, this isn't over. I just can't imagine everything that went wrong last year from a pre-year from a production point of view goes wrong again. That might be the stupidest thing to ever say.

Like that latte laf is as bad. That if Moranchuk is there, he's as bad. Like, it just, it feels hard to believe that it will be as bad or worse than last year. And if that's the case, then you get a couple points bump. And if Tata is able to improve some of the quality. I mean, we talked about it with the Guido Pizaro stuff and like, we don't know what's happened. But like, guys are going to come and.

play for him, even if it's on weird roster numbers, because it's more than less than they deserve, but they just want to come. They want, like, it's what happened last time. And so if I, if the talent bump gets there as well, um, but this is a high number, but I'm going to still go over. I'm going to go under not by a lot, but I just like the, the guys are, you know, Moranchuk and Miggi are a little bit old. Saba Lobjanica is still a starter and he's not particularly good. Latte lot of life is one dimensional. and not particularly good. Didn't love what I saw from any of the defenders,

you know, goalkeeper, I don't know. It's, I think they'll be better than last year, but it's a big jump to get up to 44 points, which is what they'd have to hit to go. There were, what, 28 points to 44? Like, that is a big year-over-year jump. So I'm going just slightly under on this one. But the record show that one of,

Was this the only number that you changed? This was the only number and then went under. Yeah. Hmm. The house always wins this time. Next. 20th, Houston Dynamo, 44.5 points.

Under. I'm going over. Under. Over. Under. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Get the notebook in pen out. All right, Doyle, go. I had the line at 39 and a half points and then I listened to you, it's the last two or three episodes. being like, I really like what the dynamo's doing. Doyle's been playing the field. Scumback. Um, gosh, you want to go?

Yeah, I'll go. Um, I, I guess it's all stuff Doyle's already heard before. But I can say it once again. I listen to your show. He tunes into the show. The, uh, the work done early in advance, especially for a team that was decimated. Early in advance, name their starting backline. Okay, relax.

Well, it's, this was recorded a week. ago so I don't know what they're starting back on it. It's actually elite. I'm really impressed by the guy that they just signed. Yeah, that's a part of the problem. Franco Negri, Antonio Carlos, Lucas Halter, Griffin Dorsey. Jeez. Yeah, I don't love Antonio Carlo starting in Major League Soccer in the year. Eric Spacchenko. And Spacchenko had a good year, two years ago, and maybe can find his way back if they have a little bit more possession. Don't love Jonathan Bond in this team, but come on. This team is so much better than they were. last year. I like Boozat as a signing. I like the idea of there being some flexibility in the

attack. I like the idea of Mateu's Bogus probably being able to steal you four or five points in a season, even if it's against the run of play. Jack McGlynn sucked me in and said him and Ponce have a relationship and he feels like they play well off each other and it was really growing before his injury to end the year. The relationship is two guys who cannot move. That is like they just found common ground. They bond over the fact that neither of them actually likes to move either, even though both are professional athletes. They found the location they both are fully located. So they don't have to look up, Doyle.

They can, without looking up, find each other on the path. I can't believe that it's Doyle. That's the one that's criticizing the cement footed possession based really technical players. He hates a team like this. Yeah. He always has, too. And then linger as this little wild card. that they can move between.

I think Nick Markanick is a, was a good pickup. I agree with that. Those are just good ads. This was a team that had nine and a half quality players that could start last year for like four months. There's no way they're worse. They were 37 points last year. Doyle illegally moved his line up to say that will they jump seven or eight points? And I'm going to say yes.

I'm in. I'm into the overall. A lot of what you said, gosh, I just think that an attacking unit around. Bogush, Anali, Guillermo, Ponce, and, you know, whoever else is going to win minutes. And again, it depends on if you think McGlynn's going to be an eight or if he's going to be 10 and Bogus is wide. Whatever the combination is an attack, last year they were at a talent deficiency at, in central defense and in the attack. This year, maybe they won't be like top seven group for either, like central defense or the in the box going forward. But they won't be in like the bottom five or whatever, right?

Like so I think that this is enough to stabilize them and go over. A lot of pieces I like, they got a lot of guys in prime as well too. And to Goss's point of signings on time, at this point last show, we still thought Mikhail was going to be a key piece for them. And for another four weeks, we thought that too. And we still didn't have, you know, linger didn't come in. And he's not, he wasn't a true DP anyway. I just think that there's a lot more talent in this team.

All right, Tyrell. Next. Next is Toronto FC, 45 and a half points. This was a tough one. I kind of made the line on the assumption that they would get the Josh Sargent thing done. So I'm going to go over and I'm going to assume that as well. And listen, if they don't. Number one picking the golden boot draft for Tom is Josh Sargent in future number nine.

If they don't, they've established that they're ready to spend like again, ownership. It's not just going to be a blanket case. They believe Josh Sargent is worth it. Even if they don't put up 20, like I think it's going to be sergeant, but if it's not, they're still going to put up significant money. If it's not, they're going to find a different championship for it to overpay for. One way or another, they're going to spend money on a guy who's behind Brian White on the U.S. National Team Death Chart.

They could cash for a latte lot. There you go. So it's over for me. Over for me because I think an attacking duo built around George Mahaolovich and Josh Sargent is really, really strong in this league. Corbinu as your third. or fourth best attacker rather than your first or second best attacker is much better. I love Jose Siflantes.

I don't care that it didn't work out for him at Rangers. I think he's just a really good MLS player. Walker Zimmerman, just because he's not the five times in a row best 11 guy doesn't mean he's not a good player. They're not going to get the back-to-back defender of the year. They're still going to get a really good player. And it's going to be a helpful lot. I think the way Robin Frazier is going to play will benefit where Walker Zimmerman is in his

career right now. They're not going to be high pressing up and having him down. defending on an island at midfield with a ton of space in behind him. And whoever is playing next to him at centerback, it might be a question. Guess what life is a whole lot easier when you're next to Walker Zimmerman over? Question is how many minutes will they be next to Walker Zimmerman? Right? That is the worry because he's in his mid-30s now and he missed a ton of time last year.

There's a lot of guys on that. Go ahead. No, like, it's a fair thing to question. But last year, most of the time was a gruesome concussion. Right. It's not like he's every other. You did this. When he came back, was he the same guy? No. Performance fluctuate. The team is built in a different way in Nashville. I'm sorry that he's not the defender of the year at every minute he's ever played.

It's not even defender of the year. I'm saying the same guy at the end of 2025 that he was at the start of 2025. I don't think that he got back to the exact same level. I still think he's a very good center back in the week. I think he's likely to be as well. They need him. They need him to be that for 2,500 minutes because that central defense. defense is kind of gnarly. I don't love the goalkeeper situation. Goverin had some moments, but like he's the number one and it's going to be a lot on his shoulders. When you look at how good Sean Johnson was last year, you know, Georgie's really good.

He's not super elite. You know, he's not one of the five or six best attacking midfielers in the league, nor is he one of the five or six best wingers if they play him as like an attacking left week. So it's like they have some good pieces, but. I like it's still missing like the the star who sort of elevates the whole project. I totally disagree on Corbiano. I just I.

On pronunciation and on projection. You're getting you're getting the guy who still calls him Dennis Belonga after four years of being the best player in the league is going to ding me on pronunciation for the fifth best winger on Toronto FC. Eat shit. I'm taking I'm taking the under for Toronto. was that me or Tom was that me yeah you you still you still call him Dennis Bawanga I call him I call him Dennie Bwonga but I just I just listened to I just listened to four hours of soccer wise I let it go I did Doyle giving up on that one you you're bat in zero percent I'm actually calling the man Denny Bawanga um I'm on

on this one as well. So I, you guys made most of the points. I will say this team does not look hard to. Yeah, I know. I have you there. Okay. I don't think this team looks hard to play against. So even if you.

Robin Frazier team. Even if you take a step up into central midfield, this is just a team that doesn't look like they look like you can play through them. They look like you're going to be able to, whether it's in transition or in possession, be able to create chances against them. Josh Sargent obviously makes them better. And I'm fascinated to see what Josh Sargent looks like as like the face of a franchise and what he can do.

By the way, speaking of pronunciations, people are really mad at me because I call it Norwich. Instead of Norwich. Oh, really? Norwich fans are also really mad at me. Yeah. And I don't know that they were all from Norwich, Connecticut. So I didn't realize how upset they were about that,

the originator of the name. I got to say steal the draft for me taking it over and you guys both on this one. That's just steal the draft. Do you want to lock? I'm just going to take the W. I'm good. Okay, cool. No, fuck it.

Lock. I'll figure out another one to get rid of. All right, Doyle. 18th, San Jose, 45 and a half points over. Lock. Whoa, that all happened really fast. I missed the team. I was trying to write.

San Jose. Doyle saying at a minimum a five point increase from last year and he is saying a lock. Doyle, you want to give the confidence for us? Yeah, I mean, there was a 20 point increase over last year. They actually undershot their underlying numbers by a good amount. I think in large part that comes down to they didn't have anybody on the front line who could defend, which made them easy to build out against. I think that'll change with Timo Verner coming in.

and their goalkeeper situation was abhorrent last year. Daniel was terrible. And then Earl Edwards, anytime he was in net, it was a guaranteed three goals for the opponents. I think Werner will help, I'm not going to say as much defensively as he does in attack, but he'll help a lot defensively.

And then I think they'll be better in goal. And then the other thing is Max Floriani, Reed Roberts, two young domestic centerbacks. Bruce's entire career, he has gotten the best out of young domestic centerbacks. It's like what he has done at every stop. I expect both those guys to take a big step forward for the quakes in year two.

What's expected raw stats production from Timoe Werner this year? I'll say like 17, 18 goals and maybe like 23, 24 goal contributions. All comps or MLS? I was just thinking regular season. He's not going to play in the think Bruce is going to play him in the open Open Cup. Are you kidding me? Jesus.

Are they in the open cup? I have no idea. Probably because they were terrible. Yeah, they're not in the league's cup. So I got that wrong. Tom? I'm over as well. It's a lot of a Bruce play,

but also like Doyle said, like this team was so easy to play against. Like, you have Joseph, Martinez and Cicot Rongo is with two forwards. It's just you're not getting anything in that side of the field. And Christian, Christian Esmonez, it could run, run, run as much as he tried. It's really difficult to make up for that.

And we'll see. I think that there's going to be more changes to this team. I know Bruce Arena wants to bring in one or two more key guys. He really likes Ronaldo Vieira, just an A plus soccer name. But he's pointed to him as like he's going to help make the job easier for the centerbacks because I was worried about that and then if there's natural improvement from those guys. So I'm over as well. I'm going to go over as well.

For all the reasons we said, feels like more cohesive, feels like a talent increase. I got Boiluru shortlisted as my MLS MVP for 2026 as well. Doyle, what's next? Minnesota United 46 and a half points. So that's a big drop from last year. And I hate to say. it, but I have to go under. There's just not enough in this roster.

I'm with you. I'm going to go under as well, Doyle. There's just, I think if Eric Ramsey was still the coach, I could have talked myself and it just like, no. If Eric Ramsey was still the coach, I would have dropped the line to 40 and a half and still taking the under because by the second half of the season, those, like that locker room was completely out on that style of play. And you could see it.

You could see. So part of this test is going to be Cam Noles coming. in and getting them to play some actual soccer. Now they're going to keep the long throws and they're going to keep capitalizing on set pieces. Wasn't Cam Nol's the one who put this in place as interim coach? Not like on purpose. It was not to the,

not to the extent that Eric Branson took it too. They were a little more fun and exciting those first five or six games, I guess. Yeah. It was two or three. Really? Yeah. Didn't Eric Kna. And he was the second in room.

And sit in the locker or sit in the head coach by the first game in March. Okay. Cool. You're both under. But we still don't have a Tanyola O'Say replacement. I like to Drake calendar. Like, they could have done a lot worse for having Drake calendar come into a place. Dane St. Clair.

I'm not sure what else is going to happen to this team. There are so many good, there are good moments for Joaquin Pereira. Like, he's the only person to trust in the attack. And I don't think that that's enough because you need another guy around. him because I don't trust Calvinia, but literally at all. And it's just a talent efficiency up there. And I don't know, I don't know how Cam Nolz is going to play too many, too many unknowns. Tom's having trust issues.

So we need to be kind with him and help him get over it. I like the Thomas Chunkalai move like, like, I like a flyer on a guy like that. And I think he could be fairly. I really like. Yeah, I really like the, the, just the talent acquisition theory behind it. So that's well done. But the problem is that that's all they've been doing. There's not been like a clear.

Oh, but. These are the guaranteed guys and then these are the risks that we think we're going to take. So I'm going to go under as well. I just want to point out that. So this is a 13 point drop that all of us are guessing. Between Shankly and Fitz, the Austrian guy that they brought in last year, and Julian Gressel and Joaquin Pereira, like, they still will trap at defensive midfielder and Triontas next to him.

Like they have a lot of guys who can play with the ball. They have a lot of guys who can play actual soccer. And so I am hoping to be like pleasantly surprised by this team coming out and keeping the ball and using it to unbalanced. And I'm not saying that they need to play like the caps or San Diego or the crew. But like there should be more soccer in it this year for this team. And I'm hoping that that is what Minnesota are. Should I move us along? Yep.

Austin, 47 and a half points. It's a hard one, man. So I'll say it again. 47 and a half points. They were on 47 last year. Yeah. Yep. I'm going to go over and that's not a confidence in the team.

That's, I don't think they took a step back from last year. Brandon Vasquez got hurt and now they should get something from him. I think the team's a little more cohesive. I think Jane Nelson is a huge ad to this group. I think we saw a step from Wolf and Pereira last year that I think they'll pick up from, at least if not continue. it feels like there's a little bit of a cultural core there with like Galaher and them and all getting new contracts. That feels good.

Don't love centerback. Don't like centerback. Don't know what I'm going to get from Uzuni. Underwhelmed by Faku Torres. Still being underwhelmed by Faku Torres feels more productive than what they were last year. So I'm going to say over. This isn't over? You just shit on the team for 90 seconds.

Yeah, but they were 47 points last year. So you're asking me, are they one point better than last year? Yes. This is so funny because now it sounds like. I'm going to be arguing. I'm going to take the over, by the way. And now I'm just going to do what Goss did. But they overperform last year.

They were not a 47 point team. And I don't mean that with any disrespect. I mean that more as a credit to them being able to figure it out and getting to the points older than they did. They did not deserve that many points. Nobody took them seriously when they got to the playoffs. I still think it was a positive first season because of all of that. Faku Torres, I'm higher on him than the both of you guys are.

I think he's going to be a difference maker for this team. And I like Van Taurus. to Vasquez a whole lot more than Mirro O'Zuni, but at the beginning of the season, when Vasquez isn't there, you don't have the question of which one of these guys play center forward and which one plays out of position. So I think that they'll be able to hit the ground running.

Danny Pereira and Owen Wolf, leveled up, man, particularly Owen Wolf leisure, leveled up. Like, we, I think that we don't, we will look at Owen Wolf like he's the 18-year-old, like, oh, that's an interesting player. No, he's one of the best midfielders in the league right now, man. Like, Sebastian Burrhalter went, got to Best 11 last year.

it's not fair to say like that's what he's going to do but he's going to be in the mix for the good thing that we do like five best elevens he's going to be in the mix for that i would have no problem with a healthy owen wolf being in march camp for the u.s men's national team he was that good last year but he's not healthy right now right he's coming to preseason with with an injury that worries me ilie sanchez is 35 36 years old and still is not a pencil starter not a pencil. So who's going to start at D-Mid for this team? It'll be a combination I think of it'll be when when Owen Wolf was 100% ready.

By the way, it's not like he's out for you scared me that. Like I miss him. He's not out for a while. Owen Wolf, Danny Pereira. And then again, whatever the combination of, I should reword that. He's not going to be like a 2,500 a minute. It'll be Ilié, Dubrasarski, or maybe there's a way that they tweak the formation. So I just, I didn't love what I saw.

I didn't love what I saw from Dupersarski last year. And clearly neither did Nico Estevez because he was basically not playing the second half of last season. And Bessar Zabovich was like he wasn't an answer either. We've seen Pereira as a number six over the years. And like in theory it should work. In practice, it hasn't. He's an eight. So I'm worried about that position.

I'm worried that they don't really have a primary chance creator still. the thing I'm worried about most though the last 1012 games of the year we saw a real fall off from brad stuver and if he's not excellent like top five goalkeeper in the league excellent there is no path towards 48 points for this team so i'm going to take the under let me just throw in owen wolf top 10 big chances created last year in mLS yeah so What are we looking for? So if you look at the, if, I mean, we're looking for expected assists. We're looking for chances created.

And he's nowhere near the top 10 in either of those. He's really, really top 10 in big chances. Big chances created. Big chances are chances deemed by opta to have a value as such that the goal should be scored off. Yes. And he created, he created, I want to say, seven or eight of those chances in the first three months of the season. when they were playing exclusively on the break. Oh, so those big chances don't count?

Yeah, well, he's those. It doesn't even matter because he's injured. He's going to miss the whole year. Those big chances dried up over the course of the season. Like if you go back. He was 17th in the league in total chances created. He was two spots behind Philip Zincernago, one behind Maxime Raleh,

ahead of Jordi Alba and David DeCosta. So you think that you think that Owen Wolf is a... Danny Buonga was behind him. Danny Boong is a goal scored, not a chance. creator. So you think that Owen Wolf is a primary chance creator on a 50 point team? No, but I think him and Jaden Nelson combined plus Faku Torres is all more chance creation than they had last year in the team.

Than they've had for years. Yeah. I'm taking the under. All right. So we've got Doyle on the under and us two on the over. And we are on to Santa Claus. 48 and a half points. I'll go over.

So this was initially one of my locks before you guys talked to me into Toronto lock, and I'm fine with that. So I'm going to leave the galaxy off this. I'm still going to go over. I think this seems is going to be very good. Jacob Glessis and Justin Hack is going to solve the defensive issues. I'm curious to see if they'll play three at the back or if that'll be a club that Greg Vanney uses like he did in the 2017 era. I don't remember exactly which season that they were playing a lot of three at the back. but I know that that club is in that bag.

I don't see a world in which Gabriel Peck is worse than he was last year. I can't remember on top of my head a difference between a year over year of how great he was in 24 and how just lacklessy he was in 25. Joach Klaus fits well. They're going to score goals. I know Greg Vanney wanted to center forward. They'll be more difficult to play against. There is no replacing Ricky Pooch.

That's why I do think that three at the back might make more sense because then you could put some of that creativity onto players at winged. even if it might not be a perfect fit, but they're going to play different this year because last year they were still expecting Pooch to be back in August and they didn't expect to be so terribly bad the first half of the season. So that's all a watch.

I think this team is going to go back to being very good over. Doyle? This is a tough one. I'm going to go slightly under. So what are your worries? I don't think they have a starting caliber goalkeeper on that roster. I don't love Klaus as, a DP.

You know, and the fact that he is a DP means he is going to play and they're committed to Nassiamento, which is insane to me as a U-22 given how poor he was last year. So they don't have a lot of optionality in that number nine. You're talking about them going to like a

3421, I assume, or a 34-1-2. Well, your two good DPs are actually wingers. So like going to formation that doesn't use wingers, that's kind of a red flag to me. I'm worried that they're not going to start hack at centerback where I think he's elite and instead start him at defensive midfield where I think he's just pretty good. So I think they'll be a better team than last year. But I think they have

some real flaws in some real holes. So I'm going to go slightly under for the galaxy. The points per game from them from whenever they stopped being the worst team in the history of the league on, what would that have landed them at this year like around here? Yeah something in this neighborhood Maybe a little bit less I think it was better across all competitions That's true yeah it was that good run in leagues cup So it was better across all competition

And then they they played club was a club America really Or Toluca No Toluca really tough in Campione's Cup So like sorry I was busy watching the US Open Cup Because I care about domestic soccer in this country They had some really good performances. They're not a push over team. I just, I struggle to get to 50 points with this group. Yeah. Now, if Marco Royce is healthy for 2,500 minutes, then it clears itself out because they,

they just play a 4, 2, 3, 1. But like, Marco Royce, like, that is a load bearing if when talking about Marco Royce. Yeah. Yeah. I, the only thing that makes me not want to say under is the form they had to close the year. Um, nothing. Yeah. I don't love a lot about. the way this team is set up. I don't love the class edition. I don't even love the Justin Hack edition as much because I don't leave the chat. I know. I don't love him in a flat four as one of the two centerbacks.

And I don't know, again, that they'll, if they don't change, then that's where he stuck. I think Sinabria will be better this year, which gives them a little bit more coverage. I fully agreed, which I think gives them a little more coverage in central midfield. But I don't know. We haven't seen a single thing for Marco Royce in Major League Soccer to be excited about. So I didn't know we were allowed to say Slightly's, which makes me feel better about stuff that Doyle started doing. So I'm going to go under as well. Slightly?

Cool. Yeah. Do you have any locks yet? Yes. I put a lock on Portland. Let me check. My notes. Yep.

Right here. Real journalist right there. Tom, read us our locks. I was thinking about, I was thinking about, you know, just my cousin from New Jersey here. I got David Goss down two units over 41 and a half on Portland, Simbas. Matt Doyle, I got one unit on New England Revolution over 42 and a half. Two units on Houston under 44.5. Three units, San Jose over 45 and a half.

All sounds good. Good luck. And what are your locks? He's got Toronto. Red Bulls over 40 and a half. Toronto over 45 and a half. You know, you already have a really strong Jersey accent, so you don't have to make it. To do a Massachusetts accent?

What was that? I don't know. Oh, my God. Okay. That was tri-state area. Tri-State area. 14th, FC Dallas, 48 and a half points. I'm going to take the over.

I loved what I saw from this team, the second half of last year. Eric Quill had them playing hard. They have depth. They have improved their attack and hopefully their back line a little bit. They sold Martin Paz to Iax today. Yeah, he wasn't going to be the starter. Yeah. I might take Michael Collodi as my goalkeeper of the year

because if you look what he did. I read your piece down the, thank you Tom, down the stretch for that team. He was awesome. So I think Dallas, six, seven point improvement from last year,

I think that is well. How many? Within the scoop. Oh, geez. Anywhere from five to eight point improvement over the last year seems very reasonable to me. Tom is getting ready to be a parent of a child.

out of there. Daddy Sharper. I suppose a parent of something else. Well, you're a dog, you're a dog parent, right? Yeah, I already am, so you don't have to get ready to be that. That's my son. Yeah, I'm going under. I'm going under.

I just need to see this team with the DP 10. And the closer we get to the season starting, I don't know, I don't know if it's arriving. And I know that the obvious counter is, well, they got better when the Tro goes to left. If you just sign a good DP number 10, I think this would be a little bit different, or not less of a locker room cancer at that point for somebody who would fit better. So I'm going under because I don't see you getting to 49 points with Peter Petromusa and Dem boys around him. Like if he has service, if they hit the number 10 correctly, they're going to go over.

But as we sit right now, they don't have one. And I haven't heard anything. And maybe they've just kept it under wraps really well, but we'll see. I like everything they've done. I like Johnson as the wingback, that addition. Oh, I like that signing, that lean as well. I think Farrington continues to get better. I'm about to rattle everyone's cage.

Not only am I going over with a lock here. I'm bypassing Doyle. I'm saying the next one is Orlando 50 and a half. I'm also going over with the lock there. Back to back locks in the middle of the draft. He is the Sam Presti of the over under. And that's where I stand. I got something to tell you too.

David Goss, I'm going to lock on over 50. on over 50-half on Orlando City as well. I'll let you go first about why you like this. We talked about a lot of last week on the show, and I got sucked in post-Alex Freeman being sold. I think it's their best centerback pairing and best centerback depth that they've had under Poppy. I'm not obsessed with Brian Oheda,

but I think the ball possession in central midfield could be really special. I think Possolich was fantastic last year and him in Ohedah, I think, understand their spacing. and this is all with the assumption that it will get better after me talking about this, whether it's a DP 9, whether it's bringing in a winger. I'm not concerned about the losses at fullback. I think if that's the position you're covering in Major League Soccer and like that's your quote

unquote worry, then you're fine. So this is saying Orlando basically holding steady from last year. And if they make one or two more moves, I think this could be their best preseason roster that they've had. Orlando City, 2021, 51 points. 22, 48 points. 2023, 63. 2024, 52. 2025, 53.

This team just wins points every season, and I do think that they are better than some of those other years. So that's why it's a lock on my end. Go ahead, Doyle. The loss of Alex Freeman, when this team was at its best, it was when they were able to sort of tilt that formation

and get him up into the attack. And he was an attack. attacking presence unlike any other fullback in the league. And replacing him, even if they do well with the replacement, just not going to be as good, not going to be as impactful in the final third. I worry about center forward. Right now it's Duncan McGuire, though. Is it going to be Duncan McGuire?

I don't know that they were 100% going to be a DP-9. I'm expecting that, but definitely another DP attacker. Yeah. I'm still a little worried about that. at their best, again, it was Alex Freeman, but it was also the two months that Luis Muriel was incredible. Like, that's why they ended up on 52 points last year is because he got on a hot streak.

And when that dried up, they weren't able to produce goals at the same level. And Martino Heda was less effective. Like, those are two big pieces. If they had Carlos Cornell, I would say over anyway, because at Cornell, I think, is a really, really good.

goalkeeper. I don't think Maxim Propos is a good goalkeeper. So I'm going to go under. I would still say no Rodriguez Schlegel, no Pedro Geese. I think they take a step, they're taking a step defensively. I think they give up less goals.

Yeah. I still think they can cede less goals than last year. Dunga McGuire Center Forward doesn't worry me. I would love to see them use a D.P. spot on a winger. and give him Ivan Gulo finally. You know that.

I mean, you're the one who said it. He's Paray has ideal. Yeah. Ideal player. Can you say the joke that you made it five years ago? He's a Drexel grad from Columbia out of Columbia. He's literally a. He's an A10 collegiate player, but he's from like, proven.

Yeah, it's his dream. But so, so I don't know this for a fact. Maybe we'll have learned more as preseason continues going on. What if? It's Brecolo as the right back, but playing like a right-sided centerback, and it's on Gullo playing as a left wing back, this like an inverted,

the other side of the field where they had. Just like completely changing everything in order to get. Completely changing everything. It's just flipping, okay, yeah, putting him out and out of course. Just to get him into the 11. Like that is,

that is even a better argument. If they sign him today's a left wing back, and not a winger, you'd be like good ball player. Or Tyree Spicer. Yeah. I mean, if you were Tyrie Spicer doing that, then I'd say, ooh, maybe I'll take the over.

Then Tyre Spicer. And it might be. Tyree Spicer. Okay. So we have Doyle. You're on the under? Yeah. Yep.

Okay. Let's go next. Now we're in the playoff spots. Yeah. Charlotte FC. 52 and a half. So you have Charlotte FC at 52 and a half. Last year, they were 59.

points and fourth in the Eastern Conference. So you Inti making his appearance. Tom, why don't you go first? Over. Back to you, coach. Tom, can you just for everyone, can you wink or blink if you're okay

and you're saying over with your own free will? So genuinely, I do think it's an over, but I did go back and forth on this because 52 and a half, I think that was a really good line, Doyle. Like, again, if they're anywhere between like 48 and 55, I think it's a good season, varying at the top and the low end, I think this is their window.

I think there's their ballpark. The variability that could come from Wilfred Zaha worries me. I'm not as worried about some of the ages for some of the key players as I think you guys are. I do think Toklamati is excellent. I don't think that that was just a hot stretch. I think that's who he is, what he did down the stretch last season. I'm just so very hopeful that why the time somebody's listening to this

that Leo Abbott does not play for Charlotte FC and they have an open DDP spot. I'd feel much better about the over if I knew that for a fact right now. But I think this team has enough talent. And if Luke DeLis, if Dean Smith lets Luca Delatore play through sometimes that he's not going to run like Brant Bronico, they're going to be better with the ball. I don't know if he's going to, though. Yeah, I'm going to go over as well. I don't think the step back losing Malanda will be that big, if at all, justice for Andrew Privet.

I think Tim Rheem called him Prives, so we're team Prives on this show. I think Deloere, yeah, he's not a true pure chance creator, but maybe it pushes Pepi L out wide where he can go find the game where he wants to as often as he needs to. Maybe it takes a little bit of pressure off Kerwin Vargas's shoulders. I think a full season of Tokelamati. I like Archie Goodwin as well, just like throwing their bodies around and figuring out the position

can be pretty strong. I think that Charlotte will be worse than they were last year, but I still think they'll be over this number because this is a six to seven point gap. Yeah, I'm going to take the under. I'm more worried about the age stuff than I think you guys are.

Old teams get old fast, and it looked like it happened down the stretch and then in the playoffs. Not on terms. Not in an out. Yeah, right. Not in the swamp. You know, think about how old they looked in that elimination game against a shorthanded

NYCFC team, right? Like that game, the story of that game was a bunch of like 34-year-old, 35-year-old being behind the ball, just getting absolutely roasted, not able to make plays in open field. So they still have Christian Kalina who is worth 10 points. but the age and then look, Adelson Melonda was a dominant force in his own box. And even if they go out and spend $7 million on a new centerback, I don't think that that is going to, like, it's not easy to replicate that. So I just think that there's enough in there to not be, like, I don't see this as a mid-fifference.

these points team, especially because they're going to be juggling other tournaments now this year in a way that they weren't necessarily last year. My only pushback is I think the story the NYCFC playoff loss was more about, I don't know how many times the ball could die at the feet of Gibralgiani or Brando in the final third. And Luca Del Votori helps solve that. And Pepi El being back obviously solves that even more because he'll be on the end of these things. I think if Luca Delatori solved that, he would still be on San Diego.

he would not be on this roster. Yeah. I don't disagree with that. I accept it's still better than what you had last year, even if you don't think he was worth what they paid or even if you don't think he's the perfect solution to what their issues were. Speaking of NYCFC, that's the next one.

Doyle, 52 and a half points. I'm going over and I'm going lock. Okay, walk me through that. I really like this team. I like the moves they're making. I like the step forward and experience that you're going to get from a couple young players. It feels like it is less reliant on unproven young players and more reliant on unproven mid-prime players, which is the dream scenario for me.

I think they entrusted the Johnny Shores and guys like that last year, Seymour Reid, who I think will all give them a bonus this year. I think Pascal Jansson understands the league and has a pretty good pulse on this team. and it feels like they're being, it feels like as a club, they're not being jammed into the corner by city football group to sign 18 year olds and rely the whole team on. Plus,

you know I'm in the bag for Talus Magno. Like, I'm fully on board for the resurgence. Is he fully on board? Is Talas Magno fully on board? I believe enough for the both of us. He went braids instead of Afro. He's a new guy now.

Things are different. He came back from college with a new haircut. He wants to be treated as an adult now. He's going to go back to playing winger and not in the Nick Cushing Torture Chamber at center forward. I think that's going to be better. Goss, fuck you. I also have them as luck. Wow.

Wow. I guess I made this line too low because I mean, you had it, you had it four points lower than last year. Mm-hmm. And then they went to. Well, they lost one of their starting centerbacks, right? And Raoul Gustavo was not good. Relo's Gustavo, he was really. He was out to see on someplace.

He was completely lost in the open field. We don't know what we're going to get from Keaton. in parks last year they had on last year they had and just parreya and like the the new guy coming in the the Australian guy it's very hit and miss players coming from that league a lot more miss than hit and that is one that are you talking about aiden or new no no the other kai truant oh okay so so so so for me i think i think i think the start is right or neal johnny shore i really really think that this is going to be an awesome johnny sure you're like him getting just plopped into some high level playoff games last year.

he looked like he belongs. His passing looks like it. His passing looks like it belongs. His defense, like he has zero defensive presence, right? And like that and part of it is he weighs 125 pounds. You're kind of player, dude. Yeah. So, so I

like there are some, some holes there. And then look man, Alonzo Martinez scored what, 18 goals last year. Yep. Yeah. And they went out and they spent to replace him. And we'll see. There's no guarantee that just because he spent $7 million on a guy who scored in the two Bundesliga that is going to translate to MLS.

The other thing here is, you know, Nico Fernandez, really, really good player, not a like for like number 10 with Maxi Morales. And Maxi Morales is now staring at 40, right? Like, we don't know that Maxi Morales is going to be able to run the show for 22, 2,300 minutes again this year. So there's just a lot of variables I'm going under. I think that I really love this one. I think the question marks around Maxie are fair. And I think the hope is, even if there's not a like for like replacement,

that there's more chance creation around the team, question marks around their number nine, their number 10, their number eight, and their center back. So other than that, it gets a lot. I can see why you guys are so into it. Great.

I can't wait for the recap show when we get to it in August or September. All right. We're into my top. August? Do you know when the season ends? No, not really. Changes every year, Tom. I'm not trying to look that far ahead.

Is this the one where the USL premiere is starting? Just, just, you just try to see another sunrise. We don't know if we're going to be here tomorrow. Get it on the rails. Come on, back on the rails. Number 10. Columbus crew, 53 and a half points. You want to go first?

I don't. Tom, you go. Great. I go first. I think I'm over. Like, I don't know where to go with this. I vibe with Henrik Rydstrom. I think it's going to be fun.

I didn't know how you follow up Wolfrennanci and I would have been ready to pretty much go blind under because, like, how do you just replicate any of that? And then you read about Henry Grisdram and it's just like, all right, maybe there's something here. It's a difficult job. I like Diego Rossi and Ossam Abu Ali. And I know that.

And I know those two are quality MLS players or high level MLS players, DPs. Max Orphson, obviously very high level. level and if they're playing in a way where he gets to just focus on attack like he has in the past, that's another elite player. So you keep anating those up. Like, I'm worried about central defense, but Henrik Radstrom doesn't really care about defending it seems like.

So I don't know, man. I guess I'm a slight over. But honestly, if one of you guys are under and make a really strong argument, I could be swayed. I'm going to go under. I don't think I'm going to make a really strong argument. I think my argument is going to be there are guys on this team who outplay what you.

you would naturally expect from them because of what will Fernante emboldened them with and the way they felt comfortable in his system. And if any of that falls apart, I think the whole thing is a Jenga tower and the whole thing comes collapse. And like, I think Wesa Mabu Ali will score goals. I think Diego Rossi will score goals. I think Max Arfston will have a good year. Outside of that, I can't guarantee anything with this team. And even with those, I don't know how good this team is because none of them are coochew and like there's a lot to play again if you're playing against them centrally whether it's central midfield or centerback i don't know what the hell daniel gos dog is in this team so i'm going under i mean gos dog he he to me he looked the part

last year up until the final touch he was he was getting on the ball in the exact spots that he was supposed to get on the ball and then he was kicking it into row 32 he looked like carlos rivas um i'm going under. I do like the defense, I think, more than you do, Tom. Just because I love Sean Zawadsky. I think he's awesome. True. But I just losing Darlington Nagby and for one.

And then for two, the coach, Reidstrom. Is that how? Rydstrom. Rydstrom. Okay. He, like, I think he's going to be a success in this league. But I also think he's probably the kind of coach. who needs six months with his players in order to get his system sort of fully installed.

And that is going to mean dropped points in bad ways. And that's how you end up on, you know, 47, 48 points when you are actually a 55, 56 point team. So I'm going on. I also wonder if he's a guy where it's not even on him. It's just like these are Wilfrenant's guys. Like is he just going to have to move some out and bring new guys in just because that's the reality of the culture there. And like, that's not an knock on him or any of the players.

No. And Nagby's stepping away makes it harder. And, you know, when we had Marrera on the show, he was like, oh, me and Bushie are the only two left. Like, there's been a huge movement of personalities out of this team. Yeah, I mean, it's fair to ask a coach to coach. Like, I do think that just the uniqueness of Radstrom, again, nobody is the same coach, particularly a guy like Wolfrennan's, particularly a guy like Andrewsstrom.

But I think that there's a lot of, like, baseline qualities. that made some of these guys so valuable to Wolfrenonse. Like a guy like Max Arsson, I think is going to thrive where a guy's like, I don't really care at your position is like, can't, will you do quick combinations, all you comfortable with the ball at your feet? Again, things are going to be different. But the reason why some of these players are valued so highly

and performed so well under Wolfrennanci is because of the specific things he valued. And I think that there's going to be a lot of overlap with Ridesford. But again, like, we don't know that until it happens, particularly a guy who's this unique. It's not like, okay, we know he's going to play, 3, 4, 3 and defend deep in transition or, you know, I want to play with possession, right?

Like the same thing with Nancy. It's, like, difficult to be like, this is exactly what you're going to get because it's fluid and there's a lot of, like, we give the players freedom to solve their own problems. That's what Hendrardstrom is. That's why I think if there's a roster that's not going to take a hiccup

going from Wilford Nancy to another coach. It's this one. Yeah, I think that's fair. Next one. Nine. Chicago Fire, 55 and a half points. I hate this line. tough one right yeah this is a tough one it's a tough one because if it was i think i was going to go i thought i was going to go lock with chicago before i saw the numbers and then went through it i feel

comfortable saying over um i don't know that i feel comfortable saying a lock so i haven't decided that yet tom i was told i get to rehash the lock thing yeah by the end of the ship with with when we go i don't actually need you to explain to me but thank you um i think rob and lod Ludd might be the addition of the year. Was not good. Was not good last year. Yeah. Also, remember that team didn't play soccer?

Correct. I think him and Zincernagel are going to link up. I think he's going to make his life easier. I don't think he needs to be a chance creator too. Like he can just be a middle third guy who you can play under pressure and then can help get it to attacking players. I don't have a ton of confidence that there's going to be a step up from Bamba. But even if it's the same level, that's fine. But if there is, then this team becomes really, really dangerous.

And I don't have a ton of question marks about stuff leaving that I don't feel like they can replace or anything like that. So clearly Gutierrez was not going to be a central part of this team. And that's just the reality of the way it was set up last year. And so I don't think there's a lot of losses from last year. Greg Burrhalter, year two, more established, more comfortable. I think that this isn't over. I'm going to go under. They're going to miss Gutierrez.

He's a really, really talented player and often a very good player, his passing, his ball progression, and then, you know, I think he had 17, 18 goal contributions. Zincrenaugel massively outperformed his underlines. Really good player, but he's not going to put up those kinds of numbers again. André Franco, they're not going to have him until midseason. Jay Davila. like I can see why they take the chance on him because when he's good he's so good but when he's not he's really really poor

like shockingly so and you don't want that from your defensive midfielder so I what you want I think they'll be slightly better than last year but I I'm gonna hit the under I think I'm about cause might be awesome and Joel Waterman might be the best backup center back in MLS. You know, Kaelin can hear this.

Yeah. I'm aware. No, actually you can't. He'll hear it about four and a half months. Normally is where he comes back around while he's shuffling out his car once again. Gosh, oh man, like this was another really, really tough line, Doyle, like, even like listening to you guys, I was like, which might leaning. Um, I think that I'm going to go just a really slight under and I'll probably feel dumb.

when Robert Londowski gets unveiled in the summer and they're sitting in like third place and it's like oh fuck they're only going to get better now would they just sell Kuyper's Kuyper's 100% and like another MLS team would buy him for four yeah I like a Kipers cash for a conversation we could do that later this next segment we'll do that in the group chat um no so like man like I I feel really strongly that this team's floor is like 50 to 52 points and I really think that they're going to finish in the bracket of like 53 to 58. So anywhere in there. So I'm just going to go a slight under. It's a coin flip. All right.

I'm the only one who went over on that one. Doyle. Surprise. San Diego, 56 and a half points. So some regression from last year for the regular season Western Conference Chips. Another good line, man. I'm going to go under. I do think it's a good line.

There's no world in which there's not regression. Expansion team. people hadn't played against them. They got in some, you know, there was a lot of confidence, confident performances. There's just no way it doesn't come back down to earth. The question is where that's at.

This is seven points less, eight points less. So I agree that the line's a little bit tough, maybe a little higher. It would have been a lock for me clearly. But I'm still going to go under. Slightly. There you go.

As you guys would say. I think that's, I'm ending there too just because I think that the middle of the league is going to be, I think it's going to be a lot more tight because last year we had what was it? Six teams with six year more.

It's not really typical. It's a record. This is not a shot at San Diego, right? Like, the expansion part of it is baked into it, but you could say that for any team that finishes above 60. Like Doyle's had the stat

of, what was it, FC Dallas was prior of Miami and Cincinnati, like the only team that did 60 points back to back, right? Like, so it's not a San Diego thing. It's just the history of MLS tells you it's extremely hard to hit those heights back to back. So I think it's going to be an under and partly because while I think Mike Yvaras is a good coach, and I think that this front office is excellent at identifying talent and probably more importantly identifying guys who fit within the team, you got a hundredth percentile season from Ander's Dreyer.

You got hundreds percentile season for a man who do a duo. you got 100th percentile season from Luca Bambino. You got a probably like an 85th percentile season from Anabal Godoy considering his age. Is all of that going to happen again? I still think that they're going to be good or very good, but I don't see them getting to this number. So like 56 and a half, it's a slight under. Can I throw him before you go, Dahl? I love the Lewis Morgan pickup.

I mean, if he's healthy, he's going to score. Yeah, even year. It's the every other year. Yeah. Morgan, yeah. Underlock. All the stuff, all this stuff you were just. saying Tom and you guys plus the fact that they're starting their season with

Conca Cap Champions League. Yeah. It's just. And they're going to care deeply about that, which is great, which is what they should do. And in like that wears teams out. We see it year after year after year. Now, if this group gets Mo Salah to play as a false nine for the final 10 games of the season.

And he won't walk alone. He won't walk alone. You know, like my under on this. one could can end up looking stupid but um yeah under lock all right doyle that gives you four locks i think it does it does you've got one left to play with and two of my locks all of us have four locks two of my locks have been unders and two have been overs so i'm spreading the love uh like a never certification fc Cincinnati 57 and a half points you go first it's over man um i don't feel great about it And like, I don't think that they can play the way they have the last two years and get the boy total again for a third year.

But for the third year, I'm going to say, I think that they're going to play better. I'm going to go over as well. I think part of what we've seen is elite talent, whether it's Lucho Evander, plus Roman Salentano and a decent assortment of centerbacks will get your results. Like that's the thing that we should take away rather than they have to play better and they will play better. and so even if it's five to six point drop off for them, then that would still be over on this line. So I'm going to go with that. I'm going to go with a little bit of a connection between Van derren and Dengen here too.

And trust that a little bit. Are they going to look at each other? That would be an improvement on production. I like the replacement for Orsano and Engel or whatever you want to call it. Brian Ramirez. Yeah, left wing back. That feels more natural to me. I like that Kanika as well.

Oh yeah. And then the hope is you get a healthy year from Matt Miazga or whatever you get from him. That's the one. Is an improvement. That's the one. I'm going over. From 2022 when he arrived Miasga up until his injury in the middle of 2024, the underlying numbers, Cincinnati's expected goals allowed per game was like 1.05,

just top three mark in the league over that time. Since then, it's jumped to like almost 1.4. they have not been able to figure out how to replace Matt Miazga and stay like a compact, well-organized defensive team no matter who they've tried in that spot. Now, if it's been 18 months longer than that since Miazga broke his leg, if he is finally 100% healthy, then it's an easy over. But yeah, he's 30 and he hasn't been the same guy in two years. so I'm going to have to reluctantly go under.

I think like what God said, the high-end talent, the match winning talent, one of the things that can be frustrating sometimes with Avander is that he doesn't totally play within a system, but one of the beauties of Avander, and I don't ever want him to change. This is not enough because things can look like crap, and if the ball is at his foot in the 85th minute, it's just like you don't know what's going to happen because he's one of the most

individually brilliant and somebody that when things break down, there are a few people who you want the ball at their foot more than his. I just want anyone to think about me and appreciate me in a way that Cincinnati's front office does teenage Hedebe. Like I just want anyone to ignore my faults. Every single one of them. To the tune of $1.2 million a year. Exactly.

I'd like it if somebody thought of me that way too. Yeah. Number six. Can I just say when I do this calculation at the end, I think it's going to be an indictment on our views on the world because I'm seeing a lot of under and a lot of overs in the others. Number six, the Philadelphia Union last year's supporter shield winners. They ended up on 66 points last year. I have the over under 58 and a half.

I'll go. I just think like they're they benefited from playing in a week Eastern conference and from playing a light schedule because they had missed the playoffs the year before, which meant no CCL and no Leagues Cup or anything like that. So they played I think 20 fewer games than the teams that finished just behind them in the

Supporters Shield race. So I just think the toll of that and then they also traded Yaakov Glesnesnes and they sold Ty Buriba who was their leading score and McIle Erra was great down the stretch and

a match changing type of super sub and I know that they've gone out and they've spent a lot. But there's no guarantee that the guys that they're bringing in. And then, of course, biggest of all, they still don't have a starting left back. And Kai Wagner was their best and most consistent chance creator. So I just think there's a lot lining. I almost made this line lower, to be honest with you.

I'm taking the under, yeah. As you started talking, I wrote under. And then I was like, I don't know, maybe he'll curveball me. I'm going under as well. However, all the things you said, the other. thing is, even though they've replaced some players really well, right, talent that we thought, oh, how can they replace them? It does take a little bit of time. And this feels like a lot of replacements for them in one off season, even after a good year. Center back, center forward,

left back, as you said, left back, who was the guy you played your entire model through. And Quinn Sullivan. Yep. That to me is massive about all of this, which is, when do you get him? When is he fully back? That was a huge part of the first half of the year last year. year for this team as well. So even though you have a loss key and you have vassal have more settled, I think all that takes a step back. We also, we don't really know who the sporting director is of this club and when that ends and where that goes. So throwing all that in with it, I'm going to go under. I'm going to go under as well. I think the most important point here because don't doubt Philadelphia's ability to continue to replace players. It's a fair question about the sporting director department,

but like they didn't get to the offseason and be like all right guys who should we sign now like all of those plans are set in motion a long time ago right so i have zero doubt over the signings that they made because this is just what they've done for six seven years and they replace what we think is irreplaceable and then sometimes it's even better kai wagner to be fair is pretty much only guy who didn't move over this time so and audrey blake of course so that's that's gonna be an interesting one i'm assuming by the time that people are listening to this if there's not a deal done i will have reported something on a new left back. They're not going to be going into week one being like, oh man, we need to get a deal done for somebody. So there's a lot of institutional stuff. I'm still going under because of the fixture congestion that's going to come with CCC and anything else.

Like, like, do you know, that was, sometimes it is, it can be simplified that like they probably got a boost of 10 points because particularly the way that they play, you need to be 100% at all times. And they had more weeks where they didn't have three games than others in MLS. And yes, they still had a lot because it's MLS. Everybody has to play like that.

But they had it less than all of the teams around them to your point. So they could always have as strong of 11 and be dialed up to 100 every time. And they also feasted on the absolute dog shit teams last year. And I think there are fewer dog shit teams in 2026. I think it'll be flatter. I think that's what we always say at this point of the year. I think we're actually right. I did not say that last year.

Last year, it's like these teams are terrible. Number five, same line, 58 and a half points. your Seattle Sounders. I hate this line. Whoa, Tom, feeling confident. All right. Because I think that this team has a really high floor and like a 58 point ceiling isn't low, right?

But you look at the teams that we haven't spoke about yet and hell, even some of the ones that we do like that we have. Like they're, I think that like Chicago, San Diego, Sinci has a higher ceiling than them. They have low floors. But like, I'm super confident that Seattle are going to be very good. I'm not confident that they're going to be like, oh my God. they're fighting for the shield.

And I'm probably going to look down on my that. The issue with the sounders is that they don't fight for the shield, right? They prioritize CCL, right? They prioritize leagues cup. And last year they also prioritized Club World Cup. Irrespective of that, I'm taking the over. I think they're just due for a monster regular season. Fair too, man.

God, I love the N's due argument. That hits me in my heart. It's like this team for three months last year played the best. soccer in the league. And I think they still have that in them. And I think that they have so much institutional know-how in terms of bringing that to bear. And I think that this is the year that they're going to do that to the tune of like 65, 70 points. Woo. Yeah, screw it. I'm making a, I'm making it a lock over. Wow. I'm curious to hear who the one that you're going to replace is, but we'll wait until we get there. What does it replace me? Like I'm saying that you, you seem to

talk yourself into it there unless that was just really well acted. No, I did talk myself into it, but I didn't have a plan going into it, Tom. Yeah. Just vibes. Daryl's so bad, me. What did we say at the start of episode one of soccer wiser? If you have to think about it before you say it, then you didn't actually know it. Doyle's the only one who I spit when you guys said that.

I was walking to dogs and I just went, oh my God. I hate this line because it's a tough one. 55 points last year. Everything you said about regular seasons and the way they handle it. So much went wrong for them last year. Like so much. Right?

Paul Ariola, that was a whole gamble. Jesus Ferreira didn't really settle. Jordan Morris. injured. Ray Jackson. Like somehow the centerbacks were shit on set pieces. Stefan Fry, which I don't know, maybe isn't something forced on them and might be something that continues.

And then I do think, no matter what you want to say about focusing on other competitions, I think the Club World Cup was unique. The amount of focus and energy and build up and experience. And then to follow that up with Messi and Suarez and the League's Cup final and Spitz and Obad and all that stuff, it was just everything else. And also at this point of the year, I probably always, I not probably, I always always, overcompensate on returns and known quantity. And Seattle is always towards the top of the list with that.

Elliot McKinley, right? Yes. Elliot McKinley, one of the ASA guys who puts out these numbers every year. Returning stats, Seattle, 83.7, 75% is the league average. It's actually above that. He actually put that out before factoring in Stefan Frye is returning as well. So Seattle's over 90% returning minutes. I could not believe how many teams Seattle, Seattle,

was behind on this list and it made no sense. Seattle's number one on this list. Yeah. And they pretty much are every single year. And I go over on them every year and I trust them every year. And I'm right like 70% of the time. So I'm going to do it once again. Uh, I went over and locked it.

You went over at Tom went under. Yeah. Okay. Uh, four teams left. Fourth Nashville, 60.5, which is a lot more points. Line than last year. It's a big line for a team that I think was second in the league in terms of expected goal differential. The underlying numbers love this team.

Yeah. And they added Christian Espinoza, Tom. This was going to be a lock for me. So this is the one that I replaced with Seattle. And I assume you're going over over. Yep. Tom? I'm going over as well.

It's a lot of things that Christian Espinoza fits perfectly with this team. He gives optionality as well for BJ Callahan in that there's not going to be as a reliance on Honey Muktar and Sam Surge. But for some, we're talking about regular season purposes, and I think that they're deep enough no matter what. But the thing that I love, some of the things I love most about, particularly Hani and Kristen Espinosa, they play almost every minute, every single season. They are going to be on the field. You don't have to worry about it. if I don't want to jinx too many like it if they get injured it's bad luck and they've got a track record of them both of being extremely durable the what I've spoke to somebody you're putting the evil eye on this team man that that their fit that their physical metrics still look good and they don't seem to be slipping I just like so much of what this team has and I think that the floor of starting with those three guys is just very high I'm going under and I'm going to say I think they're going to be a top four team in the east. AKA I just don't think the point total jump will be as big.

Yeah, but I think that they will be a really good team. I think they will be one of my MLS Cup favorites coming into the year. Doyle, we were going through the futures on MLS Cup before this. They were pretty low down on that list at plus 3,500, which I think is crazy. That's the best value I could find by far, by far. And I think I'm going to feel that way, even going into the playoffs. I just don't think to a lot of what was that. I just don't think they're going to finish on 60 points.

The fixture congestion is going to be a thing. Because remember, they won the Open Cup. So they're in ConnCath champions. Like, they didn't have to worry about that last year. So, you know, to Tom's point, it is the good bet with Christian Espinoza and Honey Mukdar that they're going to play 27, 2,800 minutes every single year, except this year, they're also going to be mixing it in with those midweek trips to Costa Rica or Honduras. And that is tough.

So that is the argument for taking the under, but I'm still hitting the over. Okay, top three, LASC. We're going from Nashville to LFC. Gosh, like how many points swung when Tyler Boyd went from Nashville. Well, the line for LASC is 62 and a half points. It was 61 and a half, but Tyler Boyd signed. And then it went to 62 and a half. They were both on 61.5 and a half, but then Tyler, yeah.

LASC last year finished on 60. So a slight uptick for them, I'm going to take it. Even with the coach change, positive, negative, I'm not sure. I'm just going to say son for the full year. I know he's got the World Cup. It's going to be weird. There's going to be a lot of other stuff for him to focus on a lot of pressure. But it just felt, I don't want to say effortless for him,

but like this team's going to score goals if he's on the field. I don't mind a decent chunk of their spine otherwise. And so I'm going to go over. I'm going over as well. LASC, they're really good in the regular season, most seasons. Obviously, this is a high, high total, which is reflected in the storm power they have. You're talking again about durability. Deni Bologna is as durable as they come, as dependable as they come,

20 plus goals each of the last three seasons. Sun Hung-Men looked like one of the very, very best players in this league, like he was expected to be as the league record signing, and he took to the league quickly. I think that that partnership with him and Danny Bwonga is only going to keep blossoming, and there's still a lot of talent around this team. I don't know if they're going to add another defender by the time this season starts, who knows,

even if they don't add anybody, I think that this starting point for this team is really strong, and I'm betting on the over, 62 and a half LFC. I am worried about Mark Dos Santos as a head coach in this league. It was not super inspiring his years with Vancouver. I had my issues with Steve Trundolo, but he won, right? Like 60 points and back to 60 plus points of back to back.

I'm sorry. Your question is winning and we're not talking to Swope Park Rangers in San Francisco deltas right now. I was on hand. I was on hand for that San Francisco Delta's legendary U.S. Open Cup performance against the San Jose earthquakes. The one season they played. Yes. Yeah, I have to go. I have to go over. I have to go over. It's a it's a full season of Sun and Bowen. and Mark Delgado is there with Tillman still in Central Midfield and I like Matthew Schoenier they're going to have him for the whole year there's just too

like there's too many floor razors on this team that just allow the ceiling razors to go out in when you games and the ceiling raising duo and by the way Nathan Ordaz can be a match winner as well I really like that guy

I think he had 15, 16 goal contributions across all competition last year. He was really, really good, and I think he's only going to get better. And Jacob Schaffelberg, I don't love him, but he's a solid MLS. So, like, there's just too many reasons to say 65, 66, 67 points. That's all achievable. Sorry, I just want to add it to, like you said, with the floor raisers or just the dependability. Bwanga, son, Delgado, like you said, like those are all, I think elite players at the positions. Obviously, they do different things. Holling's head is another.

there were not many question marks. The question mark, you might say as the coach, but we've all talked about this in analyzing Mark DeSandoz Sandoz taking over. It's an extension of the front office, and it's an extension of the previous coaching staff. So I think that as far as new coaches go, some of the fans were underwhelmed,

but I think that the continuity is going to be really important. I would throw out the question mark, is centerback in my mind? They are a club that finds this way, though, to find veterans and free agents and move pieces and whatnot. And I'm, you know, I'll probably, in 37 years we'll do this show and I'll be like, I'm not out on in Kosei to Farai, so I'm not really sure. So that's fine.

So that would be my big question mark about this team, which is if they don't have more of the ball, they're against the game a lot and they're killing you in transition. How much pressure can they sustain consistently? But yeah, that's why I went over. And we're ready to finish it. Yeah, we're in the top two now. number two on my list Vancouver white caps

63 and a half points I'm going to take the under I hate to do it but last last year was just a little bit too magical and they've lost some attacking depth Daniel Rios obviously

Ali Ahmed and Jaden Nelson those are guys who played meaningful minutes Seth Burhalter and Tristan Blackman various forms of questions around their contract status. That's not great. Bronco Vesolinovich was a huge part of the first two.

Like he was, I think, the leader for goalkeeper, for a defender of the year until he got hurt. So it's just, I still think this is one of the three or four best teams in the league. Yeah. I just think it's going to be a little bit less magical and a little bit more of a grind than next year to the tune, like 58, 59 points and go into the playoffs, nobody's going to want to face him. Let me throw in while recording this report or Vancouver put out a statement saying that Ryan

Gould just underwent knee surgery. Is that real? Yeah. Does this happen? Oh, my God. Yes. Get well soon, Ryan Gould is the cover on whitecaps.com. And it said, we're pleased to hear the procedure went successful.

We will continue to closely monitor his ongoing recovery. He will make a full recovery by April. is what they say. It means they never figured out what was wrong last year during the year, as they kept getting it down the, and I'm not saying this is a guarantee, but we heard a lot of dates last year that they just were never able to hit with him.

I say all that because some of the things that were taken away from last year, you could have convinced me, well, a year of Ryan Gould fully healthy overcome some of these losses of Ali Ahmed or, you know, whatever else, Jane Nelson,

and I don't know that that's going to be true. All right. calling an audible. We're changing the line. We're changing the line. The line for Vancouver is now 61.5. He doesn't know how much news is going to break between us recording this and later.

It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Go off this one. The line is 61.5. I am still taking under, but it's, it's squeaky bum time under. Man. So this was going to be a lock. And it still is a lock on the under 61.5.

Wow. Would it like the better, guys, if you didn't see this before. And to be fair, I didn't see this at all. I couldn't. But I still feel good about the spot. And this isn't being sureless to Vancouver because of all the things Doyle said. It's not some sort of great disrespect to say, yeah, I think that you're probably going to have like 55 points and try to challenge in the Cockcaf Champions Cup. I agree.

For the reason why last season was so magical, a number of reasons. One of the most ones was they would play. play Conquayf Champions Cup, and then the weekend just kill somebody. And teams don't do that. Even Miami didn't do that last year, and they ended up winning the title. LAFC has struggled with it.

Like, you go on down the list. Toronto was, that 2017 Toronto team, we thought that was one of the best ever. They missed the playoffs the next year because they couldn't handle CCC or CCL at the time and playing at the same time. It is unbelievable, and it is worth remembering that magical season.

I'm not betting on that happening twice in a row, And again, that's not a disrespect to Vancouver. It's just that is unbelievably hard to do and to do it to the tune of over 61.5 points, back-to-back seasons. And by the way, this was a team that got, when we talk about what percentile that they got out of individual performances last year,

a whole lot of those guys were really, really high. Is it going to be sustainable? I think for a lot of them it is. That's why I think that there's still going to be a very good team. But over 61.5 points, that's too much for me. Underlock. I'm going under as well. As I said, the reasons, blah, blah, blah.

I think they'll be a good team. I think they'll have a good year. We talked with Seb Burrhalter on the show. He sort of went through the list of names of like, who's next, who's the next to Ali Ahmed, like, who's the next to elevate, who's the next to St. Burralter. I believe in a lot of that. I just don't think that that always hits immediately year to year.

And so, yeah, I'm going to go under. But I am going to preseason pick Ali the Raz as my Ben Bear. MLS comeback player of the year from being trashed. I'm going to pick Ryan Alumi as my breakout player of the year. I freaking love that. Good player all over it. So good. Okay.

So we actually have Vancouver third now behind L.AFC. L.A.F.C. had the second highest total now in 62 and a half points. A toddler boys. Yeah. The number one, no surprise. Highest line, Inter-Miamy, 67 and a half points.

Take us away, Doyle. Lost two all-time greats in Sergio Buscettes and Jordi Alba. I'm not worried about replacing Jordy because they were actually better down the stretch when Jordy wasn't being Jordi Alba when he was staying deeper, getting fewer touches in the attacking third. And I think that is what Sergio Regulon will likely do or Noah Allen, whichever of those two guys plays at left back. they'll be better at left center back with the addition of Mikael.

I think that the rest of the back line is going to end up being really good. I love the Ayala pickup because you could see the talent he has and he's not going to do anything in terms of replicating Bousquet's ball winning ability, but he's, or see ball progression ability, but his ball winning ability is going to be really, really good. And I do think because FB. Ref lost all its stuff. data. Doyle doesn't know anything. Sergio Bousquet's elite elite ground coverage.

That said, I do think Ayala has more in terms of ball progression than he was able to show in Portland. And I would not be surprised if Javier Mascherano brought some of that out of him. But also, it's a full year of Rodrigo DePaul.

It's a full year of Mateo Silvetti. I like to Bertrami pick up even though he's... Love it. Maybe not even as good as Louis Suarez, but like That's the best two center forwards, the center forward combo in the league. Like Tadeo Aende back. And then Dane St. Clair. I don't know, man.

Like this, this team has, they're going to play 60 plus games. It'll be a disappointment if they only win one title. I think that one of the trophies they're going to win this year is going to be the supporter shield. And I think they have the depth to go after that. and Cocker Cap Champions Cup and MLS Cup. Did Do you just do that whole spiel without saying Little Messi? Yeah, he did. I think it's kind of a bit of a given.

You fucking hipster. He's saving that for the Golden Bootraft, unfortunately, where, I don't know, I'm reading about the Cuban Revolution. I think we might break ties and restart on the Golden Boot Draft, but I'll send you some of my thoughts in a two and a half hour speech giving in front of a large crowd. I'm over and I'm going to say because they have Lino Messi as the starting point, but they'll be able to deal with the different competitions and they are been very public about

they want to win the Comcapped Champions Cup because at any given, so like I think that they're best 11 and I think if they say if they had a CCC final tomorrow, Messi's 10, plays as a 10, behind Bertrami, Ayende and Savetti as the wings, maybe. or it's messy as like the false nine free role. Iende and Bertrami as like the inside forwards playing wide. And then it's more three players in the midfield rather than having Messi as a 10. And they're going to do that, I think, all season. Or they're going to play Luis Suarez up top.

Or it's going to be, okay, so Vetti, like we need you to kind of carry the attack or do this a little differently. Or this, that, like their two biggest weaknesses last year was goalkeeper and centerback. they did stabilize it by the end of the season it wasn't as comically bad as it was at the beginning of the season because they benched Oscar Oostari and they benched Tomas Aviolese and Maxi Falcone stabilized got better, Noah Allen got better as the season went on. They have signed the reigning goalkeeper

the year in Dane St. Clair who I think we look at as a top five goalkeeper no matter what in the league, again, he's varied a little bit, but we know that's a very good goalkeeper. And then they signed Mikail, who I voted for Best 11, whatever his last season, MLS was, and we think is a really high-level player. And they've replaced Jordi Abba with Regulon. Not going to be a like-for-like.

And this is if he got, he was taken off during a preseason game. Don't know if it's a long-term injury or not. So maybe this will sound silly when this gets released. But we'll see. Everywhere you look, they have different options and different potentials. And at the foundation of it, it starts with Leo Messi. And this team is better than they were last year. And I don't think that's even able to be argued.

I'm going over. We've talked about it like 500 times every single week. I don't have to go through all the things you guys just said again. There's a decent chances of the best team in MLS history. Yeah. And they're trying to do that. Do you think they'll set the single season points record? I mean, the easy answer is no, because the odds it happens are low.

You mentioned all the competitions they play. Messy's going to be focused on the World Cup. This might be the first time. He's like, yeah, okay, maybe I won't play three times this week going into the World Cup. So no, I won't say that, but like this is almost a lock for me. That's how confident I feel that they will be better on a points per game than every team was last year already this season. Speaking of, we are now done. We got to finish up our locks.

So Doyle, sorry, Tom, do you want to do it? Yeah. I got it hairwritten. I don't go. Sorry, David Goss, five locks. So you have four locks. I only have four. I got to do one more.

That's why I was going to start with you. Portland. Oh, sorry, I'll go. All right, I'll start with myself. Screw you guys. Tom, five locks. One, Red Bulls over 40 and a half. Toronto, over 45 and a half.

Orlando, over 50. and a half. NYCFC over 52 and a half. Vancouver, under 61.5. And let's just say you'll be hearing from my lawyers if they end on 62 points. Doyle. New England Revolution over 42 and a half.

Houston Dynamo. under 44.5. San Jose over 45 and a half. San Diego, under 56 and a half. Seattle, over 58 and a half. Any changes? Nope. Lock them in. David Goss, Portland Simbers, over 41.5. Dallas, over 48 and a half. Couldn't read my own. Hand ready. Orlando City, over 50.5. NYC. over 52 and a half. Do you have, what's your fifth? And do you want to change because you copied me? I don't want to change anything. I set them out loud before you on pretty much all. all of them. I am going to go with Chicago over 55 and my last lock. Yeah. Wow. I was bouncing around Houston. I was bouncing around. Oh, that would have been. Addy over. And I landed on my Robin Ludd and all my love and all of that. So I'm going to Chicago.

So that's my lock. We will put these out there in graphic form so that everyone can ingest them and then put a bunch of stats around it. and track us and make fun of us and all that other stuff. And yeah, so this was fun. Doyle, thank you for coming back. We look forward to having you a lot more this year. I am excited for the MLS season to come. We still have a lot of fun to have. We've got the golden boot draft to do.

We've got previews to do. If there's stuff you really want to hear, let us know. We also have our individual previews for every single team that we are working on and are on the verge of rolling out. And also let us know if you guys, guys want Tom to keep dressing like this and like using the fake accent, let us know if that works for you, because I have my own thoughts on it. I'll save him for another pod. I'll save him for another pod. I'm shocked as he was talking in the Miami thing that he still had it all on. I actually kind of zoned out and stopped looking. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Doyle for bringing the numbers.

Tom, thank you for bringing the soul. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.