2024 MLS PAL Rating and Value Rating: performance and contract value

Two scores from 0 to 100. PAL Rating measures the season's performance against regulars at the same position (goalkeepers, center backs, fullbacks, central midfielders, attacking midfielders and wingers, strikers): 50 is the median regular. Salary never enters it. Value Rating answers a different question: for what the player costs, does the return come in more or less than expected?

WAR, in wins →Payrolls →

Top goalkeeper

99PALKristijan KahlinaCLT · Elite Top center back

99PALWalker ZimmermanNSH · Elite Top fullback

99PALKai WagnerPHI · Elite Top central midfielder

99PALRiqui PuigLA · Elite

Top attacking midfielder or winger99PALLuciano AcostaCIN · Elite

Top striker99PALCucho HernándezCLB · Elite

Value Rating is only computed for the most recent season.

The scale — PAL Rating

90–100 Elite
80–89 Excellent
70–79 Very good
60–69 Above average
40–59 Around average
20–39 Below average
0–19 Very poor

The scale — Value Rating

90–100 Exceptional value
75–89 Very good contract
55–74 Good value
45–54 Fair value
25–44 Poor return
0–24 Very poor return

Regulars only

#	Player
1	Cucho HernándezCLB · ST · 25	99	1.4	99	94	36	99	97	83
2	Luis SuárezMIA · ST · 37	97	0.7	97	99	73	90	68	17
3	Christian BentekeDC · ST · 33	96	1.5	94	97	97	82	71	24
4	Cristian ArangoRSL · ST · 29	94	0.6	96	75	48	94	73	90
5	Tani OluwaseyiMIN · ST · 24	92	0.5	90	82	96	78	36	32
6	William AgadaSKC · ST · 24	90	0.8	87	87	99	57	10	76
7	Felipe MoraPOR · ST · 30	89	0.8	85	90	92	52	85	11
8	Dejan JoveljicLA · ST · 24	87	0.0	92	92	41	80	54	6
9	Alonso MartínezNYC · ST · 25	85	0.4	82	96	78	6	34	99
10	Anderson JulioRSL · ST · 28	83	0.3	78	66	75	71	78	96
11	Josef MartínezMTL · ST · 31	82	0.2	83	89	82	59	25	27
12	Lewis MorganRBNY · ST · 27	80	0.6	89	69	8	92	80	3
13	Ramiro EnriqueORL · ST · 23	78	0.3	76	85	66	43	87	97
14	Jordan MorrisSEA · ST · 29	76	0.9	62	55	90	83	89	4
15	Mateusz BoguszLAFC · ST · 22	75	0.0	80	48	32	96	11	22
16	Patrick AgyemangCLT · ST · 23	73	0.6	69	68	52	41	90	57
17	Tai BariboPHI · ST · 26	71	0.4	57	83	89	18	39	59
18	Brian WhiteVAN · ST · 28	69	0.5	68	59	94	34	17	85
19	Julián CarranzaPHI · ST · 24	68	0.4	39	76	87	39	24	92
20	Luis MurielORL · ST · 33	66	0.3	75	8	3	97	61	71
21	Petar MusaDAL · ST · 26	64	0.3	71	64	27	66	27	94
22	Matías CóccaroMTL · ST · 26	62	0.3	59	36	39	29	92	87
23	Jamal ThiaréATL · ST · 31	61	0.3	38	29	83	25	82	89
24	Sunusi IbrahimMTL · ST · 21	59	0.1	55	43	64	73	29	80
25	Mikael UhrePHI · ST · 29	57	0.3	48	52	45	36	83	52
26	Rafael NavarroCOL · ST · 24	55	0.4	66	46	15	20	96	69
27	Kei KamaraLAFC · ST · 39	54	0.0	73	15	10	89	69	68
28	Sam SurridgeNSH · ST · 25	52	0.5	27	71	38	17	94	55
29	Elias ManoelRBNY · ST · 22	50	0.3	52	50	80	15	38	8
30	Dante VanzeirRBNY · ST · 26	48	0.1	64	4	34	85	76	61
31	Sergio SantosCIN · ST · 29	46	0.0	29	25	85	61	13	62
32	Miguel BerryLA · ST · 26	45	0.0	43	17	43	87	45	45
33	Teemu PukkiMIN · ST · 34	43	0.1	34	78	61	55	3	38
34	Yuya KuboCIN · ST · 30	41	0.1	20	57	46	50	52	78
35	Duncan McGuireORL · ST · 23	39	0.1	41	61	76	22	15	13
36	Leonardo CampanaMIA · ST · 23	38	-0.2	54	62	50	27	6	73
37	Daniel RíosATL · ST · 29	36	0.0	46	54	57	38	20	31
38	Jacen Russell-RoweCLB · ST · 21	34	0.0	22	73	59	31	41	29
39	João KlaussSTL · ST · 27	32	0.4	25	20	62	64	62	64
40	Jacob MurrellDC · ST · 20	31	0.2	17	34	69	45	48	25
41	Logan FarringtonDAL · ST · 22	29	-0.1	50	22	18	76	50	18
42	Monsef BakrarNYC · ST · 23	27	0.1	24	41	68	24	46	48
43	Georgios KoutsiasCHI · ST · 20	25	0.3	8	32	54	8	99	41
44	Corey BairdCIN · ST · 28	24	-0.2	32	45	24	69	64	1
45	Prince OwusuTOR · ST · 27	22	-0.1	45	39	55	32	22	10
46	Hugo CuypersCHI · ST · 27	20	-0.2	36	24	11	62	57	66
47	Raúl RuidíazSEA · ST · 33	18	-0.2	61	80	20	13	1	43
48	Giacomo VrioniNE · ST · 25	17	-0.1	15	38	71	1	8	34
49	Gerardo ValenzuelaCIN · ST · 19	15	0.0	6	3	31	75	55	82
50	Jeremy EbobisseSJ · ST · 27	13	-0.3	18	6	6	68	59	15

How it's calculated

In MLS, salary follows a player's status (Designated Player, allocation money, draft, homegrown) far more than his output: the line linking performance to salary is nearly flat. Value Rating therefore measures surplus, as in baseball. The price of a win comes from regulars who produce (about $3.6M per win in 2026); the value produced is WAR × that price; the surplus, that value minus the season's guaranteed compensation. It is turned into a standard score within the position, then 0 to 100. It measures the sporting value of the contract: a very well-paid Designated Player can be excellent and still score low, because his pay exceeds the sporting value our WAR assigns him. His commercial value (tickets, subscriptions, sponsors, media rights) is not counted.

Data: American Soccer Analysis and ESPN; salaries updated daily.