MLS Team Pulse: where every team is heading

First the trajectory of the last five seasons (2022 to 2026): is the team rising or falling? Then 2026 against the season before. The 2026 rating, separately, says how good it is (0 to 100). Each dimension — results, offense, defense, finishing, passing — is compared with the league of the same season.

2026 season in progress: 28 games at most per team, out of 34. The rating and the season pulse can still move before the end.

#	Team	5 yrs	2026	Rating	Pts	GP	GF-GA	xGF-xGA	RES	OFF	DEF	FIN	PAS	Roster	Index, season by season
1	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	↑ +48	+19	100	50	26	58-26 (+32)	62.7-30.2	↑	↑↑	↑	↑	↑	+2	94 → 107 → 101 → 116 → 119
2	San Jose Earthquakes	↑ +32	+23	70	45	27	48-38 (+10)	52.0-43.4	↑	↑	↑	→	↑	+1	88 → 97 → 86 → 101 → 106
3	Inter Miami CF	↑ +32	-20	85	46	27	62-48 (+14)	59.2-47.5	↑	↑↑	→	→	→	-4	97 → 90 → 105 → 111 → 107
4	Chicago Fire FC	↑ +25	+24	82	42	26	44-37 (+7)	48.8-38.6	↑	↑	→	→	↑	0	97 → 91 → 94 → 103 → 107
5	St. Louis CITY SC	→ +18	+76	89	47	27	47-36 (+11)	47.1-36.9	→	→	↑	↓	↑	-2	102 → 94 → 94 → 109
6	Toronto FC	→ +15	+14	17	29	27	36-48 (-12)	36.2-42.8	→	→	↑	→	→	0	90 → 80 → 93 → 91 → 94
7	Colorado Rapids	→ +14	+34	52	36	27	36-36 (0)	42.6-34.3	→	→	↑	→	→	-5	97 → 91 → 104 → 96 → 103
8	Charlotte FC	→ +13	+9	64	43	27	47-37 (+10)	44.2-44.7	↑	↑	→	↑	→	-1	98 → 92 → 104 → 100 → 102
9	D.C. United	→ +11	+35	37	30	26	33-42 (-9)	43.0-45.1	→	→	→	→	→	0	86 → 101 → 99 → 91 → 97
10	Houston Dynamo FC	→ +11	+20	45	44	27	34-29 (+5)	31.9-36.6	↑	↓	↑	→	→	+2	91 → 101 → 99 → 97 → 101
11	New England Revolution	→ +9	+50	66	46	27	45-34 (+11)	43.7-43.0	→	→	↑	→	→	+3	93 → 101 → 83 → 93 → 103
12	FC Dallas	→ +6	+42	76	47	27	49-41 (+8)	45.6-38.3	→	→	→	↓	→	-1	101 → 101 → 92 → 98 → 106
13	Nashville SC	→ +6	-1	85	60	27	54-20 (+34)	42.6-38.8	↑	→	→	↑	↓	-3	107 → 105 → 95 → 109 → 109
14	Seattle Sounders FC	→ +4	-42	53	38	27	35-35 (0)	43.0-46.5	→	→	→	→	→	+2	95 → 109 → 106 → 107 → 98
15	Minnesota United FC	→ +4	-21	54	29	27	40-48 (-8)	50.4-44.7	→	→	→	→	→	0	99 → 102 → 106 → 105 → 100
16	Orlando City SC	→ 0	-71	25	34	27	48-61 (-13)	45.1-56.3	→	↑	↓	→	↑	0	97 → 106 → 102 → 109 → 95
17	Real Salt Lake	→ -5	+16	39	32	27	37-43 (-6)	41.8-46.3	→	→	→	→	↑	0	100 → 97 → 108 → 95 → 98
18	Columbus Crew	→ -5	-21	51	29	27	36-43 (-7)	35.2-34.1	→	→	→	↓	→	-5	99 → 110 → 110 → 103 → 99
19	Portland Timbers	→ -10	-1	36	32	27	46-51 (-5)	43.3-50.1	→	→	→	→	↓	+1	99 → 99 → 104 → 95 → 95
20	Atlanta United FC	→ -11	+5	17	27	27	30-44 (-14)	40.1-45.2	↓	↓	→	↓	↑	0	99 → 101 → 103 → 94 → 95
21	Philadelphia Union	→ -15	-21	83	39	27	51-43 (+8)	54.6-40.1	↓	→	→	↓↓	↓	-5	119 → 106 → 99 → 111 → 107
22	Austin FC	→ -17	-53	4	31	27	34-44 (-10)	30.9-54.0	↓	↓	→	→	↓	+3	101 → 93 → 89 → 98 → 88
23	LA Galaxy	→ -17	+41	31	36	28	36-43 (-7)	46.0-51.8	→	↓	→	→	↓	-1	104 → 96 → 107 → 89 → 97
24	New York City FC	→ -18	-27	33	33	27	40-36 (+4)	40.5-41.5	→	↓	→	↑	→	-1	110 → 102 → 103 → 104 → 98
25	LAFC	→ -19	-42	84	41	28	40-28 (+12)	46.9-41.6	↓	↓	→	→	→	+1	119 → 110 → 115 → 114 → 105
26	FC Cincinnati	↓ -26	-18	36	33	26	54-61 (-7)	49.4-51.0	→	↓	↓	→	↓↓	-3	107 → 114 → 108 → 101 → 97
27	New York Red Bulls	↓ -30	-31	17	33	27	32-51 (-19)	46.4-55.3	→	→	↓↓	→	↓	+3	106 → 107 → 107 → 98 → 92
28	Sporting Kansas City	↓ -31	-2	1	21	27	32-63 (-31)	33.3-56.8	↓	→	↓↓	→	↓	-1	96 → 97 → 93 → 84 → 83
29	CF Montréal	↓ -33	+15	15	24	27	34-52 (-18)	41.6-47.1	↓↓	→	↓	↓	→	0	112 → 94 → 91 → 90 → 93
30	San Diego FC	↓↓ -81	-51	37	32	27	46-46 (0)	44.1-50.0	↓↓	↓	↓↓	↓↓	→	-1	106 → 96

How it's calculated

For each season since 2021, American Soccer Analysis data give five measures per team, each turned into an index against the league of the same season (100 + 10 standard deviations): results (points per game), offense (expected goals for, per game), defense (expected goals against, per game, lower is better), finishing (goals minus expected goals, for and against, per game: the share of luck and finishing skill, less stable) and passing (goals added by passing, for minus against, per game: who controls the game). The season rating weights them — results 20%, offense 25%, defense 25%, finishing 5%, passing 10%, roster (players' OV weighted by minutes) 15% — re-standardizes the total across the 30 teams and converts it to 0–100. The 5-year pulse is the slope of the overall index over five seasons (5 points per season = +40); the season pulse, the gap with the season before; roster, the observed trend of regular players weighted by minutes. Arrows show each dimension's slope over five seasons.

Data: American Soccer Analysis (goals added, xG, xPass) and ESPN. PickALeague calculations.