MLS Fantasy 2020: Week 5 Fantasy Forecast
Ahead of each Week in MLS Fantasy the Hype Train provides its informative Fantasy Forecast, where members of the Hype Team will duel for MLS supremacy in predicting scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for the relevant round of games. In addition, we give our insight into who are the players to watch and those to drop, as well as providing insight into captaincy picks, differential players for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
How does our Forecasting work?
The Hype Team will compete in a weekly head to head dual of wits. The 3 members of the team will provide weekly insight for the Gameweek ahead, providing score predictions, a Scout Picks squad that follows MLS Fantasy rules, and will provide what insight they can for the fixtures at hand.
MLS Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with MLS predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the MLS Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point. An incorrect score is worth nothing.
Gameweek Insight: We've left an open space for the team to write that helps with the Gameweek hustle; identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Week, within their budget limitations, using the rules of MLS Fantasy - formations, the player limits of 3 players-per-club, and each team must pick a captain.
MLS Fantasy 2020: Week 5 Fixtures (24)
Wed 2nd September 2020:
Toronto 3-0 Montreal Impact
Thu 3rd September 2020:
Atlanta United 2-0 Inter Miami
FC Cincinnati 1-1 Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew 2-1 Philadelphia Union
NY Red Bulls 1-0 D.C. United
Houston Dynamo 2-1 Minnesota United
New England Revolution 2-2 NYCFC
Sporting KC 0-0 FC Dallas
Nashville 0-3 Orlando City
Real Salt Lake 0-2 Seattle Sounders
LAFC 2-0 San Jose Earthquakes
Portland Timbers 3-2 LA Galaxy
Sun 6th September 2020:
Houston Dynamo 1-1 Sporting KC
Orlando City 2-1 Atlanta United
Vancouver Whitecaps 0-2 Toronto
San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 Colorado Rapids
Mon 7th September 2020:
D.C. United 1-2 NYCFC
NY Red Bulls 2-0 Philadelphia Union
Chicago Fire 0-0 New England Revolution
Columbus Crew 2-0 FC Cincinnati
Minnesota United 1-0 Real Salt Lake
Inter Miami 2-0 Nashville
Seattle Sounders 3-1 Portland Timbers
LA Galaxy 2-3 LAFC
MLS Fantasy 2020: Week 5 Insight
Week 4 Review:
First off, I am surprised all the games happened after last week. My MW4 team got an amazing 46pts last week, and after a giant haul of four fantasy returns, my team value rocketed, and is now over $3.0mil more expensive for pretty much doing absolutely nothing. I don’t understand how they can justify the steep price rises when not even one of my players got more than 8pts. Hedges (DAL) went up a full $1.0mil after a 5pt haul in MW4...and he didn’t even keep a clean sheet. After four weeks Hedges has gone up in price $4.0mil. In another four weeks he’ll be worth $14.0mil after only eight weeks. After being distracted last week by the craziness of MW3,
I am back to completely loathing the pricing system in this years MLS game. It doesn’t need to be that aggressive, and we’ll be reaching the tipping point for ‘hard decision’ teams by less than a third of the season. It really is killing my motivation for this year’s game as it is testing my patience and proving what I said before the season to be right.
If the players in my team were scoring big, like I had eight or more players that were scoring more than 10pts per game, I would completely understand. Not a $3.0mil increase after one of my worst ever weeks with 46pts and no standout players. If anyone is getting more than two points…price increase. Prices don’t even go down that much, as it is intended to keep player prices higher on average. The logic should be that a dud player that is barely getting past two points should also be inflicted with aggressive price decreases. Nope, not in the MLS.
Take B. Bye (New England) who is a defender, he went down only $0.2mil after 2pts in MW4 but has risen from $5.5mil to $6.6mil over the course of the season. Bye has only achieved one clean sheet and one assist, and has only had two good weeks (GW2, 9pts; GW3 6pts). Bang average returns are attaching big price increases, but minimal reductions when they aren’t performing.
Another example is Pozuelo (TOR) who has gone from $11.0mil to $14.0mil in four weeks, and he has had great returns.
Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Ruidiaz (SEA)
Alternative: Rossi (LAFC)
Differential: Pozuelo (TOR)
MLS Scout Picks Squad: Week 5
Budget: $124.8 million (fixed)
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Westberg (TOR)
DEF: Duncan (RBNY)
DEF: Tinnerholm (NYC)
DEF: Lennon (ATL)
MID: Pozuelo (TOR)
MID: Barco (ATL)
MID: Nani (ORL)
MID: Zelarayan (CLB)
FOR: Rossi (LAFC)
FOR: Ruidiaz (SEA) - (C)
FOR: Pavon (LA)
Substitutes
GK: Willis (NSH)
MID: Cuello (LA)
DEF: Washington (NSH)
DEF: Harvey (LAFC)
MLS Fantasy 2020: Week 5 Fixtures (24)
Wed 2nd September 2020:
Toronto 2-0 Montreal Impact
Thu 3rd September 2020:
Atlanta United 2-1 Inter Miami
FC Cincinnati 1-1 Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew 2-1 Philadelphia Union
NY Red Bulls 1-0 D.C. United
Houston Dynamo 3-1 Minnesota United
New England Revolution 1-1 NYCFC
Sporting KC 2-1 FC Dallas
Nashville 1-2 Orlando City
Real Salt Lake 0-1 Seattle Sounders
LAFC 2-2 San Jose Earthquakes
Portland Timbers 3-1 LA Galaxy
Sun 6th September 2020:
Houston Dynamo 1-1 Sporting KC
Orlando City 2-1 Atlanta United
Vancouver Whitecaps 0-1 Toronto
San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 Colorado Rapids
Mon 7th September 2020:
D.C. United 0-0 NYCFC
NY Red Bulls 1-0 Philadelphia Union
Chicago Fire 1-2 New England Revolution
Columbus Crew 3-0 FC Cincinnati
Minnesota United 2-1 Real Salt Lake
Inter Miami 1-1 Nashville
Seattle Sounders 1-0 Portland Timbers
LA Galaxy 3-2 LAFC
MLS Fantasy 2020: Week 5 Insight
21 Teams have a Double Gameweek:
Houston Dynamo: MIN (H), SKC (H)
Sporting KC: DAL (H), HOU (A)
Orlando City: NSH (A), ATL (H)
Atlanta United: MIA (H), ORL (A)
Toronto: MTL (H), VAN (A)
San Jose Earthquakes: LAFC (A), COL (H)
D.C. United: RBNY (A), NYC (H)
NYCFC: NE (A), DC (A)
NY Red Bulls: DC (H), PHI (H)
Chicago Fire: CIN (A), NE (H)
New England Revolution: NYC (H), CHI (A)
Minnesota United: HOU (A), RSL (H)
Real Salt Lake: SEA (H), MIN (A)
Columbus Crew: PHI (H), CIN (H)
FC Cincinnati: CHI (H), CLB (A)
Inter Miami: ATL (A), NSH (H)
Nashville: ORL (H), MIA (A)
Seattle Sounders: RSL (A), POR (H)
Portland Timbers: LA (H), SEA (A)
LA Galaxy: POR (A), LAFC (H)
LAFC: SJ (H), LA (A)
Week 4 Review:
The only major frustration from Week 4 from a personal standpoint was the failure to launch from Pity Martinez as Atlanta went down 3-1 at home to Orlando. Portland and Seattle impressed going forward, whilst Philadelphia were very good at home against a D.C. United outfit that will struggle this season.
MLS is quite an open league and a couple of a games each week tend to be high scoring, so don’t feel too down if your captain held you back or you were subpar last week – you could have a host of players involved in a 5-5 draw next week.
Teams to Watch / Avoid:
Toronto (Watch): The Canadian sides are only allowed to play each other right now and this has given Toronto a strong claim for some silverware this year. TFC have won their last 3 regular season matches 1-0 (not counting the MLS is Back Tournament). They’re also the only team north of the US border playing twice and from a Fantasy perspective you should load up on their defensive assets as well as Alejandro Pozuelo in midfield, with Poz my personal pick for captain this week.
Columbus (Watch): The Crew have a double header at home against Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Defensively solid, Harrison Afful should be considered alongside Gyasi Zardes in attack and Lucas Zelarayan in midfield.
Houston (Watch): Another side playing twice at home, I’m a big fan of Darwin Quintero and the winger was the star of the show during Week 3’s 5-2 away win at Sporting KC. If Houston are on it in home games against Minnesota or Sporting, Quintero is the explosive differential that you might need this week.
Orlando (Watch): Chris Mueller was the man at Atlanta and is currently the top MLS Fantasy player with 44 points. With Nani and Daryl Dike around the influential midfielder, there could be more joy against Nashville and Atlanta.
My gut instinct says to avoid: Minnesota (form), Sporting KC (unpredictable), NYCFC (away games), San Jose (unreliable), Cincinnati (just bad), Inter Miami (lacking a punch in the final third), Chicago (just no) and maybe in an ideal world even LAFC (erratic) and Atlanta (a constant headache).
Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Alejandro Pozuelo (TOR)
Alternative: Diego Rossi (LAFC)
Differential: Darwin Quintero (HOU)
Pozuelo might be one of the most consistent players in MLS Fantasy since his arrival and was at hand to score the goal that beat Montreal last time out. Quintero is the explosive pick and Diego Rossi competes with Raul Ruidiaz (SEA) and Gustavo Bou (NE) for the secondary forward role next to Cristian Pavon (LA) in attack.
Other Week 5 Comments:
As a disclaimer, 21 teams have a Double Gameweek but don’t forget that players can only get points from one game (their best score), so make sure you select players who have the tools, fixtures and set-piece capabilities to have a second bite at the cherry should they not get much joy from the midweek portion of Week 5.
When selecting my team I started with a base of Columbus, Toronto and Seattle defenders as they’re the most likely to claim a clean sheet in the upcoming week.
The essential picks this week are Pozuelo, Martinez, Rossi and Pavon, then is it making some hard choices about who partners these picks in midfield. If I were to downgrade some premium defenders, I am keen on Bou or Ruidiaz instead of Dyke. Aside from a few minor line-up changes depending on rotation, this is 99% going to be the squad you see that I review this time next week.
Just a reminder, I stated that after the recent 6-fixture postponement during Week 3’s Double Gameweek, it might be a good idea to stack your teams with players from the first fixtures. You actually don’t know where and when MLS games might be thrown to the curb, so I’ll be looking at getting as many players through the gates as quickly as possible to secure points – otherwise I’m left in a position again where my captain only gets a singular point for his troubles.
MLS Scout Picks Squad: Week 5
Budget: $125.0 million (fixed)
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Q. Westberg (TOR)
DEF: K. Leerdam (SEA)
DEF: J. Mensah (CLB)
DEF: J. Araujo (LA)
MID: C. Quintero (HOU)
MID: A. Pozuelo (TOR) – (C)
MID: P. Martinez (ATL)
MID: L. Zelarayan (CLB)
FOR: D. Rossi (LAFC)
FOR: D. Dike (ORL)
FOR: C. Pavon (LA)
Substitutes
GK: J. Willis (NSH)
MID: G. Busio (SKC)
DEF: Ruan (ORL)
DEF: D. Palacios (LAFC)
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
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All aboard.
