Fantasy Focus: The Break is Over

The Copa America Centenario break ends this weekend, and that means Fantasy MLS is back. This is a good time to take a look at the top three teams in the league, which are conveniently the only three teams above the 1000-point plateau:

1) !BL4CKnRED-2014Champ - 1070 points

2) #Gio'd - 1047 points

2) Salisbury United - 1047 points

We're going to look at some numbers for each of the positions to show both who the most frequent scorers are (points per 90 minutes), as well as who the most consistent scorers are with a caveat. Let's start with the goalkeepers, sorted by points per 90.

Goalkeepers

These are all the scoring goalkeepers this year. Obviously Bill Hamid's presence at the top of the points per 90 stat has much to do with him playing just twice, but this is a D.C. United blog and I do what I want. Surprisingly Matt Lampson is 2nd in points per 90, despite playing on an abjectly bad Chicago Fire team. The MPP-CS stat is minutes per point excluding clean sheets (CS), which is my way of looking at who can be relied on to score points, even if they don't keep a clean sheet. The green numbers are the top 10. You see that Zac MacMath is more reliant upon clean sheets than the other high-scoring goalkeepers -- not that that matters much, because Tim Howard is on his way.

Defenders

These categories are the same as the goalkeepers, but just the top 25 in points per 90. The green numbers are the top 10% of defenders playing more than 400 minutes.

RJ Allen and Mekeil Williams showing up at the top of this list is a surprise. RJ Allen has shown flashes of strong attacking abilities as the season has gone along, and he's looking like a must-have player as the season goes on, even without many clean sheets. Justen Glad is also looking like a great low cost option, scoring 5.51 points per 90, and scoring frequently without clean sheets. Unfortunately the only DCU player here is Taylor Kemp, scoring 5 points per 90 minutes, good enough to tie for 19th.

Midfielders

This the top 25 in points per 90. MPP-GA is minutes per point without goals and assists, and the green numbers are the top 10% of players playing more than 400 minutes.

Ignacio Piatti, Mauro Diaz, and Diego Valeri are the only midfielders scoring more than 8 points per 90 minutes. Piatti is more reliant on goals than the other two, but can you really argue when he's scored 8 of them? I wonder how Diaz's numbers would look had he not missed 5 games thus far this season, but he's healthy now and it's hard to argue with his inclusion. Down toward the bottom of this list are United's Patrick Nyarko and Lamar Neagle, the only D.C. players in the top 25.

Forwards

The categories are the same as the midfielders, and it's the top 25 again. The green numbers are the top 10%, but there are far fewer players, so there are far fewer green numbers.

Didier Drogba and Sebastian Giovinco are far and away the leading the category as they're scoring more than 9 points per 90 minutes, and everyone else is scoring fewer than 8. That said, Drogba's inconsistent participation has led to him scoring just more than half of the points that Giovinco has scored. And look at DCU's own Alvaro Saborio. Buoyed by scoring in substitute appearances, his overall numbers don't look bad, though he's not scoring non-goal or assist points very frequently at all. Also notable is Ola Kamara, who has obviously not played much, but he's lighting it up over his 413 minutes.

Looking Ahead

It's time to celebrate because everybody plays once this week. Games start on Saturday, so pour one out for Viernes de Futbol. Zac MacMath (COL, $5.3) is good to use in goal for now, and he's at home against low-scoring Chicago. In defense, Walker Zimmerman (DAL, $6.4) is a good guy to have on the road against under-performing Kansas City. In the midfield, Ignacio Piatti is going to be out for a couple of weeks more, so I like Lee Nguyen (NE, $11.8) in the midfield at Vancouver. At forward, keep riding David Villa (NYC, $11.9) and his 10 goals, at home against Philadelphia.