With the MLS season more than a quarter of the way done for some teams, the table is finally beginning to take shape. In the Eastern Conference, despite Inter Miami’s lavish offseason spending, Nashville SC is clearly the team to beat. Top of the East, Nashville’s attacking trio of Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and new signing Cristian Espinoza have been even more lethal than expected. Second place, Miami have not gotten off to the title defense that they would’ve wanted. A number of disappointing points dropped, an early exit from the CONCACAF Champions Cup (the North American equivalent of the European Champions League), and a lack of impact from their new signings have left the Messi-led Miami playing catch-up to Nashville. Head coach Javier Mascherano recently resigned, sparking rumors and even more questions.
While the East may seem weaker than in the previous few years, the chasing pack is composed of a number of teams. Chicago Fire, Charlotte FC and New York City FC all find themselves in playoff spots after impressive seasons last year, and are so far meeting expectations. Perhaps more surprisingly are the performances of the New England Revolution, Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls. These three teams all experienced significant turnover in the offseason, with New England firing head coach Caleb Porter, Toronto FC parting ways with the underwhelming Italian duo of Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne and the Red Bulls appointing Michael Bradley as head coach, a position he had only ever prior held in the minor league MLS Next Pro. Bradley has focused on youth-driven success so far, and while results have been mixed, they are a massive improvement on last season. Teenagers Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti have been among the standout players in MLS, and both will likely end up in Europe sooner rather than later.
Some seasons have not gone to plan, however. Both D.C. United and CF Montréal have shown mixed results with a slight uptick in form on both sides’ poor 2025 seasons, though sustained success seems unlikely. Columbus Crew lost head coach Wilfried Nancy to Celtic in Scotland, and while his time there did not go well, Columbus are also struggling. A deluge of injuries and a new playing style have contributed to a slow start, though the hope is that, as new head coach Henrik Rydström has more time with his team, results will turn around. FC Cincinnati have also started in uncharacteristically bad fashion, though their downfall is trickier to understand. Cincinnati was great in 2025, but their underlying stats implied that they should have finished lower than they did. Their underlying stats are much improved this year, but the results aren’t as good.
However, three Eastern teams have had catastrophic starts to the season. Orlando City has already parted with former head coach Óscar Pareja, and is on track to be one of the worst MLS defenses of all time if they continue to concede goals at their current pace. The best team in the 2025 regular season, the Philadelphia Union, sold a number of key players, such as left back Kai Wagner and striker Tai Baribo, only to replace them with unproven youngsters from other leagues. It has not worked so far. Finally, Atlanta United have not improved on a dismal 2025 with just two wins in their first ten. Returning head coach Tata Martino won MLS Cup with them in 2018, but so far, he has not been able to get anything close to that level out of their squad.
The West is more top-heavy. Against all odds, the San Jose Earthquakes sit top of the league with nine wins and just a solitary loss. Since a 0-1 loss to Seattle Sounders in March, San Jose has won six straight, scoring 19. Despite losing a number of their top contributors from last year, legendary head coach Bruce Arena has the Quakes playing some of the best soccer in the league with a team built largely through draft picks and academy players.
Vancouver Whitecaps are the closest challengers, having played one less game than San Jose, and while there is currently a cloud over the club due to the threat of relocation, the ‘Caps have picked up where they left off last season, and remain among the league’s top teams under head coach Jesper Sørensen. Behind them, LAFC, featuring South Korean star Son Heung-min, has been somewhat underwhelming to start the year.
While still a good team, under their new coach, LAFC has not properly gelled yet. Seattle, having played two fewer games, is also in this chasing pack. While the Sounders are not an elite offensive unit, they boast one of the best defenses in the league, and they keep picking up good, if unspectacular, results. Cult hero Paul Rothrock continues to impress on the wing, and new starting goalkeeper Andrew Thomas has quietly been among the best in MLS.
Minnesota United essentially had to start anew this season with their coach, the 2025 goalkeeper of the year, and a number of starters leaving. Against all odds, they find themselves in fifth place. While they may not be able to keep up this form, as evidenced by their negative goal differential, that they’re this competitive is impressive. Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids, right behind them, are both exciting youth-centered projects. Salt Lake boasts possibly the two best young wingers in the league, Diego Luna and Zavier Gozo, while the Rapids, under new head coach Matt Wells, are playing some of the most entertaining soccer in MLS, and have found exceptional value in intra-league trades to build a competitive roster under tight budgetary constraints.
The Texas pair of FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo have both been decent, if unspectacular. Houston’s new attacking additions, winger Guilherme and former LAFC star Mateusz Bogusz have both impressed, while Petar Musa continues to be one of the best strikers in the league for a mediocre Dallas team. The final Texas team, Austin FC, has been disappointing to start 2026 after a good 2025, but with several key players hurt, they will bet on getting healthy to improve.
For San Diego FC and LA Galaxy, the 2026 season has not been as positive as they may have hoped. San Diego was one of the standout stories of 2025, finishing first in the West as a new expansion club, but after a bright start to 2026, their form has turned for the worse. For the Galaxy, 2025 was a disaster following Riqui Puig’s ACL tear and the Galaxy’s inability to compensate for the loss of his creativity and talent. When it was announced that Puig would be out for the 2026 season as well, it appeared as though they knew how to better manage the loss. New striker João Klauss has been in form, but outside of that, they continue to be disappointing.
The basement-dwellers of the West are off to terrible starts. The Portland Timbers keep picking up just enough points to keep head coach Phil Neville in his job, but are unpleasant to watch, and if improvement doesn’t come soon, Neville may find himself out of time. Finally, rivals St. Louis City and Sporting Kansas City take up the bottom two spots. St. Louis has improved from last year, but that merely speaks to how poor they were in 2025. New head coach Yoann Damet has not overseen the improvement that was hoped for. Finally, Sporting KC is among the least talented teams in league history, and it’s shown on the pitch. They underwent a primary owner change in the offseason, so the future appears brighter for SKC, but as the roster currently stands, finishing anywhere other than bottom will be a success.