MLS is back! After a historic 2025 season, which saw the Philadelphia Union lift its second-ever Supporters' Shield trophy and Inter Miami lift its first MLS Cup, the 2026 season will be another must-watch.
Some clubs improved during the offseason, some stayed the course, and others appeared to have regressed. There are so many storylines entering this season, and the World Cup this summer will continue a huge year of soccer in North America.
Before kickoff takes place on Saturday, the soccer writers at Philly Sports Network gave their predictions for the 2026 MLS Season.
I hate myself for putting Messi and Friends here, but they were one point off the Shield last year, and they got better and younger in the offseason. The addition of last year’s goalkeeper of the year, Dayne St. Clair, might just give them the Shield.
If I have them winning the Shield, that means they win the East. However, the conference got much better this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another year of four of the top five teams in MLS being from the East.
I feel like I’m only picking the cliche teams with the top players to win their respective conferences… LAFC with Heung-min Son and Denis Bouanga leading the attack, and now Canadian maestro Stephen Eustaquio picking the right passes to set them in on goal. They’ll be top of the West with that attack.
This is always the hardest one to pick, because the top teams in MLS rarely make the playoff run to the Cup. Because of that, I’ll pick a team that is near the great tier of MLS teams right now, but isn’t the top team in either conference. Nashville SC rides the attacking prowess of Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge, and Cristian Espinoza to an MLS Cup.
It’s probably stupid to pick against Messi here, but MLS is a league that doesn’t make sense, so I’ll go with FC Cincinnati’s Evander to win the Golden Boot. If Cincy wants to be as competitive as last year, and maybe win their conference, then Evander will need to score 20-plus goals to get them there.
Other than picking Nashville to win the MLS Cup and not Messi to win the Golden Boot, I feel like there will be a lot of surprises in MLS in 2026. One of the biggest being Atlanta United and LA Galaxy making the playoffs after finishing 14th in their respective conferences.
Last year, Vancouver Whitecaps went on a crazy run to the Concacaf Champions Cup Final, the MLS Cup Final, and the Canadian Championship. Of those three, they only won the Canadian Championship. This year, I expect a drop-off. I don’t see them making a run at any final other than the Canadian Championship, and I predict a 5th-place finish in the west.
The Landon Donovan MLS MVP will probably need to be renamed the Lionel Messi MLS MVP once the GOAT hangs up his boots. Messi has won it two times in a row; the first time was BS, but last year’s was legit. If he leads his team to a Supporters’ Shield in 2026, he’ll win MVP.
I think there’s going to be a few teams in the running for this over the course of the season. On the West side, I like the looks of LAFC and Vancouver, but I think Inter Miami has an easier time in the Eastern Conference and ends up picking up more points than the two Western Conference teams.
It would be really nice to see someone rise in the Eastern Conference to take on Messi and the money behind Inter Miami, but I just can’t see it. Union will likely be their biggest challengers, Union or maybe Cincy, but Messi and Miami pull off the Conference win again.
The Western Conference is going to be really interesting this 2026 season. There are at least a handful of teams I really like the look of, but I have Vancouver taking the top spot, just beating out LAFC.
While I have Vancouver taking the Western Conference and Inter Miami winning the Conference and Shield double, I think LAFC comes in with playoff experience and beats them both to win the big one. With a full season of Bouanga and Son playing together, they’re going to be unplayable at times for opposing teams.
The Golden Boot race this season is primed to be electric with names like Lionel Messi, Deni Bouanga, Son Heung-min, Anders Dreyer, and then the possibility of the likes of Thomas Muller finding a good run of form or maybe Timo Werner finds his confidence back, but in the end I think Nashville striker Sam Surridge will take the Golden Boot, with the supply of Mukhtar and Najar behind him.
Now hear me out on this one, I’m not saying they’ll go on to be a truly top team in the league at all, they have their issues but I think, on the gamble that Timo Werner returns to the form that made him a top striker in the world 7 or so years ago, San Jose will benefit massively and possibly have a shot of sneaking into a playoffs spot. It all just depends on whether Werner manages to return to form, and that's a big if that's been looming over him for years.
San Diego has the players and roster to be a good challenger in the Western Conference against the likes of LAFC and Vancouver, but that’s just on paper, and teams really struggle to repeat on such a good year, nevermind the good year being your first as a club. I’m not saying they won’t make the playoffs, but I could see them falling off and not being a challenger for the Conference top spot.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lionel Messi goes and becomes the first player to retain the MVP award in the MLS, but I truly believe, behind a Golden Boot-winning season and a season that sees his team likely in the Conference Finals in the postseason, Sam Surridge will deny football’s GOAT from retaining the MVP of the league.
It feels wrong to pick any other club besides Inter Miami to win the Supporters' Shield in 2026. They only got better during the offseason. Dayne St. Clair, Germán Berterame, and Sergio Reguilón will push this club to an even higher level. I don't think they will break the MLS points record (74), which they set themselves in 2024, but they will be dominant.
It only makes sense to have Miami as the top team in the East if I have them winning the Shield. The East got much stronger during the offseason, so I think it will be closer at the top than expected. Along with Miami, I think Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC, and FC Cincinnati will all be first in the East at some point during the season.
LAFC started to reach a new level with the addition of Son Heung-min last summer. Now we'll see a full season of Son and Denis Bouanga together? Oh my. Scary scenes for other teams in the West. I think San Diego FC and Vancouver Whitecaps will drop off a bit, and Austin FC will finish higher than they did last year (6th). LAFC looks like the only powerhouse in that conference right now.
As Tim mentioned above, we rarely see top regular-season clubs reach the MLS Cup Final and win it. But for me, LAFC just looks too strong not to make it deep in the playoffs. I'm picking them to win MLS Cup this year, but I don't think they will be facing Miami in the final. I think either FC Cincinnati or Nashville SC comes out of the East.
Sam Surridge finished tied for second in last year's Golden Boot race. With the addition of Crisitian Espinoza to the lineup, I think those two will be feeding off of each other all season. If I think Nashville can be one of the last clubs standing in the East, Surridge will be the one powering them through.
With Tai Baribo joining D.C. United, the Union lost its top goal scorer. Ezekiel Alladoh was brought in as the new club-record signing to score goals, and that's what he'll do. He's only 20 years old, but I think he'll have an easy adjustment to MLS given his physical frame.
James Rodríguez signing with Minnesota United is huge for the club and the league, but his contract is guaranteed only through June, with a club option through December. I don't see him adjusting well to the cold Minnesota weather, making a big enough impact to make Minnesota a legitimate contender, or staying with the club after the World Cup. The big signing for the Loons will end in disappointment.
If I'm picking LAFC to win it all, Son will be at the forefront. I think he'll crack the top 3 in both goals and assists league-wide and come up huge in the playoffs. We already saw some clutch moments from him last season, and now we'll see it for an entire year.
I'd love to confidently say anything else, but I think we’re in for another year of Miami competing for multiple trophies. 38-year-old Lionel Messi showed he’s still capable of carrying his team to success after winning the Golden Boot with 29 goals in just 28 league games played last season, and the additions of players like Sergio Reguilon, Micael, Dayne St. Clair, and Germán Berterame give Inter Miami’s Squad the refresh it needs to continue pushing for silverware in 2026.
As I said, I think it’s going to be Inter Miami running the table through the MLS regular season this year, but I’m interested to see how all the competitions and fatigue/injuries stack up for Inter Miami and how that could open the door for another team like Nashville or Cincinnati to enter the mix.
LAFC seems like the favorites out West in 2026 with Son Heung-Min set to kick off his first full season in the Hollywood Hills alongside Denis Bouanga, who finished 2nd in the Golden Boot race with 24 goals last season. LAFC didn’t see many key players depart during the off-season and brought in an exciting young player, Amin Bourdi, and the experienced 29-year-old midfielder Stephen Eustáquio from FC Porto. To top off their off-season transactions, LAFC also brought MLS-ready depth pieces Mathieu Choinière and Jacob Shaffelburg into the mix for a hopeful run at winning the Western Conference.
We haven’t had a team raise back-to-back MLS Cup trophies since the LA Galaxy did it with David Beckham in 2011 and 2012, but I think that streak ends this year, with Beckham's Inter Miami lifting the MLS Cup for a 2nd consecutive season on the back of the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi. Much of that will depend on Messi’s health going into the playoffs, but if all lines up the way one would expect, Lionel Messi’s Miami might make MLS history in 2026.
Lionel Messi’s 29 goals in 28 games make it hard to believe anyone but him is going to win the 2026 Golden Boot, as long as he stays healthy enough. There are a few players who are for sure going to challenge him, like Denis Bouanga, Sam Surridge, Evander, etc., but I think we’re going to see another year of Lionel Messi dominance throughout Major League Soccer.
Call me a homer on this one, but I think the Philadelphia Union is going to turn heads again this season. Do I think the Union is going to end 2026 with another piece of silverware added to their trophy cabinet? No. BUT, I think this team is going to surprise a lot of people after letting 3 MLS All-Stars depart in the off-season. From predictions done by Apple TV’s talent team for the 2026 MLS Season, zero people picked Union to go on and win the Eastern Conference, with the highest prediction coming in at 2nd place and the lowest at 13th, most predictions coming somewhere between 4th and 7th. While it might take some time for this team to really click and find its footing, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Union get hot near the end of 2026 and emerge as one of the teams best positioned for future success.
My prediction for the Biggest Disappointment this season is going to be NYCFC, who I thought caught many people by surprise last season after a 5th-place Eastern Conference finish and a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. I’m sure Pigeon fans hoped their team would go out and bolster the squad in the off-season, but NYCFC’s most notable addition this Winter was Kai Trewin, a midfielder/defender acquired from A-League side Melbourne City FC. NYCFC will rely on Talles Magno and Nicolás Fernández Mercau, who they acquired from LaLiga side Elche last Summer, to carry the team offensively while forward Alonso Martinez recovers from a torn ACL, and goalkeeper Matt Freese will be called upon to keep them in games night in and night out. But if either of those things becomes an issue, we could see this NYCFC team go from a team that should have been pushing for a top-4 Eastern Conference finish this season to one that is fighting for its spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
I so badly want to pick someone like Son Heung-Min or Thomas Müller, but Lionel Messi’s 1.08 goal per game last season makes me think it’s his to lose - as long as he stays healthy for enough games.
