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Major League Soccer’s 2018 season is set to kick off in barely one week’s time, and MLS Fantasy in 2018 should be as fun as ever. The official game has players set up a 15-man roster with a budget of $100 million allocated among MLS players of various prices. There are some major changes this year to the official platform, most notably the split of the year into a Spring season and Fall season.
The overall winner of each season will earn a $2,000 (gift card) prize from MLS. The rest of the top ten also earn gift cards of $200 to $1000, and the top overall supporter of each MLS team earns $200. With upgraded technology and the ability to sub or transfer players until their game’s kickoff time, this year could lead to the most fun fantasy experience yet.
The Spring season kicks off with the start of the year on March 3rd and runs until July 29th (17 game weeks). Then the Fall season runs from August 4th to Decision Day on October 28th. If you are in a head-to-head league, there will be playoffs in each season. Teams will be reset between each season and you will be automatically registered to play in the same leagues in the Fall that you joined for the Spring season.
If you want to join the official Sounder at Heart league, follow this link or use the code: D3FRDNTY.
In addition to the season split, this year’s biggest change is rolling roster locks for each kickoff time. This frequently requested feature means that players are only locked out of transfers once their game kicks off. This means surprise injuries or benchings are far less punishing. If Frei picks up a surprise knock in pre-game, then you can swap in Meredith with no problem as long as the game hasn’t kicked off. You are no longer stuck with your whole roster the minute a Wednesday game kicks off. As a reminder, there are unlimited transfers, so there is no reason to look ahead to future weeks in planning your team.
They have also updated substitution rules so that the highest scoring player on your bench will sub in, as long as the formation is legal, for a player who does not play. You no longer have to rank your bench positions, and the “switcheroo” is now automatic.
As usual, valid formations have 3-5 defenders, 3-5 midfielders, and 1-3 forwards, to make an 11-player roster with one goalkeeper.
Next week I will have a Week 1 preview of some of the juiciest Week 1 matchups.