The Seattle Sounders are 30 matches into the 2026 MLS season, with four matches to lock up a playoff spot, and to try and avoid a play-in round.
Over the last eight months, this team has shown just how good it can be, and how low it can sink. They have had matches of pure dominance and matches of pure frustration. The only constant of 2026 has been change; changes in form, changes in fortune, and most notably, changes in personnel.
As we reach the home stretch of 2026, Brian Schemtzer is yet to settle on a consistent starting 11 or even a clear substitute rotation. With position battles at center back, midfield, and most notably the wing, Schemtzer is running out of time to make some difficult decisions. Once playoff time rolls around, the difference between a deep postseason run and early elimination could very well be consistency and familiarity on the team sheet.
Schmetzer was dealt a very tough hand in 2026, as Seattle was plunged into perhaps the worst injury crisis in club history and forced into relying on academy reinforcements and players covering unfamiliar roles alongside unfamiliar teammates.
However, that injury crisis has largely subsided, and now the problem has shifted to deciding how a talented roster can be best utilized.
After beating Kansas City 2–1 on October 1st, Schmetzer said on his personnel decisions: “Nobody's job is safe… There’s going to be a lot of competition… I’m going to have some challenging choices and conversations with players as we get down to that final 11.”
Just when fans thought a winning formula was found in an impressive 3–0 win over New England, two highly rotated lineups and five dropped points followed against Dallas and Montreal. While the Dallas lineup can be explained by a quick road turnaround and tired legs, Schmetzer’s oddball lineup against Montreal had several question marks, both in the 11 and in how he managed his subs.
Schmetzer spoke candidly after the loss about running out of time to find an 11: “I would have rather had the team settled by now with four games left to go. But the fact of the matter is that the season played out the way it did… I’ll make some calls here very shortly… I have to make some decisions.”
The performances of the last week showed that this team can be truly elite with the right starters and subs, but extremely vulnerable as a result of a few key personnel differences.
Most positions are no-brainers in my view. Christian Roldan, Alex Roldan, Dejan Joveljić, Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnák, and Nouhou have been everything they’ve needed to be during the Sounders’ recent form turnaround, and deserve to be written on the lineup card in Sharpie when available.
I’ll be taking a look at the position battles at center back, center midfield, and the wings over the last seven matches, starting with the 3-3 draw against Colorado, because I believe that is when the Sounders' form and fortune truly started to turn. For each position battle, I’ve created a match-by-match table; highlighted in yellow are the matches in which Schmetzer has started the pairing that I believe is the most likely to be his preferred pairing heading into the playoffs.
Center Back
First, there are the center backs. With a recent hamstring strain picked up in training, Yeimar is likely going to miss at least the rest of the regular season. While Schmetzer would certainly prefer to have his reliable Ragen-Yeimar pairing down the stretch, Stuart Hawkins and Jackson Ragen look to be the pairing.
Hawkins was impressive during his long stint as starting center back in the absence of both Ragen and Yeimar, and Schmetzer will likely have to give the 20-year-old academy product the most crucial minutes of his young career in the coming weeks. Alex Roldan would presumably become the primary backup, with Kim Kee-hee, Ryan Sailor or Antino Lopez able to cover in a pinch.
While I’ve highlighted Ragen and Hawkins as the primary pairing, this stems more from an injury-necessitated adjustment than Schmetzer's actual dream 11.
Ragen and Hawkins have started alongside each other just three times, all within the last seven matches. The fact that the pairing isn't nearly as used to each other as Ragen and Yeimar makes a consistent lineup in the next few weeks all the more important at the position. Neither player has the level of physical dominance that Yeimar provides, but Ragen is an MLS All-Star, and Hawkins has proven this year that he could be the very near future of the Sounders back line.
Midfield
In the midfield, Hassani Dotson has hit perhaps his best run of form as a Sounder, and looks to own the spot alongside Christian Roldan. However, Schmetzer has made it clear that he believes Snyder Brunell is the kind of talent that demands playing time, and the youngster has looked good over the last few matches after a midseason stumble.
While Dotson is definitely more likely to be a part of Schmetzer’s ideal 11, a couple of off-nights from Hassani in the final month of the regular season paired with a Brunell renaissance could still see a change in midfield.
Winger
The real headaches for Schmetzer come from deciding the wings, and how the team will rotate their attacking subs in the final 30-45 minutes of matches.
Seattle has the very fortunate problem of having five MLS-starter-quality wingers in Jordan Morris, Jesús Ferreira, Paul Arriola, Sebastian Gomez, and Caden Clark.
Since Paul Rothrock’s injury against the LA Galaxy on Sept. 12, the Sounders have played seven matches, and only once have they started the same two wingers. Those two wingers who have shared the teamsheet twice are Paul Arriola and Sebastian Gomez, who started together against both Dallas and Salt Lake three weeks apart.
The situation is further complicated by the return of Ferreira, who seems likely to be pushed to the wing by the good form of Joveljić at striker and Rusnák at CAM.
Rothrock, who racked up the most minutes at wing for any Sounder in 2026 before his injury, will also be pushing to return by the start of the playoffs.
I’ve highlighted an Arriola-Morris pairing as the most likely to stick, which is easily the most debatable of the three main battles. Morris needs to be on the field, and has been the best wide player over the Sounders' recent run of success. While Morris has traditionally played on the left, the right wing has been very kind to him as of late, and his switch from left to right at halftime against Montreal led to an immediate uptick in performance.
As far as Arriola, you could certainly make the argument that he is less likely than both Gomez and Ferreira to start, and was even inexplicably picked behind Caden Clark against Montreal. This is the opinion I am by far the least decided on. Arriola has looked excellent in admittedly limited minutes and starts on the wing, collecting three goals and three assists while averaging a goal contribution every 53.5 minutes over his last eight matches since scoring his first goal against LA on Sept. 12.
Ferreira is a true game changer at his best, and if used correctly, has the highest impact ceiling between himself, Gomez, Arriola, and Clark. Ferreira deserves lots of minutes down the stretch, but I believe that he could be the victim of an overcrowded attacking group, with the left wing, the most contested starting attacking position remaining, being one that Ferreira has limited experience in.
Some fans have advocated for starting Ferreira at CAM ahead of Rusnak, which was certainly a positive switch in the second half against Montreal. However, Rusnák is among the league leaders in assists, has been a rare constant in a season of instability for Seattle, and would be extremely difficult to bench.
Gomez has gotten the nod from Schmetzer in three of Seattle’s last six, and while he’s done solid in his starts, he has looked the most dangerous as a second-half super sub, a role from which he has posted all three of his MLS goal contributions and his three best shifts against Montreal, Kansas City and Colorado. It’s my belief that Gomez is best utilized not as a starter but as a consistent 60th-minute sparkplug addition.
Clark is an undoubtedly talented player, but is still very new to the squad. While he has shown a penchant for thriving in transition chaos, he is yet to truly settle into Schmetzer’s more patient style of possession-based soccer. At times, he has looked invisible and spent long periods of time in both of his recent starts doing nothing more than cardio. Against Montreal, for instance, he had zero offensive contributions before being pulled at halftime.
How to settle the winger situation could justify an entire article by itself.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with me on the wide attack depth chart, the reality is that Schmetzer hasn't come close to solidifying the position, and only has four regular season matches left to do so.
Brian Schmetzer has an embarrassment of options in attack, three starting-quality centerbacks, and two very different but equally serviceable options in midfield.
I’m not simply here to push my opinions on who I think should be starting, but to say that the Sounders will only be able to hit true postseason form if these position battles are decided as soon as possible, if not immediately. We saw firsthand against Montreal how disjointed this team can be when Schmetzer gets deep into the weeds of positional experimentation, and the Sounders can’t afford another performance like that in 2026.
