MLS Fantasy Doctor: Use the Round 15 wildcard to get critical with your roster

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With a universal wildcard allowing unlimited transfers and no midweek games to plan for, Round 15 is the perfect week to think critically about your MLS Fantasy team and how you plan to move forward.

Step one? Field a starting XI this week with players from one of the ten teams actually playing. Up next? Use your bench to set yourself up for the future.

As the Monday Morning Center Back wrote earlier in the week, six teams involved in games this week have a Double Game Week in Round 17. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the attacking efficiency chart I’ve referenced before, putting a special focus on the forwards that fall under this subset.

If we’re playing “one of these things is not like the others,” there’s no denying that Kamara isn’t as efficient as some of the league’s other strikers. He shoots more than Cyril Figgis providing suppressing fire.

He’s attempted more shots in the penalty area than any of our other strikers available for selection this weekend. There’s no arguing with the payoff however, as 50 points from goals at a reasonable price for a forward makes him the most popular player in the game.

The most cost efficient on this chart is Arrieta, who has contributed as much as Perez or Davies while coming at a much cheaper price. What also stands out is how often he’s shooting from distance. That he makes the chart with fewer than half his shots coming from the penalty area is impressive.

Dallas is the only team featured in this chart that doesn’t play twice in Round 17. I would recommend any of the forwards here. This is the week to go after Martins, with unlimited transfers as they are.

Let’s apply this lesson to our patient of the week. In a first for this column our submission comes not from the user, but a concerned friend. David Harris wants me to advise his buddy Braulio Diaz, who had an off week last week. What’s Fantasy Sports without a little banter?

Dear MLS Fantasy Doctor,
I'm doing fairly well, but can you please help my buddy?

Your buddy is in good company, one of many MLS Fantasy users who captained Kamara only to be shocked at how few fantasy points he produced during Crew SC’s DGW last week.

We have five players starting here that are on a bye week in Round 15, but let’s start with replacing forwards. Transferring Bradley Wright-Phillips ($11.3) and Octavio Rivero ($9.1) would give you the budget to add Martins and Arrieta, setting you up for this week as well as the future.

Moving Felipe ($8.3) gives us the budget to go after LA’s Juninho ($8.3) whose form and expected points make him again a solid choice with potential payoff over the next few weeks. Jamison Olave ($7.9) can become Montreal’s Laurent Ciman ($7.6) who has been worth at least four points a week since Round 10. For more risk but more savings go with the Galaxy’s Leonardo ($7.4) – he’s been a seven point defender three times since Round 10, but isn’t a guaranteed starter as injured players return.   

In net, Tyler Deric ($4.8) can become Evan Bush ($5.0) with the savings from Olave’s transfer.

Following this advice will get you close to getting through this week without needing to make major adjustments in the near future. Keep in mind that Chicago and Columbus have byes in the next round. That can be worked around by bringing in DaMarcus Beasley off the bench, or you may want to transfer in London Woodberry ($4.5) for Matt Polster now to make next week’s transfers easier.

Best of luck!

MLS Fantasy Doctor