Much respect due to D.C. United's Jaime Moreno. He's made this a tough call, but in the end, Twellman takes our top prize. With eight assists to go along with 16 goals, Twellman is currently the only player to have racked up more than 2,000 fantasy points this year. Moreno will almost certainly join him in his final three games, but Twellman's 95 points per match rate is difficult to argue with.
The real killer for Moreno is his red cards, two of them. Not only have they knocked 50 points off of his total, but they've kept him from earning full match, appearance, goal and assist points that probably would have kept him on pace with Twellman. Such is life. We're not here to take Moreno to task; after all, he's turned in one heck of a season. For those who care, our third-place finisher is the Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan.
Rookie of the Year: Chris Rolfe, Chicago Fire -- Rolfe, the Fire's unlikely savior in a year where the team lacked a clear marquee striker, is the only rookie in the top 25 for total fantasy points, and one of just four rookies with more than 1,000 points. Earlier this year, Rolfe was a cheap pick-up, one of those random first-year players you grab to stay under the salary cap and make sure you've got 11 players on your roster.
Well, if you picked up Rolfe -- out of good fortune or intuition -- kudos to you. We wouldn't be surprised if he's put a couple of teams over the top this season. Our two runners-up are the Kansas City Wizards' Scott Sealy (his nine goals and one assist are edged out by Rolfe's eight goals and four assists) and D.C. United's Bobby Boswell (10 clean sheets and 25 full matches).
Defender of the Year: Jay Heaps, New England Revolution -- Heaps gets the nod here ahead of San Jose Earthquakes defender Kelly Gray and D.C. United defensive midfielder Brian Carroll. Heaps has been on the field for the Revs for 29 full matches, 16 wins and nine clean sheets, and he's also chipped in a goal and five assists. Gray (surprise!) and Carroll (double surprise!) each have similar numbers, but they're not quite up to the standard Heaps has set.
Goalkeeper of the Year: Pat Onstad, San Jose Earthquakes -- You'd think this would be a runaway given the amazing season Onstad is having, but he's only about 120 points ahead of D.C. United's Nick Rimando right now. Still, this is a no-brainer. Third place goes to the Revs' Matt Reis.
Disappointment of the Year: Guillermo Ramirez, Los Angeles Galaxy -- Here's what we said about Pando in our season preview: "The Galaxy's Guillermo 'El Pando' Ramirez may be the biggest bargain on the board at just $75,000." In hindsight, that statement was really, really stupid.
The Galaxy have just one game remaining, and our "bow-legged" man has one goal (a fluky bounce on a penalty kick) and one assist to his name. His one saving grace is the number of shots he's fired, most of which have been sent into orbit. Hopefully, you cut him loose long ago.
Surprise Player of the Year: Dwayne De Rosario, San Jose Earthquakes De Rosario's numbers are outstanding, considering his previous four years in the league. His seven goals and 12 assists are both career highs, as are his 24 games started.
Sure, all of you who have had De Rosario on your roster all season are beating your chest right now and saying, "I knew. I knew he'd have a great year." Stop it. You didn't know. No one knew. Wait, we take that back. Two people knew that shifting De Ro to the midfield would draw this kind of production out of him: Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear and De Rosario himself.
Jason Halpin is a contributor to MLSnet.com. He covered the fantasy leagues, along with Jonathan Nierman, every other week throughout the season. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
