Fantasy: Which positions are most likely to stay hot?

Two rounds of MLS Fantasy are in the books, and fantasy managers are starting to get a feel for who the best options are at each position. As you’re trying to decide who to bring in for Round 3, one question that will come up is whether or not players that have started out on fire will continue to produce results. Let's see what the numbers have to say.

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Top goalkeepers and defenders so far

Tim Melia and the Sporting Kansas City defense lead the way, having not given up a goal in either of their opening matches. Jared Watts, Aaron Long and Joao Meira each have had only one clean sheet, but performed enough bonus actions to score six points despite conceding a goal. Nick Lima and Justin Morrow both scored a goal in their non-clean sheet rounds, keeping them on the “hot” list for Round 2. Sporting KC and the Colorado Rapids both have home matches in Round 3, so there’s definitely reason to believe that the trend continues.

Top midfielders and forwards so far

Anibal Godoy has been on fire, producing a goal, several key passes and a ton of recoveries in the first two weeks. I’m less inclined to think he’ll continue the goal scoring at Children's Mercy Park, though (8:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE). Diego Valeri, David Villa and Chris Wondolowski are all proven scorers, and are pretty safe bets every week. The Houston Dynamo attack has come out blazing, but Houston is playing in Portland this week (10:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE), and the Dynamo have historically struggled in away games.

Top 10 scorers in 2016 on the round after scoring six or more points in consecutive rounds

Giovani dos Santos and Sebastian Giovinco are both players that can string together several high-scoring rounds in a row, but unfortunately, both are now currently injured. If you’re looking for consistency, Nicolas Lodeiro and Villa had eight occurrences in 2016 where they scored six points or more, and then averaged around seven points in their following match. Interestingly, the top 10 were are all attacking players.

How each position did on a round after scoring six or more points in consecutive rounds

When you break it down by position, midfielders and forwards were significantly more likely to post a good result after two consecutive high-scoring rounds. The goalkeeper and defenders’ numbers should increase some this season due to the clean sheet point increase, but if you’re looking for consistency, midfielders had the most back-to-back successes, and forwards scored the most points after two productive rounds.

Are you counting on any of the “on-fire” players to stay hot in Round 3? Let us know in the comments below!

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