There are points up for grabs in the East. Inter Miami tooled up to defend their MLS Cup title with uneven results. The Philadelphia Union have dropped them from the top of the heap to the cellar. The Ohio duopoly of Columbus and Cincinnati are below their previous standard, while Orlando City played the long game, conducting minimal business before Antoine Griezmann’s summer arrival.

Nashville SC have been the greatest beneficiary of The Great Points Migration in 2026, storming to the top of the East. But right behind them after a gritty 2-1 win over Philadelphia this week are the surprising New England Revolution, led by Marko Mitrović in his first MLS head coaching role after four years with the US youth national teams.

While Mitrović inherited a squad which had missed the previous two postseasons, he wasn’t short on top-end talent. Carles Gil remains among MLS’s best playmakers, assisting this weekend’s equalizer against Philadelphia – maximizing the second cycle of a corner kick with an excellent first touch and pass to rising second fiddle Luca Langoni.

Gil then won the game himself late in the second half, his third winning goal of the season.

Mitrović’s game model is still being installed, but it’s allowing several players to thrive. Gil has returned to the free-roaming role he fulfilled during his peak years under Bruce Arena. Matt Turner remains in fine form. Center-back Mamadou Fofana is a worthy early consideration for this year’s Best XI. The goal scoring has largely come by committee, but Langoni has looked like a worthy second option next to Gil.

The underlying numbers suggest that there’s work to be done, though. The Revs’ 13 xG through 11 games, per American Soccer Analysis, ranks last in the East and fourth-worst leaguewide. They are sixth-to-last in expected goal difference. The team must become more dependable minute-to-minute before presumably bolstering the squad in the summer window.

But for now, there’s more than enough fight. No team have reclaimed more points from losing positions than the Revs’ 12. There still isn’t a formula for xDawg – at least not yet – but second-place is a fine way to close the season’s opening trimester and restore hope among the Gillette Stadium faithful.

Little separates the West’s best

While the Eastern standings have a large and mushy middle, the Western Conference has been led by a pair of long-established teams and four or five pursuing contenders. On Saturday, those two frontrunners – the San Jose Earthquakes and Vancouver Whitecaps – fought to a hugely entertaining draw.

San Jose’s Preston Judd continued his impressive season by scoring with his very first touch. The teams kept the match stretched from end-to-end before Sebastian Berhalter netted a savvy equalizer into the exact same corner of the goal as Judd.

The Caps and Quakes are playing dependably thrilling soccer, but in very different ways. In Jesper Sørensen’s second year, Vancouver continue to go from strength-to-strength thanks to a well-rehearsed system. When key players are missing, as Thomas Müller and Ryan Gauld were this weekend, the next man up knows exactly what to do. For San Jose, it’s another Bruce Arena classic: emboldening players to lean into their strengths and lining them up to maximize those talents accordingly.

They aren’t the usual suspects, but that only makes their twin-giant act even more exciting: a reminder that any team with a clear vision and the right group of players can thrive in MLS.

James Söze?

“Blink and you missed him” hardly encapsulates the partnership between the Colombia legend James Rodríguez and Minnesota United. From his introduction in February, both sides were clear that the relationship was borne of opportunity and a chance for mutual benefits. By and large, that hasn’t played out. Rodríguez struggled to work into the top of Cameron Knowles’ rotation, short on fitness and even general health, at one point being hospitalized for severe dehydration after returning from international duty.

After reports emerged that Rodríguez would exit the team after this Wednesday’s match, a modern great made up for lost time, finally notching a goal contribution five minutes into a second-half substitute appearance. And then, another helper that was even better.

Former Loons striker Christian Ramirez wouldn’t let the result stand and quickly equalized to cap a fun and feisty 2-2 draw.

Crucially for Minnesota, Rodriguez’s low utilization and early exit could have been predicted. Sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad told the Guardian that the club “doesn’t guarantee starts for any player,” and emphasized the flexibility of his unique half-year pact with a club option to extend through the end of 2026. Even if he only spent three months in Minnesota, plenty of No 10 jerseys will commemorate the novelty that, for three months in 2026, Rodríguez called Saint Paul home.

Odds and ends

Michael Bradley made his 151st and final cap in midfield early in Gregg Berhalter’s tenure with the USMNT. On Saturday, the engine room made the difference as Bradley’s Red Bulls beat Berhalter’s Chicago Fire 3-1. While the Fire struggled to regularly screen the backline or progress centrally, the Red Bulls’ young pairing of Adri Mehmeti (17) and Ronald Donkor (21) dominated the match in all phases.

No time slot has guaranteed thrills more dependably this season than early afternoon kickoffs in Toronto. Saturday marked the final in a series of these drunken matinées, with Lionel Messi coming to town and making BMO Field his own with a goal and two assists.

Messi became the fastest player to 100 goal contributions in MLS history, doing so in 64 games – 31 matches quicker than Sebastian Giovinco and 32 sooner than Robbie Keane.