The 2025 MLS season is now firmly underway, which means it’s time for ESPN’s Power Rankings.
Who’s climbing the table? Who’s in free fall? Our writers studied the action from across Matchday 4 to come up with this week’s order of all 30 teams in the league. Let’s dive in.
Previous ranking: 3
Few teams are having a better start to their season than Vancouver. In midweek, the Whitecaps progressed to the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal after beating Liga MX club Monterrey on away goals. Saturday, they beat Dallas 1-0, making them the only team to win all their games this season. Their 4-0-0 run is the best start in club history, marking just the seventh MLS team to start the year with four straight wins.
Previous ranking: 1
With Philly’s loss, Miami leads the Eastern Conference after beating Atlanta 2-1. Lionel Messi clocked his first start of March and brought the Herons level after the Five Stripes took the lead. Were it not for Brad Guzan’s heroics, he’d have added more. In the 89th minute, Fafà Picault netted his first Miami goal in his second appearance to seal the win.
Previous ranking: 6
Despite being outshot by the home side, Columbus looked set for a win against San Diego (thanks to Patrick Schulte’s seven saves) before going down to 10 men in the 61st minute. San Diego equalized eight minutes later, and the two walked away with a 1-1 draw. Alongside Miami and D.C., the Crew are one of just three undefeated teams in the East.
Previous ranking: 9
Although they’re missing Mexico winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano through injury, the league’s newest team can be pretty pleased with the start of their inaugural season. San Diego outshot the Crew 17-6 in a 1-1 draw, after capitalizing when the Crew went down to 10 players.
Previous ranking: 8
Striker Patrick Agyemang, who join up with the U.S. men’s national team this week after earning his first cap in January, scored his first goal of the year for Charlotte in a 2-0 win against Cincinnati. Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina was the star of the game, making seven saves to keep the clean sheet.
Previous ranking: 2
Philly’s perfect run came to an end in a 3-1 loss to Nashville. They got crossed up defensively and were robbed of a penalty, but at least they have another beautiful goal from former Serbia youth international midfielder Jovan Lukic (his second in as many games) to hang onto.
Previous ranking: 11
Zack Steffen (one of six MLS players named to Mauricio Pochettino’s Nations League roster) made a remarkable 12 saves in Colorado’s 2-1 win over San Jose. Steffen ended the weekend tied in first place for most saves in the league, having saved 21 of 25 shots faced.
Previous ranking: 14
After beating Seattle 1-0, STL are the only MLS team that hasn’t conceded a goal in 2025. With two wins and two draws, they’re also one of seven undefeated teams left. Their defense has been solid all season, and with Eduard Löwen’s tally marking their fourth goal from four different players, they’re starting to get some offensive threat going, too.
Previous ranking: 5
Between MLS regular season and Concacaf Champions Cup, LAFC lost three times in the past week. That said, they’re still one of four MLS teams to progress to the CCC quarterfinals, and remain one of the most talented teams in the league.
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Guilherme Biro’s goal the difference in Austin’s win
Austin scores off a corner as Guilherme Biro heads in a goal to defeat LAFC.
Previous ranking: 4
FCC suffered a few setbacks this week. While juggling continental competition in midweek, Cincinnati got knocked out of Concacaf Champions Cup with a 3-1 loss to Tigres, then lost 2-0 to Charlotte on Saturday. Cincy was a bit unlucky with this result, as Charlotte relied on Kahlina’s seven saves to keep the visitors from snagging a few goals.
Previous ranking: 7
Tani Oluwaseyi was named to Canada’s Nations League roster last week, and a few days later, he scored his first two goals of the year with a brace against Kansas City to celebrate. Together with Hassani Dotson ‘s goal-of-the-week-worthy wonderstrike, the Loons led 3-0 in what looked like a sure win — and then they collapsed. Completely. Conceding two goals and an own goal from the 68th minute on, Minnesota won’t remember this 3-3 draw fondly.
Previous ranking: 22
They started the season looking a bit tepid, but Nashville collected its second straight win over the weekend by beating the previously undefeated Union 3-1 at Subaru Park. Hany Mukhtar scored from the penalty spot, redeeming last week’s miss. B.J. Callaghan’s squad heads home to face Montreal with a good bit of momentum.
Previous ranking: 10
Seattle went down to Mexico in midweek, where Cruz Azul beat them by a resounding 4-1 scoreline to knock them out of Concacaf Champions Cup. To make matters worse, they lost Jordan Morris and Paul Arriola to injuries in the process. Shorthanded and back in MLS, the Sounders lost 1-0 to an undefeated St. Louis after conceding a free kick in somewhat bizarre fashion.
Previous ranking: 13
Another week, another draw for the Red Bulls. New York’s second straight draw was a 2-2 result against high-scoring (but leaky at the back) Orlando at home.
Previous ranking: 18
Gregg Berhalter’s squad picked up their second straight win of the season in a 2-1 victory over last-in-the-East Toronto. No matter the opponent, two straight wins is solid momentum. Unfortunately, Chicago plays undefeated Vancouver next week.
Previous ranking: 15
Things were looking bright for Atlanta against Miami. Emanuel Latte Lath scored his third goal of the year in the 11th minute, clocking an early 1-0 lead for the home side, but nine minutes later Messi pounced on Bartosz Slisz looking sloppy at the top of the box and scored the equalizer. Guzan’s valiant six saves were almost enough to clinch a point, but Picault scored Miami’s game winner in the 89th. Atlanta’s got plenty of talent and potential, but some sloppiness at both ends of the pitch needs to get worked out.
Previous ranking: 12
Bruce Arena’s Quakes started the year with two straight wins, but they’ve got two straight losses since after falling 2-1 to the Rapids. Silver lining: those back-to-back defeats come against strong teams in the West’s fourth-place Colorado and fifth-place Minnesota. Signs still point toward a stronger San Jose under its new manager.
Previous ranking: 16
NYCFC beat the Revs 2-1 at Yankee Stadium to collect their second victory of the year. New England has yet to score a goal this season and didn’t put much pressure on New York. An own goal from Thiago Martins robbed Matt Freese of his first clean sheet of the season.
Previous ranking: 20
New winger and Croatia international Marco Pasalic scored his third goal of the year in a 2-2 draw with the Red Bulls. Orlando can definitely score goals, it’s tied for second most in MLS, but it needs to tighten up its defending: the Lions are also tied with last-in-the-East Toronto for most goals conceded in the league (10).
Previous ranking: 23
Austin has two wins and two losses to start the year, and all four were decided by 1-0 scorelines. This time, Guilherme Biro’s 11th-minute goal was enough to seal a win against LAFC. That’s not a bad result, but Biro’s goal was only Austin’s second this season.
Previous ranking: 17
D.C. still hasn’t lost a game in 2025, but drawing winless Montreal 0-0 isn’t their best result this season. With one victory and three draws, United have achieved a unique feat: they’re one of just three undefeated teams in the East, but sit in ninth place.
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Diego Luna gets on the scoresheet for Real Salt Lake
Diego Luna gets on the scoresheet for Real Salt Lake
Previous ranking: 21
Diego Luna heads to USMNT camp after scoring his first goal of the season in a 2-1 win against Houston. It’s a better result than last week, although it didn’t come against the toughest competition (apologies, Dynamo fans).
Previous ranking: 19
Dallas picked up its second straight loss of the year with a 1-0 defeat against the undefeated and cruising Whitecaps. With zero shots on target against one of the best teams this season, this is pretty much the result you can expect.
Previous ranking: 26
Felipe Mora scored a beautiful goal to claim an early 1-0 lead, but Portland allowed a struggling Galaxy squad to claim a 1-1 draw in the final 10 minutes. With three total goals this season, Phil Neville’s team is just not producing enough to get better results yet.
Previous ranking: 24
Houston still hasn’t won a game this season after losing 2-1 to Salt Lake. Conceding a goal in the first minute is hard to come back from: Jack McGlynn collected his first assist with a curling left-footed free kick to Ezequiel Ponce to bring them level, but the Dynamo were losing again by the second half.
Previous ranking: 25
The Galaxy collected their first point of 2025 after drawing 1-1 in Portland. Christian Ramírez came off the bench to score the equalizer in the 81st minute, marking his second goal in as many games for his new club, after netting against Herediano in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Progress.
Previous ranking: 29
As one of three teams to finally get a point this weekend, SKC win the award for doing it in the most dramatic fashion. Amid horrible weather, Kansas City trailed 3-0 at home against Minnesota before clawing its way back to a 3-3 draw. The season is still looking shaky, but the entertainment value is off the charts.
Previous ranking: 27
Like SKC and the Galaxy, Montréal got its first point of 2025 after drawing with D.C. 0-0. Not the fanciest way to get a point, but it’s better than nothing. Jonathan Sirois’ six saves did most of the heavy lifting in this feat.
Previous ranking: 28
After losing 2-1 to NYCFC, New England hasn’t won a game yet in 2025, and with Saturday’s goal coming from a Thiago Martin own goal, the Revs still haven’t scored a goal of their own either.
Previous ranking: 30
Toronto is still not firing off many chances, but it did produce a few higher-quality ones this week. Twenty-two-year-old Deandre Kerr scored his first goal of the year in the 11th minute in a 2-1 loss to Chicago.
