I’ve already broken down the Loons’ 2024 season; check out the season review if you haven’t already. The only thing left to break down is EVERYTHING else that happened this season. Just a small undertaking. Never fear; Kyle is here to look around the league for you. Whether you exclusively watched MNUFC games or you did your best to follow the whole league (a tough ask, considering every game either kicks off at the exact same time or overlaps), you’re going to come out of this MLS season review with all of the essential knowledge you need to take into the offseason.
You saw what went on up here in our Black and Blue bubble, right? Well, imagine that, but multiplied by 28. Were all 28 stories worth retelling? Nah. We can skip over San Jose and Chicago (what else is new); the biggest news in those markets was the hiring of Bruce Arena and Gregg Berhalter, respectively. We’re looking back today, not forward. We’ll spend some time in Florida, but it might not be what you expect. Is it because I’m being petty? Perhaps. We’ll see!
You ready? The essential 2024 MLS recap is coming your way. As Fabrizio Romano would say, “Here we go!”
Only the Most Glorious Stories
If I wrote about every single storyline that stood out in 2024, I would not only have a headache and hand cramps, but you would close this page so fast that we wouldn’t even register that you clicked into it. So, I promise to just cover a few if you promise to read on. It’s a fun article, and I’ve already groveled to you four paragraphs in. You owe me!
I want to start with Christian Benteke. On an otherwise negligible DC United, the Belgian target man thrived, scoring 23 of his team’s 52 league goals. Add in his seven assists, and he was directly involved in over 57% of DC’s goals. That’s insane. Luciano Acosta led the league with 17 assists as he tried to replicate Cincinnati’s magical 2023 run, but a tough stretch at the end of the season left his efforts in vain.
The only other player I want to single out is Riqui Puig; what a player. The bouncy Spaniard is the heartbeat that revived Major League Soccer’s most storied franchise, and he did everything this year. He ended the season with more than 300 more touches on the ball than any other player in the league (3,146), added 34 goal contributions (17 goals, 17 assists, counting the playoffs), and helped to make Greg Vanney’s desired style of play work perfectly. Puig has been a revelation since joining the league, and it’s been a privilege to watch him. Not in the Western Conference Semifinal though. That was not as fun.
Enough player praise: time for the team stats you’ve waited for! This year’s highest-scoring team hailed from Magic City, notching 79 goals on their way to the regular season title. Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus Crew pipped the best goal difference (32), though, beating their southern adversaries by a two-goal margin. LAFC stole the top spot in the West from their Carson rivals on Decision Day, which may have turned out to be a mistake, and Vanni Sartini gave us plenty of quotes to savor until he finds his next job. Best of luck, sir; I hope to hear from you again soon.
We saw upsets galore in the first round of the playoffs, with just a single Eastern Conference matchup going the way of the bookies. Thanks for saving us some money, Orlando City. Atlanta United pulled off the biggest upset in MLS history, just days after the New York Red Bulls sent the defending champions packing at home.
The west was less chaotic, but entertaining all the same. The Sounders finally got the better of LAFC to make it to the Conference Final, where an unstoppable Galaxy team put them in their place. My predictions started strong, but as they inevitably do, tapered a bit in the end. And by a bit, I mean I got every single Conference Semifinal matchup wrong. There’s always next year!
Conference Clash
East vs. West: Which conference is better? It’s a debate as old as Major League Soccer, making it nearly 29 years old. They grow up so quick! Based on current conference alignment, the Western Conference has won a total of 18 MLS Cups, leaving the Eastern Conference with just 11 between the lot of them. The historical advantage is heavily in favor of the current holders, but the Supporters’ Shield tells a frustratingly different story.
Everyone’s favorite plate-shaped trophy has been lifted by the Eastern Conference champ 16 times, while it’s only gone west 11 times. If you count the defunct Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny, that gap is increased by two, but I didn’t think that would be very fair of me to do. I’m nothing if not moral, you see!
So which conference is better? History didn’t really help us—at all. A perfect split between the two biggest trophies in the league? What are the odds of that? Where distant history fails, I find it’s best to let recent bias come into play. That should clear things up easily.
The LA Galaxy returned to the top of the league in 2024, becoming the first team to win six MLS Cups: advantage West. On the other side of the country, that pink team won the Supporters’ Shield by an eight-point margin. Are you kidding me? The scales are balanced again. Thanos would love this league; it’s perfectly balanced. How annoying. I guess we’ll have to wait another year to answer the question. Sorry, folks, I don’t make the rules.
State of the League Address
Before I leave you, a word on our beloved league. I’m not here to comment on the way things are run, nor how they might be run in the future. I’m a soccer purist, a pseudo-journalist, and a lifelong student of this beautiful game. Administration matters, but as long as the core remains the game, we’ll always find a way to figure this out.
In 2024, we saw the emergence of new styles, new ideas, and new strategies. Chris Armas and the Colorado Rapids brought their club back from the grave by believing in American soccer; Wilfried Nancy and the Crew showed that last year’s tactical revolution wasn’t just a passing phase; and the underdogs showed that, in a league that prides itself on parity, everyone truly does have a chance.
What did we learn in 2024? There are innovators among us. There are dreamers among us. There are warriors among us. From the top of our league to the very bottom, we saw that the game we love is alive and well in our hands.
In 2024, we saw everything that makes this league special; we saw everything that makes it ours, and it was beautiful.
Regardless of rule changes, roster changes, or any other changes that could alter the ecosystem we operate in, our league is primed for what may be the most important seasons in its relatively short history. With the eyes of the world coming our way in 2026, it’s time to show them what we’ve got. The excitement is only going to ramp up from here; get ready for some major Major League Soccer soccer.
That’s all I’ve got for you, but I want it noted that the only soccer team in Vice City that I name-dropped in here was the Miami Fusion. As far as I’m concerned, they’ll always be the only MLS team in that city. Was I two years old when they folded? Sure. But the single-season points record will be broken again sometime, and we get a new MVP every year. Nice try, Mr. Beckham, but you’re going to have to win EVERYTHING if you want me to give your team free publicity.
