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SBI Fantasy MLS: Week Ten Preview

MikeMageeHatTrick (ISIPhotos.com)

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By CASEY CANNON

Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now grumpier than ever!

Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a guy mourning the end of hockey season can provide.

As I write this, all three Canadian teams are playing. It is important to note that all three of them will have played four games in two weeks. That is going to take a toll on point production. Don’t pick up players from those northern teams. Honestly Toronto only has one fantasy player of note until Danny Koevermans is healthy and Vancouver players have suffered poor fantasy production since noted Packer fan Jay Demerit went down. Montreal will play 6 games in three weeks followed by a bye in week 12 which is enough to cause me to sell Montreal players. Good news for Toronto – home of legendary rock band Rush – they have hired new president Tim Leiweke. I am sure the remaining loyal TFC fans are looking forward to Leiweke coming in and kicking off another exciting season of rebuilding.

Big Gratz to this weeks SBI winner HollywoodFC with 78 points! Though last weeks SBI league leader Damagedgood’s mind is not for rent, don’t put him down as arrogant. He still has both the SBI and the overall MLS fantasy lead with 659 points. Want to catch up to the leaders? Read on for this week’s fantasy advice.

TEAM PICKS

Take Three – Los Angeles Galaxy . LA is at home against a Houston this week and has the double coming up in week twelve so it is time to invest in those players. Houston is without Brad Davis and the offense that he brings. I expect Houston to struggle to get a goal while I expect LA to get two.

Take Three- Portland Timbers . Portland has had a potent offense. This week the New England Stepchildren come to visit. For this trip New England had chosen to leave most of their defenders back on the east coast. Ordinarily I would expect a 1-1 tie or maybe a 2-1 Timbers win. With New England resorting to a makeshift backline Portland has the opportunity to put on a show for the home fans.

Avoid – Vancouver Whitecaps . As I mentioned above they are playing their fourth game in two weeks this weekend –although their starters didn’t play in all four games. Even when rested, Vancouver would struggle to score a goal at Real Salt Lake. Yes, I am saying this even after the Los Angeles JV team went and embarrassed Tabernacle Choir FC in Salt Lake City. History suggests that Vancouver will do poorly at RSL.

INDIVIDUAL PICKS

Next week will be exciting with nine teams playing two games. I won’t recommend players that are not doing a double in the next couple weeks – LA and Philly are in – or are off this week. Just for fun look ahead to week 15. We will need a strategy for that.

Captain – Mike Magee, LA Galaxy . Landon and Keane draw all the attention yet sneaky Magee gets all the goals. His 7.3 PPG is among the top field players like Zusi but without the lingering bitterness from the last two games. 31% of owners have the LA Mid on their squad but I don’t think too many will give sneaky Magee the armband.

Value – Adam Jahn, San Jose. This guy will only get playing time if Gordon or Leinhart are hurt or suspended. For the next two weeks expect to see him on the field facing good matchups. After that young Mr. Jahn is my new third forward. He will sit on my bench in favor of bigger contributors but on those occasions when I need that player off the bench I can turn to this young Goonie. 5.4M is cheap for a contributing forward. His 3.3 PPG puts him in the top 30 forwards yet he is only selected by 4% of the league.

Overpriced – Rodney Wallace, Portland. Earlier today I saw Wallace was behind Roy Miller for both points per game and value and made up my mind. After that I had a Twitter debate with the Never Manage Alone Blog (@mna_blog) who is going all in on Wallace. There is some solid rational to think Wallace will have a big week against the devastated New England Back line but I can’t get past his points to cost ratio. (1.17) As of today Wallace is Overpriced. This is one we will revisit next week.

THREE-PLAYER MONTE

The three player Monte game has two elements selecting: three players to score goals and creating a streak of picking a captain who scores every week. The players can be awful, tossed out of the game for reprehensible fouls, and single handedly responsible for costing his team the game but like watching the scrambled cable channels there only needs to be one glorious moment to make it all worthwhile.

1. Captain: Sneaky Magee, LA
2. Odoro, Columbus
3. Wondolowski, San Jose

Tiebreak: 20

That’s all for today. Come back next time for more MLS fantasy notes.

Performance last week :

Beers I owe @NMA_Blog if Wallace gets more than eight points – 1
While I was at the hockey game the number of people that told me Crew Stadium was on fire – 14
Miles to go before I sleep – 26.2

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