Major League Soccer has come a long way from its inaugural season in 1996, with a lineup of a measly 10 teams that was sorely missing your favorite red-eyed avians. Since then, we’ve seen clubs move, fold, reactivate, and on several occasions pop up as brand-new expansion sides in major cities across the United States. San Diego FC’s addition this season has rounded out the league with 30 teams, and what an entrance they’ve made. Exactly halfway through the regular season, these West Coasters are sitting level with the Black and Blue with 30 points, tied for second in the conference.
A Stunning Start for San Diego
It’s been a truly crazy beginning for California’s fourth club. Third in the Supporters’ Shield standings, they’ve won nine of their first 17 games. Granted, some of their success just might be attributed to their strength of schedule, as San Diego have yet to play Vancouver, Minnesota, or Portland, the other three teams occupying the West’s top four slots. But 30 points is 30 points, and the good numbers don’t stop there.
Anders Dreyer leads the club in goals with six scored and also tops the league in assists with eight. The team’s passing statistics are also off the charts. The top three players in passes completed and passes attempted are all from San Diego: Christopher McVey, Paddy McNair, and Jeppe Tverskov are all over 1,200 completed. I’m noting that because these guys have never played together before. Good passing means good teamwork, and it’s impressive how quickly this chemistry has been created.
You can’t call this debut beginner’s luck when the lineup is stacked with players who have earned international acclaim, from Denmark’s Dreyer to USMNT’s Luca de la Torre and Mexico’s Chucky Lozano. That’s a double-edged sword, because this weekend some pretty notable starters will be absent on both sides, but even excluding their guys on international duty, San Diego has years of cumulative MLS experience. Maybe that explains why these guys are having the third-best start of any MLS expansion side ever.
The Great Expansion(s)
Twenty teams have added to the league since its inception, and only two of them have had a stronger start to their inaugural season than San Diego. Guess who? No, not the Loons, though that would’ve made for a real fun article.
Chicago swept into MLS in 1998 and dominated the league on their way to winning MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. Point tallies back in the olden days (and I’m allowed to say that, because I wasn’t born yet) looked a bit different simply because in the first few years of play, MLS didn’t vibe with draws. It was penalty shootouts all the way, just like it had been in NASL. If we’re counting those shootouts as definitive wins or losses, Chicago was sitting pretty at a whopping 36 points after 17 matchdays. By our updated scoring (one point for a draw), they were at 35. Either way, what a wildly impressive way to hit the ground running. No other expansion team in any major U.S. sport made it to championships in their first year until the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights 20 years later.
The only other expansion teams to get remotely close before San Diego were LAFC and St. Louis CITY. LAFC were at 31 points at the season’s halfway point. They finished 2018 third in the West and fifth in the league, qualifying for the knockout round of the playoffs, and made it to USOC semifinals. St. Louis didn’t quite get to 30, but they managed 29 points through 17 games — good for second in the West — and then went on to finish out on top of the Western Conference standings. Still, the numbers say San Diego are definitively having the best start of any MLS expansion side in seven years.
Best Foot Forward
Minnesota didn’t have quite the same booming entrance when they joined the league in 2017, but 2025 has irrevocably been the Black and Blue’s best start to date. Prior to this season, the most points the Loons have reached through 17 matchdays was 26 (in the 2021 season). Now at 30 points, they’re going strong in the West’s top three, and they’re in the running for silverware across multiple competitions.
Dayne St. Clair leads the league in clean sheets. Tani Oluwaseyi has tallied a whopping eight goals and landed on the Team of the Matchday lineup four times. Joaquín Pereyra and Michael Boxall are right behind him with three appearances and some fantastically consistent play. Overall, the Loons have lost only three times this year, which is a win in my book.
All that to say, we’re both on an absolute roll, and what’s going to happen when the Chrome and Azul arrive at Allianz Field is anyone’s guess.
