When St. Louis joined the league two years ago, the stats nerd inside me couldn’t be contained. The most devoted mnufc.com readers might remember this old Storylines article, where I broke down the blazing start to life in MLS for what was then the league’s youngest club. Now, just two seasons later, St. Louis’ incredible start is … unimpressive compared to what the folks in San Diego have put together. How’d they do it out there?
I’m attacking this one from a few different directions. First, tried-and-true stats to give San Diego their flowers. Second, a logical walk-through of how they put together a first-year team in MLS. Finally, we’ll look at how those two factors come together to create a style of play that ultimately worked wonders in year one.
The Best, So Far
MLS began with just 10 teams. Now, 30 years later, symmetry and the power of Don Garber have seen our league balloon to 30 teams, giving us a new team every year and a half (statistically speaking). I noted before that the best points per game tally for an expansion team was the Chicago Fire in 1998, with an impressive 1.75 ppg. St. Louis rivaled that in 2023 but fell short with a final clip of 1.65, a number I rounded up to flatter them a bit — you’re welcome. They topped the Western Conference in their debut season, just like San Diego, but fell victim to a first-round “upset” against SKC. Oh well.
This season, San Diego finished with 63 points in 34 games. That’s 1.85 ppg. And, with the First Round already behind them, they’ve left St. Louis — and every other modern expansion team — in the dust. The ‘98 Fire won MLS Cup in year one, so that challenge still stands, but from a season-long performance standpoint, it’s hard to argue that any team has ever entered the league more successfully than San Diego.
From the Ground Up
Let’s imagine we’re (Minnesota native) Tyler Heaps for a moment — San Diego’s Sporting Director. A year before your new club is scheduled to take the field, your entire job is to put together a staff, decide on a style of play, identify players that will fit your vision, and successfully bring all of those elements together. That’s an awful lot of moving pieces, but if you do it right, it could produce something worthy of the moniker, the beautiful game.
Spoiler alert: they did it right.
A month after joining the club, Heaps hired Mikey Varas to be the club’s first Head Coach in September of 2024. By January of 2025, they were adding key pieces to the roster, including 2025 MLS Newcomer of the Year Anders Dreyer and USMNT midfielder Luca De La Torre. The process was thought out, smooth (at least from the outside looking in), and intentional. They planned out how they would make the most of their blank slate before they put pen to paper, and their efforts produced a team that plays one of the most clearly recognizable styles in the entire league.
The Perfect Recipe
Now, let’s put those first two points together. Plenty of time to plan led to a proof-is-in-the-pudding kind of year. From game one, this San Diego side has dominated the ball, showing a confidence and understanding that few teams in the league manage, let alone teams in their first year of competition. They topped the league charts in total touches (over 25,000), averaged the highest possession percentage (over 60%), and completed the most passes (nearly 19,000). They never deviated from their identity, and it was entertaining.
This clear style was designed to let stars shine on an individual level as well. Both of their Designated Players thrived in their first seasons in MLS, with Dreyer scoring 19 goals and adding 19 assists to balance it out. That’s more than one goal contribution per game. Hirving Lozano added nine goals and 10 assists in 27 games, proving that he’s still got the skills that brought him to international relevance to begin with. Further back, the likes of Jeppe Tverskov and Chris McVey finished first and second, respectively, in passes completed, becoming the connective, progressive engines that made the whole system tick the way it was supposed to.
Every piece of this puzzle did exactly what it was supposed to, and I could sit here and compliment the work they did to not only put this team together but make it work until the cows come home. But I’ll resist the temptation. Instead, we’ll turn our attention to something a little more intriguing to Loons’ fans: the matchup.
Money, Meet Mouth
It’s no secret that San Diego and Minnesota play soccer at two ends of the spectrum. I’ll rehash it one more time for you: one keeps the ball, one doesn’t. Neither approach is wrong, as evidenced by their respective successes in 2025. Where San Diego’s approach thrives in relative chaos, the Loons’ measured approach favors control and discipline.
Just look at the regular season matchups between these two. At Allianz Field, some early craziness opened the game up to suit the visitors perfectly, leading to a 4-2 win for Varas and company. In San Diego, the first goal didn’t come until the 74th minute, falling right into the hands of the control-focused Loons. We’ve gotten to see both of these teams get the exact game they want against one another, on either side of the spectrum. Now, with a season on the line in place of three points, we’re left with a series of questions that we can’t answer until after the first whistle.
Will the game open up early, or will the Loons keep the hosts quiet like they did in September? Will someone score from the center circle again? Is this the end of the line for Major League Soccer’s most successful expansion team? Who’s going to put their money where their mouth is?
The list goes on. The storylines are endless. It’s a must-watch, folks.
