This article is part of our The Armband series.
Last week was full of high scores in MLS Fantasy and that surprised no one with eight teams having two matches. The average was a season-high 92 points, with the highest team accruing an astronomical 197. Even then, I completely missed on my top captain play of Nicolas Lodeiro and for that, I apologize. I should've known his role would change with Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris away.
Outside of Lodeiro, just about every other player that had a double gameweek finished with double-digit fantasy points, with the Crew midfielders leading the way (Federico Higuain, 23; Justin Meram, 20). David Villa and Erick Torres led the forwards, while Jonathan Spector appeared in both Orlando City clean sheets. The biggest surprise ended up being Roland Lamah, the former Swansea midfielder, who netted a hat trick in his one match. At the end of Sunday, if you didn't sniff the 150-point mark, you undoubtedly fell a spot or two in the standings.
Round 15 is set to be an anti-Round 14, with only six teams in action, all of them on Saturday. That makes things somewhat easy on deciding a captain, but it also leaves less room to make a roster much different than the rest of the competition.
Chicago is probably in the best position, at home (6-1-0, 17 goals, 4 against) against an Atlanta side that has allowed seven goals in its last three on the road. This makes Nemanja Nikolic one of the favorites for the armband as he has eight goals in his last five home games. If you want to be different, David Accam and Bastian Schweinsteiger aren't far behind, but if you use either of them, you're only trying to outsmart yourself. Defensively, I'd stay away from the Fire, as Atlanta has scored the most goals in the league at more than two per match.
Instead, Sporting Kansas City has the defense you'll want to focus on, though the absence of Matt Besler and Graham Zusi may be too difficult to overcome. Besler was allowed to return last Saturday, but that won't happen again. Still, SKC have a clean sheet in their last four home matches with Ike Opara and Jimmy Medranda the safest options. Dom Dwyer returned last weekend, so a spot in the starting XI could be calling him against a Montreal back line that's been hard to figure out. Throughout the season, the Impact have either secured a clean sheet or given up two-plus goals and lost. Benny Feilhaber could be a differential captain, but he has zero goals and one assist in his last six matches.
For the final match, it's Diego Valeri and everyone else. He'll be a popular choice because he bagged a brace last Friday, but Dallas has allowed a league-low four goals on the road, so there is some worry. Yet, with Matt Hedges (international duty) and Walker Zimmerman (knee) out, Dallas still gave up two goals in a dominating 6-2 win last time out. Lamah and Maximiliano Urruti would be stretches to captain given Portland's continued success at home. Outside of Valeri, I don't want to captain anyone else from the Timbers because Fanendo Adi hasn't found the back of the net in his last five starts.
