With so many changes to the way players earn point in the 2016 MLS Fantasy game, I thought it would be helpful to take a closer look at each category and save you all some time before trying to piece together the new information from 2015 information information.

MLSFI: New 2016 MLS Fantasy Rule Changes

Part 2 – Fouls Suffered & CBIs

Pass Completion

Players can earn up to 2 points for pass completion by accomplishing the following: complete 35 passes with at least an 85% success rate for 1 point or complete 70 passes with a greater than 85% success rate for 2 points.

This change is going to primarily impact midfielders. Some may question why this position is getting another way to earn points when it’s already such a point earning machine, but this is only easily accomplished by attacking midfielders. For the past several years, most defensive midfielders have suffered from low point generation because they rarely hit the defensive minimums, made attacking actions, and were not always in positions for scoring. What these players did do was serve as distribution hubs for getting the ball quickly around the field. They also tend to be less expensive than attacking midfielders, and that’s why the new Pass Completion stat has so much potential.

So who stands to benefit the most from this rule change? Below is a list of players who maintained an average pass completion percentage of at least 85% over the 2015 season. The table is also limited to players who played greater than the average number of minutes for players in their position.





AvgP = Average Pass per Game – PS% = Pass Success Percentage

It’s important to note that these numbers and are not official from MLS but gathered from WhoScored. After looking through several of these players, most seem able to earn at least one bonus point every game or two and there was a bit of an advantage to the players who played a more central role. Alonso and Nagbe were the best players at earning two points in a game, but Alonso was the most consistent and would have earned almost 30 extra points over his 1800 min played compared to Nagbe who needed over 2800 to reach the same level.

Final Verdict: I’m still happy to see this stat in the game, but the 85% success rate does have a huge impact on limiting which players will be able to reliably earn these points. As the above chart shows, this stat will indeed give defensive midfielders a, much needed, new way to earn points, but only a few will be able to hit the 2 point mark. Perhaps 80% would have been a better threshold, but even 15 more points from a player can be enough for a manager to make the top 100 or not.

Total Shots

A player will earn 1 point for every 4 shots. This includes blocked shots.

Obviously this change is going to have the biggest impact on forwards and attacking midfielders because, say it with me folks, they are the ones who take the most shots. I’d agree that midfielders already have plenty of ways to earn points, but forwards can really only get points for scoring, so I’m really happy to see this addition. It’s nice to see some diversity by also awarding them for shots on target. But let me point out one more thing about this new stat…It’s NOT shots on target, it really is TOTAL shots! Even the ones that sail harmlessly over the goal.

Fortunately for us, MLS already keeps track of shots and shots on target, so the table below is 100% accurate for 2015. I’ve added a Shots per 90 column for all everyone who likes to normalize things.

After reviewing just the numbers from the top few players, I can quickly see that there is some serious potential for big point gains. As an easy example, Giovinco would have earned at least 30 more points! Clearly hitting the 4 shots per game target will not be difficult for many players, especially the closer a player gets to 100+ total shots over the season.

Final Verdict: Originally, I thought this sat was just focused on shots on target, but after getting clarification, I believe it has the potential to be a key point earning stat to further set attacking player apart from the pack and drive up player costs early.

This ends part 1 of my more focused look at the new 2016 rule changes. What do you think about these tables? Do they change your thoughts about who to bring into your squad or is it still business as usual? Be sure to check out part 2 for my look at the rest of the point changes.

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