It isn’t hard to figure out which MLS teams have the best rosters—a quick glance at the league table reveals those answers pretty quickly. Sussing out which teams have the best squads relative to their resources is a bit of a different question, however. A low-budget team might not be as high in the league table as a deeper-pocketed rival, but that doesn’t mean they’re not getting more bang for their buck than a richer counterpart.



Unfortunately, shining a light on those kinds of situations is often a bit difficult in MLS. As we detailed here on The Athletic just the other day, a lot of the nitty-gritty details that are so central to MLS roster building and cap management remain opaque. The MLS Players Association releasing salary information for every player in the league certainly helps clear things up, but even their biannual list leaves out plenty of relevant data.



Thankfully, we’re more than willing to fill in the gaps. We...