Each round of Fantasy MLS has its ups and downs, as the fickle soccer gods unleash their wrath – seemingly at random – to those of us crazy enough to try and predict its course.

One thing has been consistent, and that is Karan Meht’s place in the top five of the overall leaderboard this season. The Ninja Skrtels have been fifth or better since Round 12, and currently hold the top spot in the leaderboards by a healthy 24-point margin.

This week, we’re going to compare Karan’s run to the top against some of the other top rankings. We’re also going to take a look at the overall average scores, as they can provide us a good benchmark for how much we need to improve to get in the top 100 or 500. Not all of us may be able to catch Karan, but there is still hope for a good showing!

Round Scores: 1st, 100th, 500th, Average

Projected Scores: 1st, 100th, 500th, Average

Ranking 1st 100th 500th AVG Rounds 1-21 1,598 1,438 1,358 993 Proj. 22-34 989 890 841 615 Proj. Total 2,587 2,328 2,199 1,608 Round Avg. 76.1 68.5 64.7 47.3

Based on these numbers, the Ninja Skrtels are scoring a whopping 29 points more than the average round score. There have been a couple of down weeks, but Round 17’s 147-point performance, which was the second-best round score for all competitors, more than made up the difference.

The 100th-place manager is averaging 68.5 points per round. That’s not far out from the leader, but multiplied over 21 rounds, it becomes a 160-point lead for Karan. The gap is even smaller between 100th and 500th: less than four points per round on average. However, what’s clear is that managers that want to make the top 500 need to score well over the average round score on a regular basis.

Projected Points Needed for 1st, 100th, 500th

Curr. Score Curr. Rank Curr. Avg Top 500 Top 100 1st Place 1,200 3,505 57.1 76.8 86.8 106.7 1,300 1,191 61.9 69.1 79.1 99.0 1,400 228 66.7 61.4 71.4 91.3 1,500 22 71.4 53.7 63.7 83.6 1,600 1 76.2 46.1 56.0 75.9

You may be wondering how well you need to do to get your team back in the top rankings. To help with that, I created the above chart, which shows the average score needed to get from a certain total score (as of Round 21) to the top positions.

For example, if you’re currently sitting with 1,300 points, you may be encouraged to know that by scoring seven more points per round, you have a good chance at propelling your fantasy team into the top 500! Managers with 1,400 points can reasonably crack the top 100, if they’re able to improve their weekly score from 66.7 to 71.4.

Of course, all this is assuming that the scores over the next 13 rounds will be similar – and if there’s one thing we can be certain of, it’s that nothing in Fantasy MLS is certain.

Where are you at in the rankings? Do you have a goal for the end of the season? Let me know in the comments section below, and good luck this week!