"The best team in MLS history."

It’s a term that has been thrown around plenty as of late. It fell to Toronto FC just two short years ago on the heels of a record points haul. Last year, many passed it to Atlanta United, whose dynamic attack was unlike anything we had ever seen before.

But, in other ways, it’s a title that’s passing makes sense. MLS is constantly growing, with teams taking advantage of evolving roster mechanisms, increased spending and a flourishing player base that is beginning to play the game at a level much higher than even a few short years ago.

And that makes Los Angeles FC’s ascendency to the throne all the more logical. The season’s not over, and MLS Cup is a long way from being decided. But the crown of best we’ve seen? They’ve already locked that up.

LAFC sealed the Supporters’ Shield on Wednesday, toppling the Houston Dynamo 3-1 to lock up the regular-season crown. The Shield is the first trophy in LAFC’s short history, and it’s a meaningful one, but it’s the way in which they’ve gone about their business that sets them apart from their predecessors.

Toronto FC’s run was probably the most determined in league history. Having lost MLS Cup the year before, Sebastian Giovinco, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore were on an absolute warpath. They smashed the MLS single-season record for points with 69 before bulldozing the very same Seattle Sounders team that beat them in MLS Cup the year before to claim that title too. Their run through the Concacaf Champions League doomed them the next season, but the tone was set.

And then came Atlanta, who levelled TFC points record only to see the New York Red Bulls pip them to the Supporters’ Shield with a new mark of their own. The Red Bulls, who always seemed just a step short of greatness, faltered in the postseason while Atlanta United reached another level. Tata Martino turned the trigger-happy Five Stripes into a pragmatic, intelligent and, ultimately, championship team, winning MLS Cup for a club that had changed the way the sport was viewed in the U.S. on and off the field.

But neither have combined talent, tactics and, ultimately, results quite like LAFC. It was a team that was crowned Supporters’ Shield winners before the summer months hit. It’s a team that has been so dominant on both sides of the ball that there has been no doubt of where they stood.

With two matches remaining, four points would be enough for LAFC to break the single-season points record but, at this point, do they need to care? They aren’t in a dash for home field like Atlanta and New York were last year. Instead, they’ve lapped the competition.

They’ve done so by being the league’s most dynamic attacking team and most resolute in defense. LAFC have scored 81 goals this season, 20 more than any MLS team and just four shy of LA Galaxy's 1998 record. They’ve conceded just 35 times, four less than any other team. Their +45 goal differential is unheard of in MLS, with New York City FC (+22) the closest and only three other teams in double-digits.

All of this has also included what is undoubtedly the best season in MLS history from a single-player standpoint. With his goal on Thursday, Carlos Vela is one goal away from Josef Martinez's single-season record, set just last year. He's also third in the league in assists with 15. He's already destroyed Giovinco's record for most goals and assists in a season, and he did it in August with 10 games remaining.

But it's not just Vela. It includes Diego Rossi, a transfer target for Fiorentina, who has blossomed from young player to star. It's Latif Blessing, once on the scrap heap from the Expansion Draft and now a menace in midfield. There's Walker Zimmerman, a legitimate U.S. men's national team defender, and Tyler Miller, who has stood tall as a goalkeeper this season. That's not to speak of Mark Anthony-Kaye and Lee Nguyen in the midfield, two key cogs that have changed their game and reached a different level. It's a team that has been constructed to dominate, plucking players from a variety of places and missing on virtually none of them.

And let's not forget Bob Bradley, who took over an expansion team after a disastrous spell at Swansea City. It was another risk for Bradley, but this team has been moulded in a way unlike any MLS has seen. Bradley spent the first year tweaking and the second year perfecting. It's all worked.

That's what sets them apart, no matter what happens in the coming months. In European leagues, LAFC would be paraded around the City of Angels and hailed as league winners, but in MLS, things are different. MLS Cup is still king, and many will measure LAFC's success based on how they fare in next month's knockout tournament.

They may very well win it. They are favourites after all. They'll have home-field advantage throughout and have proven all year that they can win games in a variety of different ways. They can grind games out or outscore you, and they tend to do a little bit of both.

But even if they don't win it all, even if they fall in a one-off to the rival LA Galaxy or the experienced Seattle Sounders or an Eastern Conference power like Atlanta or NYCFC, LAFC have sealed their spot in MLS history. Style of play, statistics, record. They're all there, and a one-off tournament, as important as it is, can't take that away.

They've been a team unlike any we've ever seen in the short history of MLS. They've taken everything others have succeeded at before them and done it better, and that makes them the best.