ASA's End of Year MLS Awards Ballot

We here at ASA are lucky enough to be given a ballot from MLS to vote on all the major awards. We take such an honour very seriously, as a chance to vote for the best players analytically. By the numbers. This is that ballot.

Referee and Assistant Referee of the Year

We admittedly don’t have fabulous data for these awards, so we headed over to our friend @MLSRefStats. Our ballot settled on Allen Chapman and Cameron Blanchard as the Referee, and Assistant Referee of the Year. Chapman had the fewest trips to the monitor of any official to take charge of more than 10 matches, he also had the lowest fouls per game and yellow cards per game awarded of the same group. We love to let the game breathe. Blanchard most recently featured at the U-20 World Cup in Chile.

Newcomer of the Year

The people are going to vote for Anders Dreyer. Probably rightfully so. Dude put up a bananas season. Not so, says net g+, where he falls slightly behind Hirving Lozano. Lozano put up nine goals and eight assists en route to San Diego FC coming up top of the West, one of the most impressive expansion seasons ever, on gargantuan underlyings. Peep the receiving. His off ball movement was just devastating. Huge season for Chucky, let’s see what the playoffs bring.

Comeback Player of the Year

Lawrence Ennali takes our comeback player of the year after returning from an ACL tear that ended his 2024 MLS season in Houston. Ennali offered a strong vertical threat for Houston in admittedly lower minutes, particularly with the ball at his feet. This is someone who could be very useful for the Dynamo as they look towards a re-tool, if not a rebuild.

Young Player of the Year/Defender of the Year

This (and MVP) may have been the easiest pick on the board. Our very own Paul Harvey picked him as one of THE breakout players of this season all the way back in February, Kieran dominated the g+ draft on the pod by taking him, it’s Orlando City’s Alex Freeman. g+ is a metric obsessed with players who either move the ball into the box, or get the ball in the box. Freeman does both. 99th percentile box touches, 98th percentile carries into the penalty area. To put it into context, he touches the ball in the opposition box more than his own. Hilarious player. No brainer YPOTY.

At the same time, this means he must be the best defender of the year. Freeman led all defenders in net g+, mostly by doing the go get in the box thing all the time. Defending’s overrated. Go score some goals.

Goalkeeper of the Year

G-xG is a noisy stat in terms of predictability, but it is a very strong statistic when describing how many goals a goalkeeper prevented from going in. That honor goes to Canada’s very own Dayne St. Clair. St. Clair beat his xG faced by a gargantuan 11.5 goals, a mark bested only by $30M man Djordje Petrovic, and last season’s GKOTY Kristijan Kahlina. He’s also got an all timer PK save celebration.

Brick wall waterfall, dayne thinks he’s got it all, cuz he do

Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award

Our vote went to Diego Luna. If someone with his swag on the pitch can have mental health struggles, and be open about them, we all can. Reach out to your friends.

MLS Best XI

It can often be difficult to fit positions (particularly to make a functional midfield, or correctly sided fullbacks), not this year. It all came together quite nicely. Presenting, your MLS Best XI as determined by net g+.

Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year

Our ballot goes to Jesper Sørensen of the Vancouver Whitecaps, the league leaders in g+ difference. Bar a blip in the middle of the season, the Whitecaps have waxed virtually everybody en route to another Canadian Championship, a CCL final. Along that route, they sold their best midfielder, their first five centerbacks on the depth chart are out for long periods of time, at the same time. And by the way, Ryan Gauld didn’t play all year. Ralph Priso was like two midfielder ranks out of making the g+ Best XI. Ralph Priso! Sørensen deserves this award.

Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player

The single greatest season in the history of the league by a distance so large that the gap between him and second would be a competitive candidate for MVP in most MLS seasons. Who else? Lionel Messi.

Starting games of trivial pursuit with 4 out of 6 wedges feels like a cheat code to me.