The Mane Land MLS Power Rankings: Week 23

The summer transfer window is coming to a rapid close and teams on the bubble race to sign the missing pieces to secure those final places above the red line. Future expansion side FC Cincinnati was the winner of the Fanendo Adi sweepstakes, beating out interested parties in Montreal and Philadelphia, and the Seattle Sounders continue their historical trend of struggling through the first half of the season just to clean up in the secondary window and make the playoffs.

Check out how Week 22’s double game week affected the Power Rankings:

1. Portland Timbers (Last Week: 4)

Fanendo Adi is now a member of FC Cincinnati, but he finished his career with the Timbers in style. With just 10 minutes to play, Adi latched onto a loose ball to give Portland the victory against the Houston Dynamo. The Timbers still haven’t lost since April.

2. Atlanta United (Last Week: 3)

Atlanta was nearly caught by the New York clubs in the table but a four-match unbeaten run has kept the Five Stripes at the top of the table. Josef Martinez is on a tear and the odds-on favorite to break the single-season goal record this year with another brace against Montreal.

3. New York Red Bulls (Last Week: 1)

Bradley Wright-Phillips created a memorable moment after scoring his 100th MLS goal for the Red Bulls, which was also the winner over D.C. United. But two goals weren’t enough for New York against the Columbus Crew, who ripped the Red Bulls for three goals.

4. FC Dallas (Last Week: 6)

Michael Barrios’ hat trick lifted Dallas over Sporting Kansas City to widen the gap in the West. FCD has lost just twice since April and sits comfortably six points clear of LAFC.

5. New York City FC (Last Week: 2)

NYCFC is trying to keep pace with Atlanta at the top of the East but a slip-up in Seattle put the Pigeons on the back foot. Domenec Torrent has New York City playing like a Supporters’ Shield-winning side, though, and a two-day turnaround for an early match on the West Coast might be more to blame for the performance in CenturyLink Field.

6. Los Angeles FC (Last Week: 5)

Even with just two matches in the can, the LA Derby has had plenty of Hollywood drama. Once again LAFC took a lead against the Galaxy and once again the defense couldn’t hold on. At least this time, the Wings managed to get a draw.

7. LA Galaxy (Last Week: 8)

It was a stressful week for LA. The Galaxy needed two comebacks to take four points, once again coming back from the dead of a multi-goal deficit to take points from LAFC. Two days later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the hero against Orlando City as his first MLS hat trick capped off the win on Sunday night.

8. Columbus Crew (Last Week: 11)

The Crew’s free fall seems to have stopped as Columbus followed up a fortuitous win over Orlando with a wild win against the Red Bulls. A slight switch in formation from Gregg Berhalter took New York by surprise and the Crew are looking more and more like a playoff place is in hand.

9. Seattle Sounders (Last Week: 13)

Seattle might just be back. Raul Ruidiaz might not be the only Peruvian star set to join the Sounders this window with rumors of Paolo Hurtado floating around. Even without another midsummer star signing, Seattle is now unbeaten through six and threatening to once again mount a playoff push.

10. Houston Dynamo (Last Week: 7)

It was a rough week for Houston, which dropped both matches in the double game week. Philadelphia came into BBVA Compass Stadium and walked out victors and the Dynamo followed it up with a loss in Portland. For Las Naranjas to make the postseason, they have to pick up points with their games in hand and that didn’t happen this week.

11. Sporting Kansas City (Last Week: 9)

Nothing is going right for SKC at the moment. The team is scoring plenty of goals but the normally stout defense has crumbled in recent weeks, which has led to five winless matches in a row for Kansas City.

12. Montreal Impact (Last Week: 10)

The Impact’s revival has hit a stumbling block with two losses and a draw in their last four matches. Montreal is currently above the red line but tied for the most matches played in the conference. The Bleu-blanc-noir may be hoping other clubs drop points on the run in.

13. Toronto FC (Last Week: 17)

Two wins on the bounce have folks in Toronto thinking the playoffs are possible again. Jozy Altidore is back, Jonathan Osorio is having a career year, and the Reds could get back in the thick of it if they can continue to string some wins together.

14. New England Revolution (Last Week: 14)

The Revs were the lucky winners of the odd-number-of-teams sweepstakes this week.

15. Minnesota United (Last Week: 12)

United’s defense was picked apart by Alphonso Davies to the tune of four goals. Talk of playoffs in Minnesota were put on hold as the Loons’ defensive issues were exposed once again. Darwin Quintero can’t save the day every week.

16. Philadelphia Union (Last Week: 18)

The Union took full advantage of some lax defending — and a red card — by the Dynamo to cruise to a 3-1 victory in Houston. Philadelphia took advantage of the high defensive line as Alejandro Bedoya and Cory Burke scored playing off the shoulder of the last man.

17. Vancouver Whitecaps (Last Week: 21)

Davies may be off to Bayern Munich in the winter but he’s still here making things happen for Vancouver in the meantime. The subject of a record-breaking transfer fee to the German giants followed up the news with two goals and two assists to send Minnesota packing.

18. D.C. United (Last Week: 15)

A frustrating, midweek loss to the arch-rival Red Bulls didn’t discourage United from a last-ditch victory over the Rapids over the weekend. The D.C. offense struggled to get anything going against New York but Wayne Rooney bagged his first in MLS and a fortuitous own goal meant the Black and Red were able to steal three points

19. Real Salt Lake (Last Week: 16)

Somehow Salt Lake has held on to the sixth spot in the West through 21 weeks. But things are trending down for RSL, which failed to win for the third straight match. With Joao Plata potentially on the trade block, 2018 may be on the precipice of disaster.

20. Colorado Rapids (Last Week: 19)

Kellyn Acosta made his Rapids debut a memorable one as his chip leveled the match in the final minutes. Unfortunately for Acosta, Colorado is still Colorado and gave up yet another goal in the dying moments to fly home with nothing.

21. Chicago Fire (Last Week: 20)

What started as a transfer window full of hope for the Fire has become a nightmare. Chicago has now lost five matches straight, leaving the Men in Red with the lowest points left available in the Eastern Conference.

22. Orlando City (Last Week: 22)

Orlando laid an egg against NYCFC on national television on Thursday night before trekking back to Los Angeles for the second time this month. The Lions put on a good show even with the quick turnaround, but eventually Zlatan was too much to handle.

23. San Jose Earthquakes (Last Week: 23)

Two more matches for San Jose and two more matches without a win. The Earthquakes have not won since May 12 and have not beaten a team other than Minnesota United since Sept. 30, 2017.