The 2018 Major League Soccer season was the 23rd season of Major League Soccer, top division of soccer in the United States and Canada. The regular season began on March 3, 2018 and concluded on October 28, 2018. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 31, 2018 and concluded with MLS Cup 2018 on December 8, 2018. The league took a nine-day hiatus in early June for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, reduced from previous breaks.
Los Angeles FC joined the league as an expansion franchise, while D.C. United debuted their new soccer-specific stadium, Audi Field.
Toronto FC were the defending Supporters' Shield champions and defending MLS Cup champions.
New York Red Bulls won their third Supporters' Shield, with a league record 71 points, while Atlanta United FC won their first MLS Cup in their second year in the league.
Teams
Stadiums and locations
Western Conference Team Stadium Capacity Colorado Rapids Dick's Sporting Goods Park 18,061 FC Dallas Toyota Stadium 20,500 Houston Dynamo BBVA Compass Stadium 22,039 LA Galaxy StubHub Center 27,000 Los Angeles FC Banc of California Stadium 22,000 Minnesota United FC TCF Bank Stadium 21,895 Portland Timbers Providence Park 21,144 Real Salt Lake Rio Tinto Stadium 20,213 San Jose Earthquakes Avaya Stadium 18,000 Seattle Sounders FC CenturyLink Field 39,419 Sporting Kansas City Children's Mercy Park 18,467 Vancouver Whitecaps FC BC Place 22,120
Eastern Conference Team Stadium Capacity Atlanta United FC Mercedes-Benz Stadium 42,500 Chicago Fire Toyota Park 20,000 Columbus Crew SC Mapfre Stadium 19,968 D.C. United Audi Field 20,000 Montreal Impact Saputo Stadium 20,801 New England Revolution Gillette Stadium 20,000 New York City FC Yankee Stadium 30,321 New York Red Bulls Red Bull Arena 25,000 Orlando City SC Orlando City Stadium 25,500 Philadelphia Union Talen Energy Stadium 18,500 Toronto FC BMO Field 30,000
Personnel and sponsorship
Note: All teams use Adidas as kit manufacturer.
Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsorAtlanta United FC American Family InsuranceChicago Fire ValsparColorado Rapids TransamericaColumbus Crew SC AcuraD.C. United LeidosFC Dallas AdvoCareHouston Dynamo —LA Galaxy HerbalifeLos Angeles FC YouTube TVMinnesota United FC TargetMontreal Impact Bank of MontrealNew England Revolution UnitedHealthcareNew York City FC Etihad AirwaysNew York Red Bulls Red BullOrlando City SC Orlando HealthPhiladelphia Union Bimbo Bakeries USAPortland Timbers Alaska AirlinesReal Salt Lake LifeVantageSan Jose Earthquakes Sutter HealthSeattle Sounders FC XboxSporting Kansas City Ivy FundsToronto FC Bank of MontrealVancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada
Coaching changes TeamOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming coachDate of appointment Montreal Impact Mauro Biello Fired Pre-season Rémi Garde New England Revolution Tom Soehn (interim) End of interim period Brad Friedel Portland Timbers Caleb Porter Resigned Giovanni Savarese San Jose Earthquakes Chris Leitch Returned to technical director role Mikael Stahre Colorado Rapids Steve Cooke (interim) End of interim period Anthony Hudson New York City FC Patrick Vieira Signed by Nice 2nd in East, 4th overall Domènec Torrent Orlando City SC Jason Kreis Mutual decision 6th in East, 14th overall Bobby Murphy (interim) Orlando City SC Bobby Murphy (interim) End of interim period 8th in East, 17th overall James O'Connor New York Red Bulls Jesse Marsch Signed by RB Leipzig 2nd in East, 3rd overall Chris Armas LA Galaxy Sigi Schmid Resigned 8th in West, 13th overall Dominic Kinnear (interim) San Jose Earthquakes Mikael Stahre Fired Steve Ralston (interim) Vancouver Whitecaps FC Carl Robinson Fired Craig Dalrymple (interim) San Jose Earthquakes Steve Ralston (interim) End of interim period Matías Almeyda
Regular season Format During the 2018 MLS regular season, each team played 34 games, including 17 home games and 17 away games. Teams faced each of their conference opponents (10 in the East, 11 in the West) twice during the season with one game at home and one game away. Western Conference teams played one additional intra-conference game and Eastern Conference teams played two. All teams faced each non-conference opponent once.
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup playoffs
Bracket
MLS Cup
Attendance
Average home attendances
Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.
Team 1 Atlanta United FC 1772,243 44,696 2 Seattle Sounders FC 1747,521 39,465 3 Toronto FC 1730,79923,011 4 LA Galaxy 1727,068 16,231 5 Minnesota United FC 1752,242 18,057 6 Orlando City SC 1725,527 22,337 7 New York City FC 1730,13918,584 8 Los Angeles FC 1722,716 22,000 9 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1727,863 17,357 10 Portland Timbers 1721,144 21,144 21,144 11 Sporting Kansas City 1721,064 18,508 12 San Jose Earthquakes 1750,743 15,648 13 New York Red Bulls 1725,219 14,768 14 Real Salt Lake 1721,363 16,015 15 Montreal Impact 1726,005 15,485 16 New England Revolution 1736,573 10,547 17 D.C. United 1720,573 5,128 18 Houston Dynamo 1722,320 13,094 19 Philadelphia Union 1719,013 14,795 20 FC Dallas 1719,096 13,147 21 Colorado Rapids 1717,837 10,790 22 Chicago Fire 1721,915 8,551 23 Columbus Crew 1719,121 7,683 – Total 3918,553,24572,243 5,12821,875
Highest attendances
Regular season
Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Week Stadium1 Atlanta United FC 1–1 Seattle Sounders FC 72,243 20 Mercedes-Benz Stadium2 Atlanta United FC 3–1 D.C. United 72,035 2 Mercedes-Benz Stadium3 Atlanta United FC 2–0 Real Salt Lake 72,017 30 Mercedes-Benz Stadium4 Atlanta United FC 4–0 Orlando City SC 71,932 18 Mercedes-Benz Stadium5 Atlanta United FC 2–1 Chicago Fire 71,812 34 Mercedes-Benz Stadium6 Minnesota United FC 1–3 LA Galaxy 52,242 33 TCF Bank Stadium7 San Jose Earthquakes 3–3 LA Galaxy 50,743 18 Stanford Stadium8 Seattle Sounders FC 2–3 Portland Timbers 47,521 18 CenturyLink Field9 Atlanta United FC 3–1 Columbus Crew 45,303 25 Mercedes-Benz Stadium10 Atlanta United FC 5–0 Los Angeles FC 45,207 6 Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Player statistics
Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC312 Zlatan IbrahimovićLA Galaxy223 Bradley Wright-PhillipsNew York Red Bulls204 Mauro ManotasHouston Dynamo19 Gyasi ZardesColumbus Crew6 Ignacio PiattiMontreal Impact167 Nemanja NikolićChicago Fire158 Kei KamaraVancouver Whitecaps FC14 Ola KamaraLA Galaxy Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC David VillaNew York City FC
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC Vancouver Whitecaps FC 4–1 March 17 Dominique Badji Colorado Rapids Philadelphia Union 3–0 March 31 Johnny Russell Sporting Kansas City Vancouver Whitecaps FC 6–0 April 20 Ignacio Piatti Montreal Impact Los Angeles FC 3–5 April 21 Cristian Techera Vancouver Whitecaps FC New England Revolution 3–3 May 26 Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC Philadelphia Union 3–1 June 2 Adama Diomande Los Angeles FC Philadelphia Union 4–1 June 30 Darwin Quintero Minnesota United FC Toronto FC 4–3 July 14 Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC D.C. United 3–1 July 21 Michael Barrios FC Dallas Sporting Kansas City 3–2 July 28 Zlatan Ibrahimović LA Galaxy Orlando City SC 4–3 July 29 Luciano Acosta D.C. United Orlando City SC 3–2 August 12 Damir Kreilach Real Salt Lake LA Galaxy 6–2 September 1 Bradley Wright-Phillips New York Red Bulls D.C. United 3–3 September 16 Gyasi Zardes Columbus Crew SC Minnesota United FC 3–2 October 28
Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Bořek DočkalPhiladelphia Union182 Luciano AcostaD.C. United173 Nicolás LodeiroSeattle Sounders FC16 Maximiliano MoralezNew York City FC5 Sebastian GiovincoToronto FC15 Darwin QuinteroMinnesota United FC7 Miguel AlmirónAtlanta United FC14 Julian GresselAtlanta United FC KakuNew York Red Bulls10 Tomás MartínezHouston Dynamo13 Ignacio PiattiMontreal Impact Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC
Shutouts RankPlayerClubShutouts1 Luis RoblesNew York Red Bulls142 Tim MeliaSporting Kansas City133 Andre BlakePhiladelphia Union10 Evan BushMontreal Impact Sean JohnsonNew York City FC Tyler MillerLos Angeles FC Zack SteffenColumbus Crew8 David BinghamLA Galaxy8 Brad GuzanAtlanta United FC10 Jeff AttinellaPortland Timbers7 Stefan FreiSeattle Sounders FC Nick RimandoReal Salt Lake
Awards
Individual awards AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Josef MartínezAtlanta United FCDefender of the Year Aaron LongNew York Red BullsGoalkeeper of the Year Zack SteffenColumbus Crew SCCoach of the Year Gerardo MartinoAtlanta United FCRookie of the Year Corey BairdReal Salt LakeNewcomer of the Year Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxyComeback Player of the Year Gyasi ZardesColumbus Crew SCGolden Boot Josef MartínezAtlanta United FCFair Play Award Valeri QazaishviliSan Jose EarthquakesHumanitarian of the Year Matt LampsonMinnesota United FCGoal of the Year Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxySave of the Year Stefan FreiSeattle Sounders FC
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Zack Steffen, Columbus Kemar Lawrence, Red Bulls Aaron Long, Red Bulls Chad Marshall, Seattle Luciano Acosta, D.C. United Miguel Almirón, Atlanta Ignacio Piatti, Montreal Carlos Vela, LAFC Zlatan Ibrahimović, LA Galaxy Josef Martínez, Atlanta Wayne Rooney, D.C. United
Player of the Month
MonthPlayerClubStatsRef March Felipe Gutiérrez Sporting Kansas City 5G April Miguel Almirón Atlanta United FC 5G, 2A May Zack Steffen Columbus Crew 0 GA June Adama Diomande Los Angeles FC 7G July Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC 9G, 1A August Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC 4G, 1A September Luciano Acosta D.C. United 4G, 6A October Wayne Rooney D.C. United 5G
Player and team of the week Bold denotes league player of the week. Italics denotes Audi player performance of the week.