MLS: Reus catapults LA Galaxy into contention

It’s Monday, and another week of MLS action is in the books, which means it’s time for ESPN’s Power Rankings.

Our Power Rankings are derived from a combination of key season statistics (points per game, goal differential, expected goal differential), recent performance, the Opta computer ratings and the observations of our writers.

Who’s climbing the table? Who’s in free fall? We’ve ranked all 29 clubs in the league. Let’s dive in.

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Previous ranking: 1

No Lionel Messi, no Leagues Cup run, no problem. Luis Suárez’s two goals inside of six minutes were all Miami needed to take down Cincy in their return to MLS play. Even spending 48 minutes down a man couldn’t slow down the Shield leaders.

Previous ranking: 2

The Crew won the Leagues Cup to take home their second trophy in as many years. Now they finally get to turn their full attention to league play, where a second straight MLS Cup is within reach this fall.

Previous ranking: 3

LAFC lost in the Leagues Cup final to Columbus, coming up one win short in the Ohio capital once more. With both teams a decent bet to make the MLS Cup final again in December, the Black and Gold will want to finish the regular season strong and earn home-field advantage for the potential rematch.

Previous ranking: 4

So that Marco Reus guy is pretty good, huh? The German star scored a goal and added an assist in his Galaxy debut as LA beat Atlanta, 2-0. He’s going to be a hell of a weapon for a team that was already one of the league’s best.

Previous ranking: 5

Cincy spent more than a half up a man in Miami and had nothing to show for it in a 2-0 loss. This isn’t the first time they’ve struggled against 10 men, which is a peculiar problem for a good team, but more concerning now is the eight-point gap between them and Inter.

Previous ranking: 8

The Rapids are heading to the Concacaf Champions Cup thanks to their third-place finish in the Leagues Cup. Now they have eight MLS matches on tap to hold onto their top four seed in the West.

Previous ranking: 7

RBNY had no problem creating chances, but they struggled to finish and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Charlotte. There’s no shame in the result, but the reason they are here and not among the league’s top teams is the lack of top-end players in front of goal.

Previous ranking: 6

RSL had high hopes of riding a soft back half of their schedule to the top of the West, but they lost the softest match in MLS this season — home to San Jose. To make matters worse, Chicho Arango went off injured.

Previous ranking: 11

The Caps returned from Leagues Cup play with a bye. Talk about some anticlimactic scheduling.

Previous ranking: 9

It was a wild one in Portland and Felipe Mora was at the heart of it with two goals, an assist and a red card. But the red card didn’t doom the Timbers in the slightest as Evander followed it up with a gorgeous stoppage-time free kick to earn Portland a 4-4 draw against St. Louis.

Previous ranking: 12

Charlotte looked predictably sloppy in its first match since Aug. 4, but it still scratched out a draw against the Red Bulls. A win would have been massive for the Crown, who remain four points back of RBNY for fourth in the East.

Previous ranking: 10

NYCFC blew a two-goal lead at home to draw Chicago in a disappointing match for the Pigeons. They’re now winless in their last five and leaning really hard on that stretch in April and May when they won eight of nine.

Previous ranking: 17

Seattle went to Minnesota and walked away 3-2 winners thanks to a late Albert Rusnak goal. Jordan Morris also scored, taking him up to second on the club’s all-time scoring list. It will be very cool when the hometown kid holds the Sounders’ record, but in the meantime all eyes are on climbing into the top four of the West.

Previous ranking: 13

The Dynamo’s schedule is fairly backloaded with home games, so the hope was they’d reel off some wins in Houston to close the season and maybe grab the fourth seed in the West. Unfortunately, they have not been very good at home this season and a 1-0 loss to Toronto did not help.

Previous ranking: 15

The Five Stripes got done in by Reus as they lost in LA 2-0. It was a painful reminder of how much star power has departed Atlanta in recent transfer windows, leaving them unspectacular against teams with game-winning talent.

Previous ranking: 14

Orlando nearly scored in the sixth minute, but they didn’t — and it was all Sporting from then on. Even going up a man for the last 20 minutes didn’t help the Lions as they lost 3-0 in Kansas City.

Previous ranking: 18

Prince Owusu’s header was all TFC needed to steal a 1-0 win in Houston. Next up is the second leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals and if the Reds can pair a cup final with their place in the playoff race, then it will be a heck of a first full season for John Herdman in Toronto.

Previous ranking: 16

Kelvin Yeboah came in and scored a pair in his Minnesota debut. All good, right? Not so fast, because the defense was a mess as the Sounders won 3-2 at Allianz Field.

Previous ranking: 19

The Union followed up two wins before the Leagues Cup with a run to the semifinals, so they’ll return to MLS play next week with plenty of wind at their backs.

Previous ranking: 21

Sebastian Lletget was outstanding with a goal and two assists. He was a threat every time he got on the ball as Dallas picked apart D.C. en route to a 4-3 win that has them only one point from a playoff spot and potentially taking the interim tag off of coach Peter Luccin.

Previous ranking: 23

As Brad Stuver goes, so goes Austin, and Stuver was spectacular on Saturday. The goalkeeper was the best player on the pitch and earned his side a 2-0 win over Nashville.

Previous ranking: 20

Losing 2-0 to Austin is bad. Doing so while new signing Patrick Yazbek is taken off because “allegations of the use of offensive language” is very, very bad. The Leagues Cup break didn’t help out Nashville at all, and they really need help.

Previous ranking: 22

Another Christian Benteke dunk was not enough for D.C., whose defense fell apart in a 4-3 loss to Dallas.

Previous ranking: 24

The Fire fell behind 2-0 in New York, but battled back for a 2-2 draw that kept them in the fight for a playoff spot. This team isn’t particularly good, and anybody could pick out a slew of flaws, but they work hard and won’t go away. It served them well against NYCFC, and it’s serving them well as they look to get back in the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Previous ranking: 26

On the night Sporting honored Benny Feilhaber, they put on a show that made the former showstopper proud. Even a Willy Agada red card couldn’t stop the party in KC, as Remi Walter added a goal with 10 men to round out the 3-0 win over Orlando.

Previous ranking: 28

Who would have guessed that the Revs would still be in the playoff hunt come the end of August after the way their season started? But they certainly are after battering CFM, 5-0, to put themselves within two points of ninth place. If New England can keep Carles Gil healthy, they may even be a good bet to snag one of the last couple playoff spots at this point.

Previous ranking: 27

City had three different two-goal leads in Portland. They were also up a man with a 4-3 lead, so when they conceded in stoppage time for a 4-4 draw, it was definitely a case of a painful two points lost and a waste of Marcel Hartel’s three assists in his STL debut.

Previous ranking: 25

Montréal is in the playoff race, but management didn’t act like they wanted to make a run with a rather quiet close to the transfer window. CFM then proceeded to play like a team that didn’t have a playoff run in them, getting obliterated by the Revs, 5-0.

Previous ranking: 29

The Quakes may have won the Most Surprising Result of the MLS Season on Saturday. They went into Salt Lake and played a good RSL team right off the pitch for only their second win since May 11.