The scale of roster turnover has been insane in MLS this offseason. The amount of big-name stars leaving and joining the league is becoming too much to count as teams try to cash in and load up for the season to come. 

This roster volatility is sure to translate into the 2025 season, so let’s make some predictions. Here are the teams that will rise the most and fall the most from their 2024 performances:

Risers:

San Jose Earthquakes

If you think you had a bad 2024, I promise you the Quakes one-upped you. They finished dead last in the league on 21 points—the least amount of points earned in an MLS regular season since the famously bad 2021 FC Cincinnati. Its most recent Wooden Spoon marks the team’s fifth in league history, which is more than any other team. I promised you, didn’t I?

The thing was, the team on paper wasn’t even that bad. The Quakes had top-tier attackers, a solid veteran midfield, a goalkeeper who was in the running for individual trophies a year prior, and a number of promising youngsters on Homegrown contracts. The team that Bruce Arena inherited was far from a dumpster fire personnel-wise, and it definitely got better over the offseason.

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