MLS Awards Ballot: Lionel Messi's historic 2025.

It’s that time of the year again, the MLS season has come to an end as we prepare for a month and a half of the most confusing playoff format in American sport. Well, before we get there, let’s reflect on the 2025 MLS season, a season that saw the Philadelphia Union with the Supporters Shield but might not reward Bradley Carnell’s squad with any individual hardware.

Maybe it’s a commentary on the Union defying their baseline analytics, but for my ballot,  it’s their record against fellow top clubs in the East while the expansion club out West recorded the most points ever for a first year side while outlasting a very good Vancouver Whitecaps side. 

Ok, let’s talk my awards ballot. 

MLS MVP: Lionel Messi

When Lionel Messi won the 2024 MLS MVP, this newsletter toiled on the decision, eventually landing on Messi given his historical scoring pace despite missing 1/4th of the MLS season. It could be – and should be – argued that Riqui Puig was more deserving, look at the Galaxy in 2025, and Puig’s g+ number through the entirety of 2024. Puig’s season was a  top 10 season in the history of the league, however, in 2025, Lionel Messi turned in a performance that only Carlos Vela’s 2019 came close to matching.

Messi finished the season just behind Vela’s historic 2019 on goals+assists number, and cleared Vela's accomplishment if discounting MLS’s secondary assist stat. However, looking beyond the counting stats, Messi has generated a goals added number that no one in the history of MLS advanced stats has even entered the neighborhood of accomplishing.

That’s why Messi’s 2025 MVP campaign is so easy to account for, there’s no voter fatigue in a season that clears away all competitors, there’s no voter fatigue when one of the sport’s GOATs also turns in a performance that delights the nerds with his total impact. 

There will be doubters, he barely runs, his defensive impact is negligible – but not negative like Puig last season – and Miami are generally grating to follow for anyone who isn’t an IMCF supporter… but there is no doubt that Messi should be the first MLS player to repeat as MVP. 

MLS Newcomer of the Year: Anders Dreyer

Dreyer’s 19 goals and 17 assists trailed only Lionel Messi’s impressive tally. He scored in a variety of ways, and his consistency throughout the year helped boost San Diego’s expansion campaign, even as they dipped midseason following the decision to not trigger Milan Iloski’s transfer clause. 

Dreyer's impact wasn’t quite enough to put him in the MVP conversation, at least realistically, but he did more over the entirety of the season than any other newcomer this season. Dreyer created 25 big chances along with his goal tally, and led MLS in primary assists. If Müller and Son arrive in January, then this might be a different conversation, but consistency through the difficulties that MLS travel can bring to recently arrived Euro players is impressive. 

Comeback Player of the Year: Nick Hagglund

Nick Hagglund’s leg injury last season was heartbreaking, not just because of his impact in Cincinnati, but because it could have ended his career. 

“I thought I was never going to play again.”

It was the player’s third season ending injury over four seasons, and one that could have been the final straw after multiple lengthy, frustrating rehab stints. 

However, Hagglund rebounded after a surgery to repair “a significant amount of cartilage damage” in his ankle, returning to MLS play on March 22nd in Cincinnati’s 2-2 draw with Atlanta. 

He became an important depth piece for Pat Noonan’s squad, contributing 0.15 goals added, leading MLS in blocks per 90 minutes, and finished his rebound season with a game winning goal on decision day.

Young Player of the Year: Alex Freeman

Alex Freeman was 4th in MLS in Goals added this year and played an impressive 2776 minutes in Orlando’s bizarre season. Freeman’s play earned him a prominent place in Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT thanks to his importance in Orlando’s ball progression scheme and his contributions on both sides of the ball. It’s that two way play that takes him over Diego Luna, Brian Gutierrez, and Obed Vargas on my ballot, but it’s not as cut and dry of a decision as the other awards this season.

Freeman's expected stats – over 10 xG+xA – paint the picture of a player that is already an important contributor for the Lions, impressive for a player that had four MLS appearances under his belt before this season.

Goalkeeper of the year: Dayne St. Clair 

Dayne St. Clair is a big reason why Minnesota will host the Seattle Sounders when the first round kicks off this week. DSC is top three in most Goalkeeping categories this season, and while there have been better shotstoppers – shoutout Sean Johnson in Toronto – and better keepers in possession, DSC had the best all-around game of any keeper this year. He finished the season 6th in passing g+, 2nd in post shot expected goals saved (9.7), and led the league in total goals added (11.49). 

It’s fitting that the Loons receive at least one individual award for how they improved this season, DSC was the leader of that effort. 

Defensive Player of the Year: Jackson Ragen 

Maybe the toughest award every year is the DPOY. How do you define the best defender? Is it the best player characterized as a defender, or is it the best player at defending their goal? I opted for a more well rounded approach in Jackson Ragen’s 2025 performance. Ragen ranked 2nd in MLS in goals added amongst CBs per 96 minutes this season and was a key factor as the final man in Seattle’s defensive scheme while having solid passing numbers out of the back line. 

Ragen’s ability on the ball helped fuel the Sounders run this season, and he’s the only CB without a negative impact in any area of his game, that tidy play is incredibly important.  

Manager of the Year: Mikey Varas

The 2025 Sigi Schmid Manager of the Year came down to three managers: Bradley Carnell, Jesper Sørensen, and Mikey Varas. 

Varas is the only manager in that list who: 1) hasn’t managed a top flight first team before, 2) is managing a club that didn’t exist last season. 

Varas took a club that hasn’t had a finalized roster for more than a year and won the top seed in the Western Conference. 

As impressive as Carnell’s run in Philadelphia has been compared to his 2nd season in St. Louis, and as impressive as the Whitecaps have been, Varas had a nearly impossible job. An expansion manager has to establish a culture, and win buy-in from a group of players that had barely played together before the start of the season. Unlike Carnell in 2023, Varas also accomplished this feat with a philosophy based in controlling play in possession, and finished the year 5-2-2 after the Leagues Cup break, one of the hottest clubs in the league after it seemed like opposing managers had figured out how to approach San Diego’s style. 

MLS Best XI: