With the 2026 MLS season in our rear view, we look back on what was a strange year even by MLS standards, with the help of league expert and friend of the show Eli Lesser!
MLS and normal will rarely ever be uttered in the same sentence. A league that was built to be different, one that had a wild PK and scoring system and that still has a postseason playoff tournament could never be considered “run of the mill.”
So when we say that the 2026 MLS season was strange, we don’t mean the normal amount of MLS strange. It was truly a one-of-one campaign in the best and worst ways.
There was the World Cup break, which extinguished the flame of momentum for some clubs while igniting it for others. There was the announcement of a schedule change to align with the rest of the world, paired with a short “sprint season” at the beginning of 2027. And that was all on top of your standard MLS chaos, which included several coaching changes, roster shuffles, and a certain Argentine forward’s continued dominance.
To help break down everything that went down in the 2026 season in addition to looking ahead to the playoffs, Eli Lesser makes his triumphant return to the Urban Pitch Podcast.
You can watch the full episode on YouTube, or listen to the audio on streaming services including Apple and Spotify.
