As Major League Soccer enters the second half of the 2026 season and continues to enjoy the post-World Cup excitement, teams are beginning to dream of a long winter run and ultimately hoisting the MLS Cup.
With the lengthy pause for the World Cup this summer, the 2026 MLS Cup will be played later into December than past iterations, with the championship date set for December 18 and hosted by the highest-remaining team in the Supporters’ Shield standings. It will mark the last MLS Cup hosted in December, with the league set to adopt a European-style soccer calendar and flip the MLS Cup playoffs to the spring, starting in the 14-game 2027 sprint season.
Here, Sports Illustrated ranks five teams that stand the best chance of winning the 31st edition of the MLS Cup.
5. Chicago Fire
The Chicago Fire will need Robert Lewandowski to hit top form. Yet, as he’s shown through his game-to-game improvements so far with two goals in his first three matches, he still has more than enough talent to be a premium striker in MLS and the potential to thrive even more than his dazzling predecessor, Hugo Cuypers.
Under Gregg Berhalter, whether using a front three or a front two, the Fire attack hasn’t struggled and it likely won’t, proving to be among the best in MLS. The challenge moving forward will come defensively, with the Fire needing to somehow cushion the blow at center back after star South African defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi suffered a season-ending injury.
Last year, Inter Miami showed that a potent attack and finding some defensive form at the right time—even with a less-than-talented backline—can be enough to win the title. The Fire will look to do the same with the hope of ending a 20-year trophy drought, even if that means likely having to go through Miami to get there.
4. Vancouver Whitecaps
If the 2025 MLS Cup finalist Vancouver Whitecaps still had U.S. men’s national team star Sebastian Berhalter, they would be higher on this list. Led by manager Jesper Sørensen, the Whitecaps were far and away the best Western Conference team in the first half of the season, and Berhalter’s form led the group, even as Thomas Müller and Brian White struggled to make as much impact as they did in 2025.
Since losing Berhalter to Middlesbrough, the Whitecaps are winless in seven straight games across MLS and Leagues Cup and don’t have the same unrelenting energy in transition as they previously had. At the same time, White’s health struggles have continued, and Müller hasn’t been able to take over games. Star center back Ranko Veselinović’s recent injury, after a long rehab, doesn’t help either.
There is still plenty of quality in the Whitecaps, and they built up a significant buffer ahead of the World Cup, which sees them still in first place in the Western Conference. Still, it will take some adjustments, others to step up and a transitional midfield replacement.
3. Nashville SC
There’s plenty to like about Nashville SC.. They have a superstar attacking leader in Hany Mukhtar and have welcomed both Cristian Espinoza and Sam Surridge back to the lineup after dealing with injuries. Surridge, in particular, has been exceptional with 11 goals in 12 regular season matches, and has been the focal point of the potent attacking setup among the three.
While the first half of the season could have derailed the Coyotes given their strain of playing both the regular season and Concacaf Champions Cup, they were able to handle it and entered the World Cup break atop the Eastern Conference. Managed by B.J. Callaghan, almost every player has been maximized in their roles as well, while goalkeeper Brian Schwake’s form has put him in MLS Goalkeeper of the Year contention.
Depth will be where Nashville is tested. If they have the attacking trio of Mukhtar, Surridge and Espinoza all healthy, they’re hard to beat, but if not, issues will arise.
As will be the case with any team looking to emerge from the Eastern Conference, Miami stand in the way. The Herons will be far from easy to beat, even if Nashville have plenty of experience in that matchup and knocked them out of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
2. LAFC
Son Heung-min before the World Cup and Son Heung-min after the World Cup are two totally different players. While the South Korean superstar looked as though he had lost a step and surrendered some chemistry with Denis Bouanga after not scoring in the first chunk of the season, he has hit incredible form since, finding the back of the net in four of his last four league matches.
Add in rekindled form for Bouanga, which has seen the Gabon attacker score five goals in his last seven games, and there’s real danger to LAFC’s attack once again.
There will be questions around LAFC’s ability to create chances for their attacking talents after Stephen Eustàquio’s loan deal expired, and that might be a focus in the remaining weeks of the transfer window. If that void is filled, though, then LAFC’s skill and post-World Cup form could have them challenging for a title in Marc Dos Santos’s debut season as manager.
1. Inter Miami
Nothing is stopping Inter Miami right now. After struggling for consistency and form at the start of the season in the wake of Sergio Busquets’s and Jordi Alba’s retirements, the Herons have found tremendous midseason success under new interim manager Guillermo Hoyos, who took over for Javier Mascherano in April.
Lionel Messi is the key to the entire project, and he hasn’t disappointed in 2026. So far, he has 12 goals and eight assists in 15 MLS matches, and scored a brace in the Leagues Cup opener against Atlético de San Luis, before missing the second match to be with his family in the wake of his father’s death. Should he be able to maintain his incredible form, it will take an upset to silence him.
In addition to Messi, Luis Suárez is playing his best MLS soccer at 39 years old with 10 goals in 14 regular season games, while the recent addition of legendary Brazilian midfielder Casemiro has seemingly unlocked the creative abilities of Rodrigo De Paul and Noah Allen in wide areas.
The attack was never going to be much of an issue for Miami, though, as long as they have Messi. The odd standout this season has been the 32 goals allowed in 18 games. The 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and offseason signing, Dayne St. Clair, struggled in his first few months and eventually surrendered his role to Miami’s previous starter, Rocco Ríos Novo.
Depth will be a question for Miami moving forward considering their aging stars, but young players—notably Daniél Pínter—have stood out in recent weeks and could develop further to play an even more significant role in a run to defend their MLS Cup title.
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