Ranking this week’s games in MLS:
Games of the week
Columbus at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, MLS Live: Toronto has won four consecutive games, the longest streak in MLS this season. Columbus is just streaky enough to stop that streak.
Sporting KC at Orlando, 7 p.m. Saturday, MLS Live: Two teams that didn't have good weeks last week and need a win to again be considered among the teams to beat in their conferences. Sporting KC is tied with Dallas for fewest goals allowed (5) this season.
NYCFC at Dallas, 8 p.m. Sunday, FS1: Play this game at Yankee Stadium and I would favor NYCFC. But it's being played at Dallas and its defense will be too much for David Villa.
Games to DVR to watch again
Seattle at Chicago, 9 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2: Teams that start to gain traction and then fall back. Chicago is in sixth in the East, which should be considered an improvement over the previous two seasons, while Seattle is outside of the six playoff spots.
Atlanta United at Portland, 4 p.m. Sunday, ESPN: If Atlanta United hasn't fixed its issues on offense or defense this game could get really ugly really quickly. It may be time to ask when has Atlanta United really played well on offense for a consistent amount of time against a team with 11 men. No, Minnesota doesn't count.
L.A. Galaxy at New York Red Bulls, 6 p.m. Sunday, FS1: Playing without the injured Jermaine Jones, the L.A. Galaxy seemed to stumble upon a formation that works in last week's tie with Chicago. The Red Bulls seemed to be streaking until dropping two last week.
Minnesota United at Toronto, 3 p.m. Saturday, MLS Live: How about those Loons! Who would have thought after the season's first two rounds of games that Minnesota United would now have the same number of points as Atlanta United?
Games to set up score alerts on your phone so you don’t have to pay close attention
Vancouver at Houston, 9 p.m. Friday, MLS Live: Houston is 5-0-1 at home and features one of the league's most exciting attacks with 19 goals scored. Vancouver is 2-3 away from home.
Columbus at Montreal, 5 p.m. Saturday, MLS Live: This may be the debut of Montreal midfielder Blerim Dzemaili, who joined from Bologna.
Games that only those who play fantasy will care about
San Jose at Colorado, 4 p.m. Saturday, UniMas: Colorado has scored the fewest number of goals (5) this season and didn't make any moves in the recently closed transfer window to fix that issue.
Philadelphia at D.C. United, 7 p.m. Saturday, MLS Live: This seems likely to end up tied at 0-0.
Real Salt Lake at New England, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, MLS Live: Not much to say about this game, other than if New England doesn't win its future seems cloudy.
