Who’s Taking the Spoon?

Sporting Kansas City’s 2024 season was the worst since the club’s rebranding as they went 8-19-7 (W-L-D) earning a total of thirty-one points, the second lowest point total in the club’s history behind only the 1999 season when the then Wizards earned only twenty points. At the time it felt that maybe this was the bottom, there wasn’t much lower the team could go. Then the 2025 season showed up, handed fans a shovel, and said, “get to diggin’.”

So here we are with three games left in the season and Kansas City currently sits four points behind the total they finished the 2024 season with, at twenty-seven points. They’ve won just two games since scoring two goals in stoppage time against Charlotte FC to win 2-1 back on June 25th, and those two wins came against the same team, the Colorado Rapids. With the struggles this season, it’s led many fans, podcasters, and writers in the KC sphere to speculate whether Kansas City will “win” their first Wooden Spoon in 2025. For those that don’t know the Anthony Precourt Memorial Wooden Spoon is awarded to the team that finishes the regular season with the fewest points. Throughout their history, Kansas City has managed to avoid finishing with the fewest points in the league. Even the disastrous 1999 season saw the Metrostars finish with a worse record, earning just fifteen points. Kansas City is the only original MLS team to have never finished the season with the fewest points.

With that in mind, Kansas City sits only six points clear of the LA Galaxy who currently have the fewest points in the league, at twenty-one. That makes next week’s match up between the two at Dignity Health Sports Park a six pointer that could see Kansas City really pulled into the battle to avoid the spoon.

Kansas City and LA, though, aren’t the only teams that are battling for the spoon. There are eight teams that could technically still win the spoon: New England Revolution, St. Louis City SC, Sporting KC, Toronto FC, Atlanta United, DC United, CF Montreal, and LA Galaxy.

First, we’re going to take the Revolution off the list, while they are still technically in the race, they are eleven points clear of last place LA, meaning the Galaxy would need to win out, New England would have to pick up no more than a point the rest of the way, and the other six teams would all need to pass New England as well. So, while it’s technically possible, it seems quite improbable at this point.

Starting with the team with the most remaining points and working down:

St. Louis City

Point Total: 28
Remaining schedule: vs Los Angeles FC (1.72 PPG, 1.5 on the road), at Austin FC (1.47 PPG, 1.67 at home), vs Real Salt Lake (1.13 PPG, .8 on the road)

Wins the last two weeks against CF Montreal and the San Jose Earthquakes have put St. Louis in a position where getting the spoon seems unlikely as they are seven points clear of LA now. Their remaining schedule isn’t easy with games against LAFC and RSL at Energizer Park sandwiching a trip to Austin, but the points in hand should be enough to keep them from the spoon. The Austin game will take place days after they will have hosted the US Open Cup final against Nashville SC, so they could be in a celebratory mood still. All three teams are still battling for a playoff spot, though Salt Lake’s position could be decided by the time Decision Day rolls around.

Kansas City

Point Total: 27 (7 wins)
Remaining schedule: at LA Galaxy (.7 PPG, 1 at home), at Minnesota United (1.74 PPG, 1.56 at home), vs Houston Dynamo (1.16 PPG, 1.2 on the road)

Kansas City sits above the other teams on twenty-seven points because of the wins tiebreaker, seeing KC two wins clear of both Toronto and Atlanta. The game next weekend against LA is one of only two games featuring two teams on this list. A win would guarantee Kansas City can’t take the spoon as while LA could equal them on points, Kansas City would hold the tiebreaker for most wins. Considering Kansas City’s current run of form, that doesn’t seem a likely conclusion at this point. The other two games see Kansas City travel to face a Minnesota side battling for playoff positioning near the top of the West and could have an outside shot at the Supporters’ Shield. The finale against the Dynamo could certainly see them still battling for their playoff lives on Decision Day.

Toronto

Point Total: 27 (5 wins, -7 GD)
Remaining schedule: vs Inter Miami (1.86 PPG, 1.57 on the road), at Chicago Fire (1.5 PPG, 1.33 at home), at Los Angeles FC (1.72 PPG, 1.93 at home), vs Orlando City (1.7 PPG, 1.6 on the road)

Toronto is tied on points with Kansas City but has two fewer wins than SKC does currently. TFC also has a game in hand on Sporting as they have four games left. Their two home games are no easy task, welcoming Leonel Messi and then hosting Orlando on Decision Day. Depending on results, Orlando could still be battling for a home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Their two road games against a Fire team trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and LAFC with Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min forming an impressive partnership early on will be battling for playoff positioning in the West.

Atlanta

Point Total: 27 (5 wins, -18 GD)
Remaining schedule: at New England Revolution (1.03 PPG, .8 at home), at Los Angeles FC (1.72 PPG, 1.93 at home), at Inter Miami (1.86 PPG, 2.14 at home), vs DC United (.81 PPG, .75 on the road).

The second team that has a game in hand on Kansas City is Atlanta, though Atlanta has three of their final four games on the road, they do have some things going their way in those games though. Their first game is against New England, who recently fired their head coach, Caleb Porter, and has a poor home record. The Revolution have won just two games since the start of June. One of the only teams that is worse in that stretch of time though is Atlanta, who has just one win in that time frame. They then travel to LA before traveling down to take on Miami. The big thing with the Miami game, is the fact that it falls during the October international break, and while Argentina is done with qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, they do have a pair of friendlies that could see Messi called up, along with Miami’s other internationals. Ending the season with the other game between two teams on this list, hosting DC, maybe what Atlanta needs to avoid finishing last. But stealing a result on the road (where Atlanta is 1-8-5 this season) would be a massive boost.

DC

Point Total: 25
Remaining schedule: vs Philadelphia Union (1.94 PPG, 1.53 on the road), vs Charlotte FC (1.71 PPG, 1 on the road), at Atlanta United (.9 PPG, 1.19 at home)

DC, like Atlanta, has only one win since the start of June that has seen them fall into this position. While they have two of their final three at home, those home games aren’t easy, facing off against the current Shield leaders, Philadelphia, even if it’s without Tai Baribo, who will be suspended, is a tough ask. Then playing one of the hottest teams in the league in Charlotte, before ending the season on the road against Atlanta. On paper I’d almost consider them the favorites given their end of season run, but Montreal’s isn’t easier.

Montreal

Point Total: 24
Remaining schedule: at Charlotte FC (1.71 PPG, 2.47 at home), vs Nashville SC (1.61 PPG, 1.06 on the road), at FC Cincinnati (1.87 PPG, 1.73 at home)

Montreal having to travel to both Charlotte and Cincinnati to close the season is rough considering one has the best home record in the league (Charlotte) and the other is battling for the Shield (Cincinnati). Sandwiched between them is a visit from Nashville, who will have played the US Open Cup final the midweek before that game so there’s the possibility of a hangover there from Nashville. But even with the final, Nashville can’t totally sit back as they’ll be playing to try to avoid the play in game in the East and still trying to get a top four seed, especially with the fact that they’ve lost six of their last seven league games. Montreal has also struggled in their last two games, both at home, losing 2-0 to both St. Louis and New York.

LA

Point Total: 21
Remaining schedule: vs Sporting KC (.87 PPG, .73 on the road), at FC Dallas (1.23 PPG, 1.13 at home), vs FC Dallas (1.23 PPG, 1.36 on the road), vs Minnesota United (1.74 PPG, 1.93 on the road)

The current “leaders” for the spoon, LA has a game in hand on Kansas City and would in theory have a good route to escape going first to worst with three games at home. The game against Kansas City could really pull LA out of things and KC into the thick of it. Those two games against Dallas are tempting but won’t be easy with Dallas fighting for their playoff lives still. That finale against a good Minnesota team that could be battling for playoff positioning who has close to two points per game on the road this year is not going to be easy.

So, who gets the spoon in the end? I think LA escapes it, I struggle to think that Kansas City picks up points on the road against the Galaxy the way they’ve played the last three games especially. That said, I don’t think KC gets it, I think they’ll get one win before the end of the season, maybe on Decision Day against the Dynamo, but I think KC keeps their streak of having never finished last in the league alive. For me, the spoon comes down to two teams, DC and Montreal, because both have a really tough stretch to end the season against some really good teams. That said, if Atlanta lose all three of their road games before Decision Day against DC, that game could turn into a “loser gets the spoon” game.