Let's cut to the chase: San Diego FC may go down as the greatest expansion team in MLS history.
Though there have been several impressive expansion campaigns in the last decade, the newest of the new kids on the block are on track to surpass all of their predecessors’ regular season accolades: they’re on pace to blow past LAFC’s expansion record of 57 points set in 2017 and best the Chicago Fire’s expansion points per game record of 1.75 set way back in 1998. At their current 1.84 points per game pace, San Diego FC will end 2025 with a new record of 62 points. They’re currently on top of the West and have a chance to win the Supporters’ Shield, too, which would be a first for an expansion team.
Never before have we seen an expansion team find so much success, so quickly. Only once before has an expansion team sustained that success through to an MLS Cup victory — that was the Fire in 1998, back in an era of MLS when every team was in its infancy.
San Diego FC are making a case to be the best first-year team MLS has ever seen. And up against teams with a 30-year head start, they’re pushing for trophies.
Here’s how.
Joseph Lowery
Even while hiding from the Southern California sun beneath the shade of a merciful tree, Tyler Heaps made one thing clear in a conversation with Backheeled: his team wasn’t going to shy away from the spotlight.
“I think we’re an expansion team that probably has the most in-depth style of play coming into the league,” San Diego FC’s sporting director said earlier this year before that team had even kicked a ball in MLS.
Just what is that style of play? Heaps, the youngest front office chief in MLS at age 34, was happy to draw parallels between his project and the one Wilfried Nancy is heading up in Columbus. Nancy’s hyper-controlled, possession-based style led the Crew to an MLS Cup trophy just two years ago, not to mention a run to the Concacaf Champions Cup final and a Leagues Cup victory.
