Out on my MLS limb

There's been so much going on with the new MLS season fast approaching, I probably should have waited to start the new Clipboard (which I want to give due thought) until after this weekend. Silly me. So we will get back to that on Monday. For now, it's time once again to break out some table finish, MLS Cup and award predictions.

EASTERN CONFERENCE (order of finish)

Toronto FC
NYCFC
Atlanta
Orlando City
Columbus
Chicago
----------------------
NY Red Bulls
Philadelphia
D.C. United
Montreal
New England


WESTERN CONFERENCE (order of finish)

Seattle
Vancouver
Portland
LA Galaxy
Sporting KC
San Jose
----------------------
Real Salt Lake
FC Dallas
Houston
LAFC
Colorado
Minnesota

--
Now on to the awards and honors (my pick for the winner gets the asterisk)...

EAST CHAMPS
Toronto FC def. NYCFC

WEST CHAMPS
Portland def. Seattle

MLS CUP
Toronto FC def. Portland

MVP
Sebastian Giovinco*
Ola Kamara
David Villa

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR
Harrison Afful*
Ike Opara
Kendall Waston

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR
Andre Blake*
Stefan Frei
Zack Steffen

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Ezequiel Barco
Diego Rossi
Carlos Vela*

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Tomas Hilliard-Arce*
João Moutinho
Chris Mueller

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Giovani dos Santos
Sebastian Lletget
Gyasi Zardes*

COACH OF THE YEAR
Gregg Berhalter*
Carl Robinson
Greg Vanney

BEST XI
Andre Blake, Harrison Afful, Kendall Waston, Ike Opara, Justin Morrow, Ilie Sánchez, Sapher Taider, Sebastian Giovinco, Romain Alessandrini, Justin Meram, David Villa

SILVER XI
Stefan Frei, Gregory van der Wiel, Alexander Callens, Justen Glad, Kemar Lawrence, Ori Rosell, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miguel Almiron, Alberth Elis, Ignacio Piatti, Ola Kamara

BRONZE XI
Zack Steffen, Matt Polster, Reto Ziegler, Leandro González Pírez, Greg Garza, Michael Bradley, Yoshimar Yotun, Cristian Roldan, Diego Valeri, Josef Martinez, Jozy Altidore





- Greg Seltzer