It has been an honor to be offered a ballot for superlatives at the end of another bustling MLS season. I don’t think we want to toot our own horn here at CST, but being recognized as a prized local outlet in this manner makes the venture worth it. I hope I can speak on behalf of the entire staff when I say that it’s humbling and motivational.

However, at the same time, it’s also unnerving to see that less coverage is being left to the minds and fingers of your diligent soccer writers. Laurel Pfahler‘s open letter to MLS over the past week should open eyes on how soccer coverage needs to expand in 2026. If the World Cup is going to be presented globally, there needs to be more cooperation between the media and the league to present it openly and logically.

That doesn’t mean we need to increase it quantitatively. This month, the soccer robots took over, as people came to the realization that MLSsoccer.com has started to produce write-ups and results based on A.I. scripts. Even Inter Miami CF match coverage, which is usually big enough to get actual real-time commentary on...