Award season is upon us.
MLS released the ballots for its year-end awards this week. And as you probably guessed, with LAFC currently tied for the most points ever by an expansion team in its first season, there's a lot of Black & Gold on the list.
Diego Rossi and Carlos Vela are up for two awards each - Newcomer of the Year and MLS MVP. While Tyler Miller is a candidate for Goalkeeper of the Year for his work on the field and Humanitarian of the Year for everything he's done off the pitch.
Also nominated for awards are LAFC's two first-round draft picks. João Moutinho and Tristan Blackmon are in the hunt for the MLS Rookie of the Year award. And staying with the LAFC backline, Walker Zimmerman and Steven Beitashour are in the running for the MLS Defender of the Year.
Below is the full list of nominees:
2018 Landon Donovan MLS MVP nominees
Acosta, Luciano (DC)
Almiron, Miguel (ATL)
Bedoya, Alejandro (PHI)
Blanco, Sebastian (POR)
Bunbury, Teal (NE)
Chara, Diego (POR)
Davies, Alphonso (VAN)
Dockal, Borek (PHI)
Dwyer, Dom (ORL)
Elis, Alberth (HOU)
Giovinco, Sebastian (TOR)
Hedges, Matt (DAL)
Higuain, Federico (CLB)
Hoesen, Danny (SJ)
Ibarra, Miguel (MIN)
Ibrahimovic, Zlatan (LA)
Kaku (RBNY)
Kamara, Kei (VAN)
Lodeiro, Nicolás (SEA)
Manotas, Mauro (HOU)
Martinez, Josef (ATL)
Melia, Tim (SKC)
Moralez, Maxi (NYC)
Osorio, Jonathan (TOR)
Penilla, Cristian (NE)
Piatti, Ignacio (MTL)
Piette, Samuel (MTL)
Quintero, Darwin (MIN)
Roldan, Cristian (SEA)
Rooney, Wayne (DC)
Rossi, Diego (LAFC)
Rusnak, Albert (RSL)
Russell, Johnny (SKC)
Savarino, Jefferson (RSL)
Urruti, Maxi (DAL)
Vako (SJ)
Vela, Carlos (LAFC)
Villa, David (NYC)
Wright-Phillips, Bradley (RBNY)
Yotun, Yoshimar (ORL)
Zardes, Gyasi (CLB)
Defender of the Year nominees
Afful, Harrison (CLB)
Anibaba, Jalil (NE)
Beasley, DaMarcus (HOU)
Beitashour, Steven (LAFC)
Besler, Matt (SKC)
Birnbaum, Steven (DC)
Boxall, Michael (MIN)
Callens, Alexander (NYC)
Cannon, Reggie (DAL)
Fanni, Rod (MTL)
Farrell, Andrew (NE)
Glad, Justen (RSL)
Gonzalez Pirez, Leandro (ATL)
Hedges, Matt (DAL)
Kallman, Brent (MIN)
Kashia, Guram (SJ)
Lawrence, Kemar (RBNY)
Lima, Nick (SJ)
Long, Aaron (RBNY)
Lovitz, Daniel (MTL)
Mabiala, Larrys (POR)
Marshall, Chad (SEA)
Mavinga, Chris (TOR)
Mensah, Jonathan (CLB)
O'Neill, Shane (ORL)
Parkhurst, Michael (ATL)
Sutter, Scott (ORL)
Tinnerholm, Anton (NYC)
Trusty, Auston (PHI)
van der Wiel , Gregory (TOR)
Waston, Kendall (VAN)
Zimmerman, Walker (LAFC)
Zusi, Graham (SKC)
Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year
Attinella, Jeff (POR)
Bendik, Joe (ORL)
Bingham, David (LA)
Blake, Andre (PHI)
Bono, Alex (TOR)
Bush, Evan (MTL)
Frei, Stefan (SEA)
Gonzalez, Jesse (DAL)
Guzan, Brad (ATL)
Hamid, Bill (DC)
Johnson, Sean (NYC)
Marinovic, Stefan (VAN)
Melia, Tim (SKC)
Miller, Tyler (LAFC)
Rimando, Nick (RSL)
Robles, Luis (RBNY)
Shuttleworth, Bobby (MIN)
Steffen, Zack (CLB)
Tarbell, Andrew (SJ)
Turner, Matt (NE)
Willis, Joe (HOU)
Newcomer of the Year nominees
Armenteros, Samuel (POR)
Auro Jr. (TOR)
Barco, Ezequiel (ATL)
Burke, Cory (PHI)
Caicedo, Luis (NE)
Colman, Josue (ORL)
Dockal, Bořek (PHI)
Eriksson, Magnus (SJ)
Gutiérrez, Felipe (SKC)
Ibrahimovic, Zlatan (LA)
Janson, Lucas (TOR)
Kaku (RBNY)
Kashia, Guram (SJ)
Katai, Aleksandar (CHI)
Kee-hee, Kim (SEA)
Kreilach, Damir (RSL)
Medina, Jesus (NYC)
Mosquera, Santiago (DAL)
Penilla, Cristian (NE)
Polo, Andy (POR)
Price, Jack (COL)
Quintero, Darwin (MIN)
Remedi, Eric (ATL)
Rooney, Wayne (DC)
Rossi, Diego (LAFC)
Ruidiaz, Raul (SEA)
Russell, Johnny (SKC)
Sagna, Bacary (MTL)
Silva, Alejandro (MTL)
Sosa, Eduardo (CLB)
Tajouri-Shradi, Ismael (NYC)
Valenzuela, Milton (CLB)
Vela, Carlos (LAFC)
Ziegler, Reto (DAL)
MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year nominees
Atuahene, Francis (DAL)
Beaulieu, Jason (MTL)
Beckerman, Kyle (RSL)
Bersano, Matt (SJ)
Birnbaum, Steven (DC)
Bradley, Michael (TOR)
Campbell, Jonathan (CHI)
Farrell, Andrew (NE)
Frei, Stefan (SEA)
Gaddis, Raymon (PHI)
Guzan, Brad (ATL)
Henry, Doneil (VAN)
Johnson, Sean (NYC)
Lampson, Matt (MIN)
Lletget, Sebastian (LA)
MacMath, Zac (COL)
Miller, Tyler (LAFC)
Robles, Luis (NY)
Rosell, Oriol (ORL)
Trapp, Wil (CLB)
Valentin, Zarek (POR)
Willis, Joe (HOU)
Zusi, Graham (SKC)
AT&T Rookie of the Year
Argudo, Luis (CLB)
Baird, Corey (RSL)
Blackmon, Tristan (LAFC)
Bwana, Handwalla (SEA)
Bye, Brandon (NE)
Krolicki, Ken (MTL)
Lindsey, Jaylin (SKC)
Marcinkowski, JT (SJ)
McKenzie, Mark (PHI)
Mines, Ben (RBNY)
Moutinho, Joao (LAFC)
Mueller, Chris (ORL)
Opoku, Edward (CLB)
Roldan, Alex (SEA)
White, Brian (RBNY)
Comeback Player of the Year nominees
Alonso, Osvaldo (SEA)
Cummings, Harold (SJ)
de Leeuw, Michael (CHI)
Gutierrez, Felipe (SKC)
Henry, Doneil (VAN)
Ibrahimovic, Zlatan (LA)
Levis, Brett (VAN)
Lima, Nick (SJ)
Matarrita, Ronald (NYC)
Mihailovic, Djordje (CHI)
Osorio, Jonathan (TOR)
Rubio, Diego (SKC)
Sauro, Gaston (CLB)
Stajduhar, Mason (ORL)
Zardes, Gyasi (CLB)
Voting for the awards are players, media, and the technical staff of MLS. Award finalists will be announced on October 31.
