For the second consecutive season, St. Louis City SC missed the MLS Cup Playoffs.

The team started the season off hot with 2 wins & 3 draws to begin the season but immediately fell into ruts that were difficult to get out of. 

From March 15th to May 24th, the team went on an 11 game MLS winless streak, which led to the dismissal of head coach Olof Mellberg.

With interim head coach David Critchley at the helm, St. Louis was in a fix-it-now gameplan, secured a win at the end of May, but still had two more months of the season where they went winless, in June & August.

At the end of August, Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel was fired.

It’s very difficult for any team to get into a playoff spot when you undergo a coaching change & the bulk of your season you go winless.

With their roster decisions published, St. Louis City SC will have a monumental amount of roster flexibility. In the offseason guide:

The Positives

The Designated Players for St. Louis carried the majority of the offensive workload for the squad this season as João Klauss (10 goals & 3 assists) and Marcel Hartel (9 goals & 6 assists) combined for 28 goal contributions.

With the framework of Hartel & Klauss, St. Louis can use the midfielder & forward duo to build upon into the 2026 campaign. The club has solid offensive structure, but they need to build upon it.

This team has $2,603,976 in GAM (as of Sept. 15) to build toward the 2026 season. A lot of improvements can be made to this roster.

The Negatives

Going winless in April, June, & August was never going to get this team to the playoffs. It’s just that simple.

Offensively, the team scored 44 goals (6 less than last season) and were T-13th in the conference for goals scored.

Defensively, the team struggled, as they allowed 58 goals on the season (which is surprisingly better than last year where they allowed 63), but still had the 11th most goals allowed in the West.

Injuries also haunted this team. Starting goalkeeper Roman Bürki broke his hand in March that sidelined him until mid-May. Teuchert, Totland, & Kessler dealt with hamstring injuries for the majority of the season and Durkin & Baumgartl dealt with knee injuries all season.

My biggest gripe about this St. Louis City side that was constructed by Olaf Mellberg & Lutz Pfannenstiel is that it was made & operated in a European style. In MLS, that’s not going to work. It’s clear that this team is making the correct strides to fix the issues involved & can potentially get back to positive ways, however, the club needed to make changes.

Roster Flexibility

St. Louis City SC has a lot of flexibility. At the moment, the club has two designated players (Roman Bürki & Marcel Hartel) and two U-22 initiative signings (Chris Durkin & Jake Girdwood-Reich). This club can decide whether or not it wants to enter the 3DP, 3U22 player model or enter the 2DP and 4 U-22s model, which includes up to $2 million in GAM, pending which route they go.

The club announced their end-of-season roster update, where they announced most contract option decisions. The club is entering the 2026 season with 22 players rostered. 

With $2,435,816 in GAM (as of Sept. 15) to build toward the 2026 season, the club can revolutionize this roster and return back to what this team was during their inaugural season.

Offseason Priorities

The club has already been busy this offseason as they already have appointed Corey Wray as their new Sporting Director to oversee all areas of CITY’s sporting operations including roster strategy, scouting and recruitment, and player health and performance, while using his expertise in analytics and player development to create a seamless pathway from the academy to the first team. This roster will be fixed.

Wray has over 20 years of MLS experience, including working in technical roles at Toronto FC, Columbus Crew and CF Montréal.

The biggest offseason priority right now for this club is to hire a head coach.

Once that is determined, the head coach & Wray can work together in determining a roster model, finding the pieces, & constructing a solid product for St. Louis.

The next plan of action is to sign players to build around your designated players. 

Signing a forward, a center back, & some more midfielder depth will help this team drastically.