Forget one of the best. How about the best?
It’s official: Nashville SC is the most dominant team in MLS regular-season history.
The Boys in Gold headed to TQL Stadium Saturday afternoon with a clear goal. Should they secure at least a point, they’d seize the league’s regular-season record, six days after they tied Inter Miami’s previous record of 74 and 14 after they secured the Supporters' Shield title. It wasn’t the most offensively fluid game Nashville played all year nor its most comfortable. But as they so often have in 2026, the Boys in Gold made their opportunities count to secure their historic 2-0 win against FC Cincinnati, sending them into the postseason with substantial league history behind them and an eye on more.
The Athletic’s Tom Bogert wrote after Nashville’s stoppage-time winner against Red Bull New York a week prior that this team was “inevitable.” It proved that again on Saturday.
The Boys in Gold were frustrated for much of the first half by a surprisingly strong Cincinnati defense but looked a far more dangerous outfit in the second, exploding with a series of enticing chances out of the locker room. An Andy Najar pass within 10 minutes of the restart looked like it may provide the spark: a delectable low-driven pass across goal that left Cincinnati’s entire defense stranded. No Nashville player was able to get on the end of it. But another Najar pass did find its target shortly after.
Just following the hour mark, the Honduran charged up the right flank and noticed a surging Sam Surridge in the center of the pitch. He took a touch forward then flicked his foot through the ball, curling it through the heart of Cincinnati’s reeling back line to play Surridge in one-on-one. The Englishman, as he so often has this season, made no mistake, coolly slotting it into the bottom-left corner to hand his team the lead.
He netted again on the cusp of full-time with another lethal breakaway, stamping out any potential response from the home side.
That lead was only possible because of another resolute defensive performance, however. Cincinnati boasted one of the best attacks in MLS ahead of Saturday’s match as well as two of its best forwards in Evander and Kevin Denkey, presenting a formidable test for the Boys in Gold’s back line. They were able to shut both players down in a 4-0 at GEODIS Park earlier this season, but doing so again was always going to be difficult.
Even so, there were few moments of serious danger for Nashville’s defense. The hosts accumulated eight shots and four on target throughout the first half but less than 0.5 expected goals in the process. Those figures morphed into just 14 shots worth 0.93 expected goals by full time.
Such a suffocating performance was made even more remarkable by a sizable shakeup in the center of Nashville’s back line. Defender of the Year candidate Jeisson Palacios was listed on Nashville’s prematch injury report and was replaced in kind by longtime Boy in Gold Jack Maher, serving alongside Maxwell Woledzi.
While few players in MLS can claim Palacios’ combined physicality and technique, Maher did well to step up in the Colombian’s stead. His best moment arrived as the match wound to a close as Evander eyed a free-kick from a threatening position, only for Maher to meet it with his strongly placed head.
Even with Surridge's brace, goalkeeper Brian Schwake produced perhaps the best individual performance of the afternoon, saving five shots en route to his MLS record-tying 16th shutout of the year. The American, called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team this week for the second time, has made a habit of spectacular saves at key moments. But the story of his Saturday was consistency, offering the steady set of hands between the post Nashville needed to control the match. No single stop stood above the rest, but that speaks to his assuredness and how rarely Cincinnati could seriously threaten.
The Boys in Gold, having completed the best regular season in league history, now have two weeks to rest before their postseason journey starts. They’ll play the winner of the Wild Card play-in game — between Cincinnati and Orlando — at GEODIS Park in the first game of the best-of-three opening round.
