MLS: Top 25 Goalscorers History - Through 2007

What follows is a list of the top 25 goalscorers in MLS history (regular season only) as of the end of the 2007 season. Now that is certainly interesting, but you can get a list of the all time leaders at MLSnet already. What's so exciting about that? The answer lies in the series of posts made before this, and you'll find the links below. If you read them all in order, you can see the progression of the top 25 all time goalscorers after each of the twelve MLS seasons. It seems that so many people enjoy looking at statistics and records, but they don't necessarily tell the history of how they came to be. I was inspired by this Wikipedia page on the history of the all time home run leaders in MLB. 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 Looking through those posts, you can see the rise and fall of various players. Like for example, for the first time since their debuts, Mamadou Diallo and Eduardo Hurtado have fallen off the top 25. Teams listed are those the player took the field for in 2007. Only 12 of the top 25 played in MLS during the 2007 season, so we're getting to the point where these records are going to be more set in stone. 1) Jaime Moreno, DC - 112 After 12 years, he's finally the leading scorer in league history. This comes after being in the top ten every year since 1997. Very few expect him to hold this position for long, though. But who knows, with a little bit of luck a long reign could happen. 2) Ante Razov, CHV - 109 Ante Razov is now the second leading goalscorer in MLS history. Sounds pretty crazy, huh? He's come back from a Frank Thomas-esque two down years (2004-05) to continue his successful career. It would not be surprising to see him overtake Moreno during 2008. We also could be in for a situation similar to the early years, where Roy Lassiter and Raul Diaz Arce traded the record back and forth for a couple of years. 3) Jason Kreis, RSL - 108 4) Jeff Cunningham, RSL/TOR - 96 5) Taylor Twellman, NE - 91 Twellman is the horse everyone's bet on for years, but with the off-season drama I wouldn't really count on him to break the record any more. He obviously wants to go to Europe, and that means he likely won't be sticking around long enough to reach the top. Let's say the top scorer has 130 goals after 2009. Twellman's probably not going to score 40 goals in the next two seasons, which means that he would be on pace to break the record sometime in the first half of 2010. He signed a contract extension before last season, which I believe means that 2010 is the last year of his contract. It's unlikely that MLS and the Revs would wait until the final year to sell him, plus he's already 28 and not getting younger. 6) Roy Lassiter - 88 7) Raul Diaz Arce - 82 8) Carlos Ruiz, DAL - 81 9) Preki - 79 10) Ronald Cerritos - 71 11) Cobi Jones, LA - 70 12) Landon Donovan, LA - 64 13) Brian McBride - 62 14) Mark Chung - 61 14) Steve Ralston, NE - 61 Slow and steady may not win the race, but it gets you into the top 25 and keeps you there. Ralston has been in the top 25 every single year since the league's debut. Joining him in that elite category are 8 other players (Bravo/Diaz Arce/Jones/Kreis/Lassiter/McBride/Preki/Savarese). 16) Clint Mathis, NY - 59 16) Josh Wolff - 59 18) Diego Serna - 57 19) Edson Buddle, TOR/LA - 53 20) Paul Bravo - 52 20) Dante Washington - 52 22) Wolde Harris - 51 22) Chris Henderson - 51 22) Giovanni Savarese - 51 25) Chris Klein, RSL/LA - 48 Only newcomer on the list. Falling off the list Mamadou Diallo (25th, tie) Eduardo Hurtado (25th, tie) Other Active Players 44-Ching 44-De Rosario 39-C.Gomez 36-Kovalenko 31-Wolyniec 30-A.Moreno 29-Victorine 28-Jaqua 28-Olsen 27-Ch.Brown 27-Marsch Looks like the Dynamo duo are locks to be on next year's edition. Well, Ching at least. Assuming Klein scores a couple, DeRo will need 7 to make it. Christian Gomez would have to score 12 times for the Rapids, which doesn't seem likely.