MLS Rookies on Opening Day

16 rookies played in their team's opening game this season. How does that compare to years past? By Year Start Sub Total 1996 4 5 9 1997 3 3 6 1998 7 3 10 1999 3 2 5 2000 6 4 10 2001 7 2 9 2002 2 3 5 2003 6 3 9 2004 2 4 6 2005 7 9 16 2006 9 6 15 2007 8 5 13 2008 6 9 15 2009 9 7 16 2010 7 9 16 Totals 86 74 160 By Team (all time) Start Sub Total CHI 2 8 10 CHV 5 4 9 CLB 3 12 15 COL 10 3 13 DAL 0 4 4 DC 7 6 13 HOU 0 1 1 KC 8 5 13 LA 7 9 16 MIA 2 0 2 NE 10 7 17 NY 14 5 19 PHI 2 2 4 RSL 1 4 5 SEA 0 1 1 SJ 6 3 9 TB 5 1 6 TOR 4 0 4 Philadelphia had four rookies see action this season. Only two other teams have done that: CHV 2006 and COL 2000. Dallas has never had a rookie start on opening day in 15 years of existence. Under Steve Nicol, New England has seen a rookie play on opening day for every season. That's eight straight years, 2003-10. The second longest streak is tied by several teams at six years: CLB 2004-09, COL 2000-05, KC 2005-10, and LA 2005-10. Only four teams have started three rookies in the first game: COL 2000, NY 2003, CHV 2006, and NE 2007. I'll be interested to see if Bob Bradley can do it for a third straight time with a new team if (when) he comes back to MLS. The odds are that the 2010 Rookie of the Year played this past weekend. In 14 previous seasons, the winner played on opening day 10 times (28/42 nominees). The winners who didn't? Carlos Bocanegra, Rodrigo Faria, Maurice Edu, and Sean Franklin. All had played by the team's 5th team. In fact, no player since Santino Quaranta in 2001 has debuted later than his team's third game and managed to be a ROTY finalist. Opening Day Rookie List Note: For the early years, it's possible that I may have overlooked a player or two. Please inform me of any mistakes. I know Cesar Delgado (1999) may have been a rookie, but I don't have concrete information on that. Mike Duhaney (1997) wasn't technically a rookie, as he was on the roster without playing the previous year due to injury. But since he somehow was eligible and won the ROTY award, he's counted below. Also, I'm missing the time for Aleskey Korol's substitution in the first game of 2000 (and the other subs in that game - CHI vs DAL). I could figure them out by taking the total minutes played for the season and going through every game and subtracting...maybe later. 2010 Team Player Role Min COL Ross LaBauex sub 13 DAL Eric Alexander sub 35 DC Andy Najar start 45 KC Korede Aiyegbusi sub 10 KC Teal Bunbury sub 23 LA Michael Stevens sub 10 NE Seth Sinovic start 90 NE Zach Schilawski start 90 NE Zak Boggs sub 32 NY Tim Ream start 90 NY Toni Tchani sub 1 PHI Amobi Okugo sub 19 PHI Danny Mwanga start 45 PHI Jack McInerney sub 12 PHI Toni Stahl start 40 SJ Ike Opara start 90 2009 Team Player Role Min CHV Michael Lahoud sub 36 CLB Alex Grendi sub 45 DC Chris Pontius start 90 DC Rodney Wallace start 90 KC Graham Zusi start 62 LA A.J. DeLaGarza start 90 LA Omar Gonzalez start 90 LA Kyle Patterson sub 10 NE Darrius Barnes start 90 NE Kevin Alston start 89 NY Jeremy Hall sub 56 RSL Jean Alexandre sub 2 RSL Raphael Cox sub 7 SEA Steve Zakuani sub 22 SJ Quincy Amarikwa sub 33 TOR Stefan Frei start 90 TOR Sam Cronin start 90 2008 Team Player Role Min CHI Stephen King sub 36 CHV Justin Braun sub 17 CLB Andy Iro sub 1 COL Cieran O'Brien sub 19 DC Dan Stratford sub 8 HOU Geoff Cameron sub 4 KC Jon Leathers start 90 LA Ely Allen start 45 LA Michael Gavin start 67 LA Brandon McDonald sub 45 NE Kheli Dube sub 9 NY Danleigh Borman sub 45 NY Luke Sassano start 90 SJ Shea Salinas start 57 TOR Brian Edwards start 90 2007 Team Player Role Min CHV John Cunliffe sub 5 CLB Brad Evans sub 2 KC Michael Harrington start 90 KC Kurt Morsink sub 2 KC Aaron Hohlbein start 90 LA Robbie Findley sub 30 LA Ty Harden start 90 NE Adam Cristman start 71 NE Gary Flood start 80 NE Wells Thompson start 90 NY Dane Richards start 84 NY Sinisa Ubiparipovic sub 6 TOR Andrew Boyens start 90 2006 Team Player Role Min CHI Calen Carr sub 11 CHI Floyd Franks sub 1 CHV Lawson Vaughn start 90 CHV Jonathan Bornstein start 90 CHV Sacha Kljestan start 90 CHV Drew Helm sub 2 CLB Brandon Moss start 90 CLB Jason Garey sub 18 CLB Kei Kamara start 90 KC Matt Groenwald start 90 LA Nathan Sturgis start 71 NE Kyle Brown sub 7 NY Marvell Wynne start 90 RSL Mehdi Ballouchy start 73 RSL Ryan Johnson sub 17 2005 Team Player Role Min CHI Chris Rolfe sub 24 CHI Chad Barrett sub 10 CHV Brad Guzan start 90 CHV Aaron Lopez start 74 CLB Ryan Kelly sub 3 CLB Domenic Mediate sub 13 CLB Knox Cameron sub 2 COL Hunter Freeman start 90 COL Guy Melamed start 90 DC Bobby Boswell start 90 KC Scott Sealy sub 9 LA Mubariki Chisoni sub 45 NE Michael Parkhurst start 90 NE James Riley sub 34 RSL Luke Kreamalmeyer sub 18 SJ Danny O'Rourke start 90 2004 Team Player Role Min CLB Jamal Sutton sub 5 COL Gary Sullivan start 90 DC Freddy Adu sub 29 DC Josh Gros sub 5 NE Clint Dempsey sub 6 NY Jeff Parke start 90 2003 Team Player Role Min CHI Nate Jaqua sub 2 CHI Damani Ralph sub 15 COL Matt Crawford start 45 COL Casey Schmidt start 90 NE Pat Noonan sub 8 NY Jacob LeBlanc start 90 NY Ricardo Clark start 90 NY Mike Magee start 90 SJ Todd Dunivant start 90 2002 Team Player Role Min CHI Kelly Gray sub 15 CLB Kyle Martino sub 3 COL Jeff Stewart start 100 LA Gavin Glinton sub 2 NY Sam Forko start 90 2001 Team Player Role Min CLB Edson Buddle start 72 COL Stephen Herdsman start 74 DC Craig Ziadie start 90 DC Ryan Nelsen start 90 DC Mark Lisi sub 10 LA Brian Ching start 45 TB Craig Demmin start 90 TB Ali Curtis start 84 TB Devin Barclay sub 6 2000 Team Player Role Min CLB Dominic Schell sub 3 COL Adin Brown start 90 COL Lance Key start 90 COL Alan Woods sub 5 COL Jeff DiMaria start 85 DAL Aleksey Korol sub ?? DC Bobby Convey sub 15 KC Nick Garcia start 90 NE Rusty Pierce start 100 NY Steve Shak start 90 1999 Team Player Role Min DAL Paul Broome sub 25 MIA Jay Heaps start 90 SJ Richard Mulrooney sub 6 SJ Jamie Clark start 90 SJ Scott Bower start 84 1998 Team Player Role Min CHI Ritchie Kotschau start 90 CHI Tony Kuhn start 74 DC Carey Talley start 45 DC Ben Olsen sub 45 KC Chris Klein start 88 LA Clint Mathis sub 36 LA Joe Franchino sub 17 MIA Leo Cullen start 90 NE Johnny Torres start 86 TB Josh Keller start 45 1997 Team Player Role Min DAL Temoc Suarez sub 29 LA Steve Jolley sub 45 NE Steve Klein sub 1 NY Andrew Lewis start 90 NY Carlos Parra start 90 TB Mike Duhaney start 90 1996 Team Player Role Min CLB Mac Cozier sub 12 CLB Brian Maisonneuve sub 18 KC Matt McKeon start 90 KC Diego Gutierrez sub 7 NY Miles Joseph sub 32 NY Damian Silvera start 90 NY A.J. Wood start 65 SJ Eddie Lewis sub 1 TB Steve Ralston start 90