MLS Power Rankings: Nashville stays on top, Miami bounces back

It's Monday, another weekend of action is in the books, which means it's time for the latest edition of ESPN's MLS Power Rankings. Which team looks the strongest coming down the stretch? Who's going to suffer in the dog days of summer? Our writers studied the action from across Matchday 22 to come up with this week's order. Let's dive in. 1. Nashville SC Previous ranking: 1 A week after setting history (most points in a single MLS season) with a close win over Columbus, Nashville walloped the other Ohio side, FC Cincinnati, 4-0. Cincinnati had more opportunities than the scoreline shows, but Brian Schwake came up big with six saves to keep the clean sheet. 2. Vancouver Whitecaps Previous ranking: 2 After beating Sporting Kansas City 3-0, Vancouver has two straight clean sheets with games featuring three or more goals. Thomas Müller scored one of those goals and notched an assist in the win, officially moving past Sebastian Berhalter -- who left the club for Middlesbrough this summer -- in the goal charts. 3. Inter Miami CF Previous ranking: 3 Lionel Messi helped the Herons win easily against Montréal, scoring four goals in a 7-1 thriller that culminated in a beautiful free kick goal to put himself in the lead of the Golden Boot race. After a brief lull post-World Cup, that's three straight games with goals from Miami's No. 10. 4. Chicago Fire Previous ranking: 5 The Fire fired off 20 shots, and outpaced Seattle 11 to three on target, but there's only so much you can do when goalkeeper Andrew Thomas makes nine saves. After settling for a 2-2 draw with the Sounders, Chicago are still five games undefeated in the MLS regular season, despite losing in Leagues Cup midweek. 5. LAFC Previous ranking: 4 LAFC may have taken 19 shots, but they managed to get just one on target in a 0-0 draw against D.C. United. At the other end, Hugo Lloris made four saves to collect his 11th clean sheet of the season, the most of any player in MLS (LAFC has the most of any team with 12). 6. FC Cincinnati Previous ranking: 6 Most of Cincinnati's chances came late in a lopsided game, but they produced enough to deserve more than a 4-0 loss to Nashville. The defeat broke a four-game undefeated streak, but hey, there are worse teams to lose to than first-place Nashville. 7. St. Louis City SC Previous ranking: 9 St. Louis are undefeated in 12 games in MLS after drawing Dallas 3-3. They'll regret dropping the points with two goals conceded after the 81st minute, but they're still a team with some of the hottest form in the league after drawing the Toros. 8. New England Revolution Previous ranking: 11 While playing a team with one of the worst forms in the league, the Revs rose to the occasion with a 3-1 win against the Crew. With a lovely lofted goal toward the end, Carles Gil stretched his goal tally to eight with his first since Aug. 1. 9. New York City FC Previous ranking: 8 The Pigeons haven't won a game outside of Leagues Cup since July 25, but have two straight 1-1 draws after Saturday's contest against Toronto. Matt Freese did his part with five saves, while Nico Fernández set things off with his 14th goal of the year. 10. Houston Dynamo Previous ranking: 10 Jonathan Bond came up big in a 0-0 draw against San Jose, making four saves to collect his 10th clean sheet of the season -- tied for second-most in the league. After snapping their undefeated run last week, a 0-0 draw will do as they prepare for Charlotte. 11. Minnesota United Previous ranking: 12 Minnesota crawled back from a 2-0 deficit and, despite taking a brief lead after scoring three goals in six minutes, settled for a 3-3 draw with Orlando. They deserved more in the final third, but Maxime Crépeau's six saves stood in the way. 12. Real Salt Lake Previous ranking: 7 After losing 1-0 to Colorado, RSL is winless in eight games in the regular season and have four straight defeats across all competitions. With just 36% possession (compared to their season-long average of 49) and zero shots on target, Salt Lake are looking a bit lost ahead of a meeting with LAFC next week. 13. Charlotte FC Previous ranking: 13 Two first-half goals were all it took to collect three points in a 2-0 win against Atlanta as Charlotte goes four games undefeated in the regular season, and makes it four wins in four games in Atlanta. 14. FC Dallas Previous ranking: 14 Dallas clawed their way back to a 3-3 draw against St. Louis, who are just below them in the Western Conference and tied on points, thanks to some late-game magic. That includes two goals after the 81st minute and a 97th-minute equalizer from Logan Farrington set up by Petar Musa. 15. San Diego FC Previous ranking: 16 San Diego welcomed Hirving Lozano to his former home ground with a smattering of boos. Lozano scored, but with the help of CJ dos Santos' six saves, San Diego came away with a 3-1 win to mark their second-straight victory with three goals. 16. Orlando City Previous ranking: 17 In a respectable 3-3 draw against Minnesota, Daryl Dike made his first start since returning to his former club and scored his first goal. They conceded four goals in four minutes and fumbled the early lead. But with a first goal from Dike and Antoine Griezmann's third goal in two games (fourth of the season) plus a beautiful late assist, the future looks hopeful for ninth-place Orlando. 17. Philadelphia Union Previous ranking: 18 The Union resurgence continued where it began: with another victory at Sports Illustrated Stadium. In their first game back since beating the Red Bulls there on July 22, Philly beat them 3-1 to bring them to seven games undefeated (five games, two draws) as they continue to battle their way into the playoff spots. Cavan Sullivan's third goal of the year brings him to 10 goal contributions this season, level with Freddy Adu for an MLS record for players aged 16 or younger in the league. 18. San Jose Earthquakes Previous ranking: 15 After four straight defeats, a 0-0 draw against Houston is a respectable result for a team with tumbling form. With Timo Werner added to a lengthening injury list for the game, the result is even more impressive. 19. Red Bull New York Previous ranking: 19 Despite delivering a draw against Chicago, RBNY are in a four-game slump (three defeats, one draw) after losing 3-1 to Philadelphia. They missed some chances (including a big one from Julian Hall) and Andre Blake stopped the rest, and will need to recover on a tough four-game road schedule ahead. 20. LA Galaxy Previous ranking: 20 Lozano scored his first goal for the Galaxy in his fourth appearance while playing his former club. But that wasn't enough in a 3-1 loss to San Diego. Dos Santos parried away six shots on target in an otherwise even contest. 21. Seattle Sounders Previous ranking: 21 After an eight-game losing streak, Seattle has two straight draws after tying Chicago 2-2. While Thomas had a masterclass in goal with nine saves, Dejan Joveljic opened his account with two goals in his debut for his new team, after signing from Kansas City last week. Things are looking up. 22. Toronto FC Previous ranking: 22 Dániel Sallói's sixth goal of the season came in a 1-1 draw with NYCFC, which brings Toronto to five games undefeated as they finish the weekend just one spot short of the playoff wildcard spots. 23. Portland Timbers Previous ranking: 23 Portland were a bit unlucky at home, as they required a late penalty to break through in a 1-2 defeat to Austin, despite coming out with higher quality opportunities overall. They have two tough games at home (Minnesota and St. Louis) to recover. 24. D.C. United Previous ranking: 26 D.C.'s 0-0 draw with LAFC was their 10th draw of the season, putting them level with Toronto for most draws in the league. After two straight defeats in the previous weeks, a 0-0 draw is a valiant feat. 25. Austin FC Previous ranking: 27 Austin absconded with all three points in Portland after beating the Timbers 2-1 with a dramatic 93rd-minute goal from Oleksandr Svatok, the first of the season for the Ukrainian defender. 26. Colorado Rapids Previous ranking: 24 Right-back Reggie Cannon's second goal of the year was enough to secure three points in a 1-0 win against RSL. They weren't as clinical as they could have been with the opportunities they produced, but they made it count. 27. Columbus Crew Previous ranking: 25 After a brief interlude in Leagues Cup (they lost to Club América in the quarterfinal last week), Columbus picked back up with their losing streak in the regular season, stretching it to four straight defeats after losing 3-1 to New England. 28. Atlanta United Previous ranking: 29 Atlanta's three-game winning streak came to a halt against Charlotte. They had a smattering of solid chances, but none broke through, while Charlotte's early goals proved too much to come back from. 29. CF Montréal Previous ranking: 28 Montréal's four-game undefeated run (one win, three draws) came to a roaring halt with a 7-1 collapse against Inter Miami, their first loss since losing to... well, Miami. 30. Sporting Kansas City Previous ranking: 30 SKC has managed the fewest shots on target across all of MLS this season. With their top scorer Joveljic gone (and despite the debut of their big new signing André Luiz in the second half), they kept the streak alive with zero in a 0-3 loss to Vancouver.