If April showers bring May flowers, the 2026 NWSL season is blooming into a garden of beautiful chaos. The schedule has settled into that sweet spot of unpredictability, and with it comes seismic power shifts. If you've watched a struggling club topple a top-ranked team lately, you're not imagining things—this is the NWSL at its finest.
Welcome back to the weekly NWSL Power Rankings, where the only constant is change. With a quarter of the season now in the books, it's still early enough for teams to make bold statements. And nobody is shouting louder than Boston Legacy heading into matchweek eight.
Boston, haunted early by the demons that chase most expansion sides in year one, has flipped the script. They're not just stringing together wins—they're doing it in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion. The roster is quickly building a reputation for pure physicality. They lead the league in fouls committed (145) and tackles made (206), and they've earned the honor of not getting bumped back down in my rankings.
Over in the nation's capital, the Washington Spirit are proving why they're considered among the most powerful teams this year. Their deep roster is on full display, and they've even added a new good luck charm: Jose the Coyote, who's catching eyes and bringing good vibes. If last week I said Utah Royals' midfield was emerging as one of the best, it's hard to ignore who is now the flat-out top unit. That honor belongs to Washington's trio of Rebeca Bernal, Leicy Santos, and Hal Hershfelt. And with head coach Adrian Gonzalez working midfield reinforcements like Andi Sullivan and eventually Deb Abiodun back into form, that's a trove of riches that keeps on giving.
Teams built for the long haul need to handle games in all sorts of ways—blowouts, tight contests, flashy or ugly results. The Spirit are managing them all, and they're flying high while doing it.
Not every team can say the same. Scoring woes continue to plague Seattle Reign, Chicago Stars, and Bay FC. Chicago, in particular, looks as lost as ever despite a new head coach and fresh roster additions. The ball isn't going in the back of the net, and somehow, the defensive side isn't helping either. For the Stars, the light at the end of the tunnel seems dimmer with each passing week.