Ready or not, here 2026 comes
photo: sjearthquakes.com
Josh: Welcome back! After recovering from yet another rough finish to the season, the Earthquakes are a few preseason scrimmages in, and Coachella Valley is already in progress.
Matt: Coachella is looking pretty good from my seat in snow-covered New England. That being said, we need the snow and it will hopefully go a long way to refilling the reservoirs. The groundhog said six more weeks of winter, so I’ll try to focus on the silver lining.
Josh: We’re also expecting more winter, in the way that we can always use a little more rain. Tricky to forecast the 2026 MLS season for our Blue & Black with many roster moves, tragic mismanagement (according to rumors), and who even knows what’s coming with about two weeks until the season kicks off.
Matt: The biggest move, or lack of a move, if you will (because according to Rush, if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice), is Mr. Espinoza. On social, it sounded like the club mistakenly let his club option expire, making him a free agent. Maybe that’s just a line. Either way, he was looking for a new home and found it in Nashville. I was hoping probably beyond hope that he’d come to Gillette, but it was not to be.
Josh: I heard the same thing. Of course, Earthquakes fans will be reluctantly happy to see Espinoza shine wherever, and we can be thankful he moved to the Eastern Conference. For a guy who deserves consistent post-season appearances, and runs at the MLS Cup, I guess Nashville SC’s roster alongside Hany Mukhtar will have to be where that happens.
Matt: And Surridge, don’t forget about him. Nashville has a potent attack, and Espinoza’s ball movement and forward energy will fit in nicely. But don’t worry, when Nashville comes to Gillette in May I’ll say hi to him for you, if he’s not too busy catching up with Jackson and Tanner.
Josh: We’ve already mentioned Josef’s one-year contract expiring, and my hope for SJ27 Hernán López, and now Chicho Arango is on loan in Colombia, even after the celebration of his new contract. So if I look at the starting lineup from San Jose’s 2025 season, over half are wearing other jerseys. San Jose has said “see ya” to Josef, Chicho, Espinoza, Oscar Verhoeven, Bruno Wilson, Rodrigues, Chance Cowell, and Cruz Medina. And after hitting my seat-partner-for-life in the face at Gillette, Nick Lima has retired from professional soccer.
Matt: Big changes. I’m okay with the direction those changes indicate. It looks to me like Bruce saw the current model as not working, and this was the time to make those changes. At the beginning of the 2025 season I thought maybe Bruce had pulled something off while people weren’t looking, but after going 2-0 there wasn’t that much to be excited about in terms of results. That all being said, it’s hard to say goodbye to players who have represented the team well, and this offseason was no exception.
Josh: It seems he’s focusing on younger talent and pulling from the strong systems at the Academy & Quakes II. As the only active DP on the roster, there’s a lot for the highly-celebrated newcomer Timo Werner to carry. The Quakes roster online lists him, Ousseni Bouda, Preston Judd, and Benji Kikanovic as their Forwards. But what about the back line, you say? Hope Romney, Jones, and Munie have been training hard. And if I remember correctly, Paul Marie should be back from his loan!
Matt: Yes, Paul Marie is back from his loan, and I think you’re correctly pointing out that Bruce seems locked into this defensive core for now. And they are solid. Dejuan Jones is still underrated in my book, and maybe this is the year he sheds that.
Josh: A full season with Jones and Ricketts in place with the fullback crew will make a difference. But I guess nothing is final until Season kick-off. The Club compliance day is the 20th, right before. So we’ll see what shakes out - maybe a second Designated Player? Please?
How about some Kit Talk? The Headliner Kit will be in its 2nd season, but have you heard anything about 2026’s debut, as we say farewell to the 50th kit?
Matt: I’ve seen the leak of the new away kits with blue and blurple spiral tie dye, and I think it could be pretty cool. Seeing a kit in person always clinches my opinion, because for me the fabric texture and patterns often make the difference between kits that cross the finish line or ones that are stuck running laps with the almosts. And this one received a moderately strong thumbs up from my local kit expert.
Josh: I’m hoping I can be at the 2026 jersey reveal event on the afternoon of the 14th, so I’ll get to see it in person. And it would be a cool thing if we see tie dye on the Bay Area professional sporting stage in a season San Jose is celebrating The Grateful Dead, and the world had to say goodbye to Bob Weir.
Matt: Such a long, long, time to be gone, and a short time to be there.
Josh: But truly the worst Earthquakes news of the season is that New England isn’t coming to San Jose in response to last season’s road trip to Foxboro. We will get to see some Eastern Conference matchups: Atlanta, Nashville, Philadelphia, Toronto, Cincinnati, and St Louis, but no Both Coasts matchup for 2026.
Matt: Very disappointing. Maybe it’s a result of short attention span theater, or maybe the 0-0 low-energy match that happened at Gillette last year. But I for one am disappointed. For now, you’ll have to settle for seeing Brandon Bye in a Timbers jersey at PayPal Park; another good one who got away from the Revs. My impression is he wanted to stay, but couldn’t come to an agreement with the FO.
Josh: No predictions, no idea what we’re going to see, but we’ll be on Do Not Disturb on the 21st and 28th for two season kickoff matchups in San Jose against Kansas City and Atlanta, respectively. See you at Grateful Dead night?
Matt: My crystal ball is still very cloudy, but with the loss of 32 goal contributions (Espinoza and Martínez), things definitely feel up in the air. Timo will bring fresh energy to the team and a hunger to prove his career isn’t in sunset mode, but I don’t know what that will look like in terms of results and team identity. The scrappy Goonies identity can be fun to watch, but less so from near the bottom of the standings. Time will tell.
Josh: With a big stretch, some deep breaths, here goes the 2026 season! Vamos SJ!