So, does Messi’s dominance say more about the state of MLS or the man himself? Both sides have merit, of course. MLS is, quite obviously, not equal to the top levels of European soccer. Elite teams across the pond have more history, bigger budgets and, most importantly, better players. MLS, by comparison, is still in its relative infancy, and still has so much catching up to do.

For many, Messi’s early-season explosion is less about him and more about those in his way. MLS, as a league, isn’t up to his level. He’s averaging three goal contributions per start, for goodness sake. What Messi is doing is dominance personified.

“It is clear he is the story,” tweeted ex-USMNT star Alexi Lalas. “On the other hand, he is letting to world know how poor quality our league is. The league should also pay high quality players for teams to compete against him.”

Even so, is it really that unexpected? We all knew that the biggest challenges Messi would face would be unique to MLS: the travel, the physicality, the turf, etc. On the field, it’s not some hot take to say that Messi would be in a different stratosphere than every other player in MLS .

That’s been the case wherever Messi has been, though. His run in MLS isn’t the first time he’s lit up all in his path.

Messi has never had a better running mate than Suarez. If Messi was created in a lab to dominate this sport, Suarez was created right next to him to ensure it would be just a little bit easier. The Uruguayan is the ultimate sidekick, the player best positioned to take advantage and elevate Messi’s brilliance.

As a result, Suarez has had a front-row seat for some of Messi’s brightest moments, and its one he now has in Miami. As such, Suarez is perhaps the best person in the world to remind everyone that what Messi is doing in MLS isn’t unique; he’s been doing things like this all along.

“What we saw is surprising because it hasn’t been seen before in our sport,” Suarez said, “but as a teammate and knowing Leo, nothing surprises me because that’s the quality player he is.”

Suarez’s point was echoed by Inter Miami coach Tata Martino, who has also had a very good view of some of Messi’s top moments, given this is Martino’s third time coaching the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner. In Martino’s eyes, Messi frequently does things that the world has never seen, but he does them so frequently that it has become expected.

“Messi had exceptional games in Barcelona, during my time with him,” Martino recalled. “But I also remember a semifinal with Paraguay in the Copa America in Chile, where he didn’t score a goal and he was still the best player on the field. In Barcelona, he had a game against Valencia where we were losing 2-0 and then won 3-2 with three goals from him. And there was another against Sevilla where we were losing 1-0 and then he scored three goals and we won 4-1.

“I always say this, and it’s redundant at this point, but he always does something new. To have involvement in all six goals of a team’s 6-2 is something that will be difficult to see again.”

Statistically, yes, Messi is on pace to put up insane numbers. If he continues on this path – and he likely won’t given the schedule ahead – his tallies would be unheard of. Right now, he’s technically on pace for 28 goals and 34 assists by the time the MLS season is over, although it has to be said that he’s a few short of where he could be due to his injury.

That would be one hell of an effort, but it’s still nothing compared to the numbers he was putting up at Barcelona. In his historic 2011-12 season, he dropped 82 goals and 34 assists in 69 games. In 2014-15, he had 62 and 32. There was a run between 2008 and 2019 where he scored 40 goals every season while never having fewer than 12 assists.

Breaking it down further, Messi is on pace to contribute to 1.8 goals per game. He put up 1.7 combined goals and assists per game during that 2011-12 season. Even during his final season with Paris Saint-Germain, admittedly one of his worst, Messi contributed to 32 goals in as many games, which is still a number almost any other player in the world would kill for.

Are Messi’s goal contributions unheard of by MLS standards? Yes. He’s putting every player in the league’s history on notice as he marches down their records. Many will probably fall this season; a few already have.

However, are Messi’s goal contributions unheard of by his own standards? Absolutely not. He’s been doing this all along in leagues and competitions that were much tougher than MLS.

So was La Liga a ‘farmer’s league’ when Messi was dominating? Were other clubs exposed when Messi was running rampant at the highest levels? Does being dominated by Messi take anything away from those on the other side? History tells us that the answer is ‘no’.

It doesn’t seem that anything on the field can slow Messi down, but there are off-field factors that will surely take their toll. The upcoming Copa America is one, as Messi is expected to miss up to five regular-season games while away on Argentina duty. Given his injury history, it’s also a safe bet that Messi will need some rest at some point this season, particularly if Miami continues to run away with things atop the table as the playoffs draw near.

Still, when Messi is on the field, it has been made abundantly clear that there isn’t a team in the league that can do anything to slow him down. The team he just destroyed, the New York Red Bulls, beat Inter Miami 4-0 just a few short weeks ago when Messi wasn’t in the lineup. His return, of course, made a pretty big difference.

He’ll continue to do that this season. Messi will almost certainly continue to score goal after goal, and when he’s finished, he’ll set up a few, too. So instead of analyzing what each of those goals says about MLS, how about enjoying Messi’s brilliance while you still can?