clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Week 32 Power Ranking Averages

Only 11 of 15 sites published this week, and a correction for last week's site accuracy list.

By Kreg Asay
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports


MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 32

One more site added to the dead list - MLS GB has passed 6 weeks without publishing.  For Wk 32 - 11 of the 15 sites are included below; even the 'big sites' (ESPN & SI) took a week off.

There is a correction from last week's ratings.  Jeff Sagarin's ratings have been adjusted; rather than using the "Recent" column it now reflects the overall "Rating" column which factors in all of the others numbers.  All future rankings will use that column.  Previous week's numbers can't be altered at this time since they are not available from the website.  The changes have affected the averages for most of the teams, but the overall ranking order was not affected.

This alters last week's accuracy ratings for his site as follows:

Site
 # Exact 1 off
 2 off
 3+ off
 Furthest off
Jeff Sagarin
 8
 2
 3
 7
 SJE -7


This puts Squawka as furthest off instead.

As always, if you come across any that I have not included please send me a link and I'll add it to the list for next season.

Here's a reminder of the Power Ranking "Guidelines":

"If two teams played tomorrow, given their current injury concerns, form, and other considerations, who is likely to win on a neutral field?  All things being equal, who is the best team going forward, based on what we know now?"
-Richard Farley, NBC Sports ProSoccerTalk.  3/11/14

Sites Used:

  • Major League Soccer (mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings)
  • Soccer America (socceramerica.com) *No ranking for Wk 32
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer) *No ranking for Wk 32
  • Seattle Times Blog (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz)
  • Black & Red United (blackandredunited.com)
  • Sports Illustrated (soccer.si.com) *No ranking for Wk 32
  • The Mane Land (themaneland.com)
  • Who Scored 'team rating' (whoscored.com/Regions/233/Tournaments/85/USA-Major-League-Soccer)
  • Reddit MLS subreddit (reddit/r/mls)
  • Soccer In America (soccer-in-america.com)
  • NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com) *No ranking for Wk 32
  • Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com/mls)
  • Jeff Sagarin's MLS Rankings (sagarin.com/sports/soccer.htm - overall ranking not "recent")
  • Squawka (squawka.com/football-team-rankings#performance-score#team-stats#us-major-league-soccer)
  • MLS Fantasy Boss (mlsfantasyboss.com)

Dead List - I'll check it periodically just in case they run one; their old ratings won't be removed.

  • The Sports Network (sportsnetwork.com) *No ranking since 5/19
  • Soccer Information Network (soccerinformationnetwork.com) *No ranking since 6/30
  • Soccer by Ives (sbisoccer.com/sbi-mls-power-rankings) *No ranking since Wk 25
  • MLS GB (mlsbg.com/tag/power-rankings) *No ranking since Wk 26

You may notice several 'team specific' sites used; yes they will at times be a bit more biased for/against certain teams, as such the averages use the Olympic Method of dropping the highest and lowest scores, and averaging the rest to compensate for possible bias.  Each week I'll also be listing the sites closest and furthest from average to show which are more biased than others.


Weekly Power Ranking Averages
Using the "Olympic" method of dropping the highest / lowest scores, and averaging the rest.

Wk 32 Wk 31 Wk 30 Wk 29 Team
 		W32 Avg W31 Avg W30 Avg W29 Avg Worst
 		Best
 		Range
1
 1
 2
 1
 New York RB 1.22
 1.18
 1.92
 1.00
 2
 1
 1
2
 2
 1
 4
 Los Angeles 2.00
 2.09
 1.42
 4.73
 3
 1
 2
3
 3
 4
 4
 Dallas 3.00
 3.64
 5.58
 4.73
 3
 2
 1
4
 6
 8
 8
 Kansas City 5.56
 6.36
 8.75
 7.64
 9
 3
 6
5
 5
 7
 7
 Seattle 6.44
 6.18
 6.58
 7.36
 10
 4
 6
6
 4
 5
 2
 Vancouver 6.67
 5.90
 6.42
 4.55
 15
 3
 12
7
 7
 5
 2
 Columbus 7.89
 7.00
 5.92
 3.55
 12
 4
 8
8
 8
 11
 9
 Toronto 8.44
 7.64
 9.67
 9.73
 14
 4
 10
9
 9
 3
 6
 New England 8.56
 7.91
 5.17
 5.27
 18
 5
 13
10
 10
 9
 12
 Montreal 10.44
 10.55
 9.17
 11.18
 15
 7
 8
10
 11
 12
 13
 San Jose 10.44
 11.00
 11.42
 12.00
 14
 4
 10
12
 13
 13
 11
 D. C. 11.33
 11.82
 13.75
 11.00
 17
 9
 8
13
 12
 10
 10
 Portland 12.00
 11.73
 9.50
 10.82
 15
 3
 12
14
 14
 15
 14
 Salt Lake 13.33
 13.55
 14.42
 12.09
 16
 8
 8
15
 15
 17
 16
 Orlando 14.22
 13.73
 15.08
 16.36
 20
 12
 8
16
 16
 14
 15
 New York FC 16.11
 16.09
 14.08
 15.36
 17
 9
 8
17
 17
 16
 17
 Houston 16.33
 16.18
 14.58
 16.45
 17
 11
 6
18
 18
 18
 18
 Philadelphia 18.11
 18.00
 17.42
 16.82
 20
 15
 5
19
 19
 20
 20
 Chicago 18.33
 18.91
 19.83
 19.73
 20
 12
 8
20
 20
 19
 19
 Colorado 19.67
 19.45
 18.92
 18.64
 20
 19
 1

Site Evaluations
Each site's ranking is compared to the weekly averages above.  The best and worst # of matches is indicated.  Team bias column shows what team the site shows the highest average for/against.

Site
 		# Exact
 		1 off
 		2 off
 3+ off Furthest off
 		most bias vs
 		most bias for
Major League Soccer 11
 3
 3
 3
 SJE +4
 SJE +1.96
 MON -1.44
Soccer America NA NA NA NA NA POR +1.68
 SJE -2.35
ESPN NA NA NA NA NA FCD +2.32
 NER -3.03
Seattle Times 10
 6
 2
 2
 NER -4
 SJE +1.86
 ORL -1.82
Black & Red United 6
 6
 1
 7
 SJE -6
 TFC +3.05
 SJE -3.26
Sports Illustrated NA NA NA NA NA SKC +2.69
 ORL -1.67
The Mane Land 3
 10
 2
 5
 MON +5
 MON +1.41
 LAG -1.47
Who Scored 4
 5
 3
 8
 NER +8
 NER +5.35
 NYFC -4.69
Reddit /r/MLS
 9
 9
 2
 0
 ORL -2/SJE +2
 NYFC +1.03
 CLB -1.04
Soccer In America 8
 6
 4
 2
 SKC +5
 NYFC +1.76
 NER -1.26
MLS Fantasy Boss 5
 8
 0
 7
 RSL -6/TFC +6
 TFC +4.11
 NER -3.33
Pro Soccer Talk NA NA NA NA NA SKC +2.25
 SJE -3.36
Bleacher Report
 9
 7
 1
 3
 SJE +4
 RSL +1.96
 NER -1.98
Jeff Sagarin
 6
 5
 4
 5
 SJE -6
 DCU +3.33
 SJE -4.53
Squawka
 2
 6
 2
 10
 POR -10
 NER +9.42
 POR -7.66
  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) MLS with 11 exact.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 3+ with 2 off as tiebreaker) Squawka with 10 off by 3+.
  • Furthest Off: Squawka placed POR 10 places better than average.
  • Site with Worst Bias: Squawka for placing NER an average of 9.45 places worse than average (down .03 from last week).
  • Sites with Least Bias - all with bias for/against less than 2:
    • 1st - Reddit /r/MLS
    • 2nd - The Mane Land
    • 3rd - Soccer In America
    • 4th - Major League Soccer
    • 5th - Seattle Times
    • 6th - Bleacher Report


Season Average Power Ranking

Team
 		W29
Avg		 W30
Avg		 W31
Avg		 W32
Avg
2015
(run. avg)
 2014
Avg		 2013
Avg
 		2012
Avg
Seattle Sounders 5.94
 5.96
 5.97
 5.98
 4.13
 4.04
 9.36
 4.39
FC Dallas 4.89
 4.91
 4.87
 4.81
 4.27
 7.09
 8.78
 17.17
LA Galaxy 4.74
 4.63
 4.55
 4.47
 4.70
 6.77
 5.14
 2.46
D.C. United
 4.92
 5.22
 5.43
 5.62
 4.91
 12.15
 7.29
 9.33
New York Red Bulls 5.25
 5.14
 5.01
 4.89
 5.94
 11.07 6.38 7.23
Vancouver Whitecaps 4.81
 4.86
 4.89
 4.96
 6.24
 7.40
 10.41
 7.87
Sporting Kansas City 6.11
 6.20
 6.20
 6.18
 8.03
 4.45
 4.45
 3.09
Columbus Crew SC 9.26
 9.15
 9.08
 9.04
 9.31
 8.97
 12.89
 9.46
Toronto FC 9.98
 9.97
 9.89
 9.85
 9.99
 7.47
 16.85
 10.96
New England Revolution 9.62
 9.48
 9.43
 9.40
 10.28
 11.50
 12.35
 14.84
Real Salt Lake 12.11
 12.19
 12.23
 12.27
 10.31
 2.94
 4.52
 8.40
Portland Timbers 9.51
 9.51
 9.58
 9.66
 10.90
 11.34
 5.73
 13.89
San Jose Earthquakes 11.08
 11.09
 11.09
 11.07
 11.58
 14.44
 12.34
 4.86
Orlando City 14.20
 14.23
 14.22
 14.22
 12.86
 -- -- --
Houston Dynamo 13.49
 13.53
 13.62
 13.70
 13.22
 9.48
 7.74
 6.29
New York City FC 15.37
 15.33
 15.35
 15.38
 13.75
 -- -- --
Chicago Fire 17.46
 17.54
 17.59
 17.61
 17.16
 15.61
 14.27
 13.07
Colorado Rapids 17.08
 17.14
 17.21
 17.29
 17.18
 9.66
 9.79
 10.06
Montreal Impact 16.10
 15.87
 15.70
 15.53
 17.49
 17.67
 5.32
 15.74
Philadelphia Union
 18.11
 18.09
 18.08
17.77
 11.33
 10.53
 15.70


Team High / Low
Best and worst placement for each team in weekly, avg rank total.

Team
 		Weekly
Best 		Weekly
Worst 		Best
Wk. Avg.
 		Worst
Wk. Avg.
Chicago Fire
 11
 20
 11.79 19.83
Colorado Rapids
 14
 20
 14.62
 19.67
Columbus Crew SC
 2
 14
 3.55
 14.25
D.C. United
 1
 13
 2.19
 13.75
FC Dallas
 1
 10 1.13
 9.25
Houston Dynamo
 7
 18
 8.50
 16.69
LA Galaxy
 1
 11
 1.15
 10.88
Montreal Impact
 9
 20
 9.17
 19.93
New England Revolution
 3
 17
 3.33
 17.00
New York City FC
 4
 20
 6.73
 20.00
New York Red Bulls
 1
 11
 1.00
 12.63
Orlando City
 7
 20
 7.46
 19.18
Philadelphia Union
 16
 20
 14.77
 19.62
Portland Timbers
 3
 17
 4.23
 16.33
Real Salt Lake
 5
 18
 4.43
 16.64
San Jose Earthquakes
 7
 19
 7.06
 18.33
Seattle Sounders
 1
 13
 1.00
 13.92
Sporting Kansas City
 1
 15
 1.21
 14.13
Toronto FC
 3
 17
 3.33
 17.25
Vancouver Whitecaps
 1
 15
 1.31
 13.75
  • Largest Range (position): New York FC = 16 point span
  • Smallest Range (position): Philadelphia = 4 point span
  • 7 teams have been ranked first
  • 6 teams have been ranked last

More From RSL Soapbox