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Week 34 Power Ranking Averages - Final Numbers

The Final week is done. Only 11 of 15 remaining sites published.

By Kreg Asay
/ new
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports


MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 34

For Wk 34 - 11 of the 15 sites are included below.

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)
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer)
  • Seattle Times Blog (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz) *No ranking for Wk 34
  • Black & Red United (blackandredunited.com)
  • Sports Illustrated (soccer.si.com)
  • 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) *No ranking for Wk 34
  • Soccer In America (soccer-in-america.com)
  • NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com) *No ranking for Wk 34
  • 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) *No ranking for Wk 34

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 site evaluations showing closest and furthest from average to indicate 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
34 		Wk
33 		Wk
32 		Wk
31 		Team
 		W34
Avg		 W33
Avg		 W32
Avg		 W31
Avg		 Worst
 		Best
 		Range
1
 1
 1
 1
 New York RB 1.22
 1.45
 1.22
 1.18
 2
 1
 1
2
 2
 3
 3
 Dallas 2.00
 1.73
 3.00
 3.64
 4
 1
 3
3
 4
 7
 7
 Columbus 3.56
 4.27
 7.89
 7.00
 10
 3
 7
4
 5
 13
 12
 Portland 5.22
 7.00
 12.00
 11.73
 8
 3
 5
5
 10
 6
 4
 Vancouver 5.67
 9.00
 6.67
 5.90
 13
 2
 11
6
 3
 2
 2
 Los Angeles 6.56
 4.09
 2.00
 2.09
 11
 2
 9
7
 8
 5
 5
 Seattle 7.00
 8.27
 6.44
 6.18
 11
 4
 7
8
 7
 10
 10
 Montreal 7.11
 7.45
 10.44
 10.55
 11
 4
 7
9
 6
 8
 8
 Toronto 8.67
 7.27
 8.44
 7.64
 13
 5
 8
10
 9
 4
 6
 Kansas City 9.44
 8.64
 5.56
 6.36
 12
 4
 8
11
 12
 9
 9
 New England 10.67
 11.82
 8.56
 7.91
 18
 7
 11
12
 11
 12
 13
 D. C. 11.89
 9.45
 11.33
 11.82
 13
 9
 4
13
 13
 10
 11
 San Jose 12.44
 12.18
 10.44
 11.00
 12
 4
 8
14
 14
 15
 15
 Orlando 14.22
 13.82
 14.22
 13.73
 20
 12
 8
15
 15
 14
 14
 Salt Lake 15.44
 15.00
 13.33
 13.55
 16
 14
 2
16
 16
 17
 17
 Houston 15.67
 15.45
 16.33
 16.18
 17
 12
 5
17
 17
 16
 16
 New York FC 17.33
 16.45
 16.11
 16.09
 19
 11
 8
18
 18
 18
 18
 Philadelphia 17.44
 18.27
 18.11
 18.00
 20
 14
 6
19
 19
 20
 20
 Colorado 18.78
 18.82
 19.667
 19.45
 20
 17
 3
20
 20
 19
 19
 Chicago 19.44
 19.27
 18.33
 18.91
 20
 14
 6

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 10
 8
 1
 1
 MON -4
 SJE +1.95
 MON -1.52
Soccer America 8
 6
 5
 1
 VAN +4
 POR +1.55
 SJE -2.26
ESPN 5
 7
 4
 4
 NER -4
 FCD +2.30
 NER -3.06
Seattle Times NA NA NA NA NA SJE +1.80
 ORL -1.76
Black & Red United 11
 4
 5
 0
 5@ +/-2
 TFC +3.07
 SJE -3.05
Sports Illustrated 3
 8
 8
 1
 MON -3
 SKC +2.77
 ORL -1.73
The Mane Land 14
 6
 0
 0
 6@ +/-1
 MON +1.41
 LAG -1.42
Who Scored 5
 3
 2
 10
 NYFC/SKC -6; ORL +6
 NER +5.26
 NYFC -4.79
Reddit /r/MLS
 NA NA NA NA NA POR +1.04
 VAN -0.97
Soccer In America 7
 9
 1
 3
 TFC -4; POR +4
 NYFC +1.72
 NER -1.24
MLS Fantasy Boss NA NA NA NA NA TFC +4.25
 NER -3.40
Pro Soccer Talk NA NA NA NA NA SKC +2.08
 SJE -3.43
Bleacher Report
 8
 8
 2
 2
 LAG +5
 RSL +1.93
 NER -1.79
Jeff Sagarin
 2
 9
 3
 6
 SJE -9
 DCU +3.22
 SJE -4.85
Squawka
 3
 4
 3
 10
 VAN +8
 NER +9.24
 POR -7.35
  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) The Mane Land with 14 exact and all within 1!
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 3+ with 2 off as tiebreaker) Squawka with 10 off by 3+, and 3 off by 2.
  • Furthest Off: Jeff Sagarin placed SJE 9 places better than average.
  • Site with Worst Bias: Squawka for placing NER an average of 9.24 places worse than average.
  • Sites with Least Bias - (best to worst by adding the absolute value of the bias scores) including the "dead" sites:
    • Reddit /r/MLS = 2.01
    • The Mane Land = 2.83
    • Soccer In America = 2.96
    • Major League Soccer = 3.47
    • Seattle Times = 3.56
    • Bleacher Report = 3.72
    • Soccer America = 3.81
    • (Soccer By Ives) = 4.20
    • Sports Illustrated = 4.50
    • (MLS GB) = 5.64
    • ESPN = 5.36
    • Pro Soccer Talk = 5.51
    • Black & Red United = 6.12
    • (Soccer Information Network) = 7.31
    • MLS Fantasy Boss = 7.65
    • Jeff Sagarin = 8.07 *missing first 10 weeks of season
    • Who Scored = 10.05
    • (The Sports Network) = 10.69
    • Squawka = 16.59 *missing first 15 weeks of season


Season Average Power Ranking
I did an adjustment on how I figured the the Season Averages so totals and order has changed.

Team
 		W31
Avg		 W32
Avg		 W33
Avg
2015
(Final avg)
 2014
Avg		 2013
Avg
 		2012
Avg
 		4 Year
Avg
LA Galaxy 4.55
 4.47
 4.46
 4.51
 5.23
 5.15
 8.39
 5.76
FC Dallas 4.87
 4.81
 4.72
 4.64
 6.35
 8.58
 12.88
 7.74
New York Red Bulls 5.01
 4.89
 4.79
 4.68
 10.05
 6.52
 5.58
 7.14
Vancouver Whitecaps 4.89
 4.96
 5.08
 5.09
 7.98
 10.33
 8.95
 8.16
D.C. United 5.43
 5.62
 5.73
 5.91
 7.49
 17.24
 7.45
 9.77
Seattle Sounders 5.97
 5.98
 6.05
 6.07
 2.86
 9.38
 5.07
 6.07
Sporting Kansas City 6.20
 6.18
 6.26
 6.35
 5.64
 4.48
 3.07
 5.44
Columbus Crew SC 9.08
 9.04
 8.90
 8.75
 9.60
 12.81
 11.70
 10.95
Portland Timbers 9.58
 9.66
 9.58
 9.45
 11.64
 5.83
 15.88
 10.75
New England Revolution 9.43
 9.40
 9.47
 9.50
 9.66
 12.52
 14.78
 11.66
Toronto FC 9.89
 9.85
 5.08
 9.75
 8.97
 16.83
 17.85
 13.12
San Jose Earthquakes 11.09
 11.07
 11.10
 11.14
 15.20
 12.38
 2.61
 11.80
Real Salt Lake 12.23
 12.27
 12.35
 12.43
 4.12
 4.58
 3.70
 7.14
Houston Dynamo 13.62
 13.70
 13.75
 13.81
 12.77
 7.71
 6.75
 11.49
Orlando City 14.22
 14.22
 14.20
 14.21
 --
 --
 --
 14.21
Montreal Impact 15.70
 15.53
 15.29
 15.06
 17.54
 5.17
 13.99
 13.91
New York City FC 15.35
 15.38
 15.41
 15.47
 --
 --
 --
 15.47
Colorado Rapids 17.21
 17.29
 17.34
 17.38
 11.54
 9.88
 12.85
 13.87
Chicago Fire 17.59
 17.61
 17.66
 17.71
 15.54
 14.35
 7.91
 15.47
Philadelphia Union
 18.08
 18.08
 18.09
 18.07
 11.85
 10.45
 15.19
 14.72


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
 7
 20
 7.45
 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

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