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Week 20 Power Ranking Averages from 14 sites

14 of 18 sites publishing, SKC retain a commanding lead with LA closing. Chicago bring up the rear for the 3rd consecutive week. RSL jumps 6 places, Houston falls 5.

By Kreg Asay
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports


MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 20

American Soccer Analysis has been dropped from the rankings due to issues with their calculation method which skewed past rankings. Essentially their practice of using weighted results from last year has rendered this season's rankings as questionable.  Of the 18 sites, 14 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.

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? This list is designed to tell you who we feel is most likely to win that match-up. 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 (www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings)
  • Soccer by Ives (www.sbisoccer.com/sbi-mls-power-rankings) *No ranking for Wk 20
  • Soccer America (www.socceramerica.com)
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer)
  • Seattle Times Blog (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz)
  • MLS GB (mlsbg.com/tag/power-rankings)
  • Black & Red United (www.blackandredunited.com) *No ranking for Wk 20
  • Sports Illustrated (www.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)
  • Soccer Information Network (soccerinformationnetwork.com) *No ranking for Wk 20
  • Soccer In America (soccer-in-america.com)
  • MLS Fantasy Boss (mlsfantasyboss.com)
  • NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com) *No ranking for Wk 20
  • Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com/mls)
  • Jeff Sagarin's MLS Rankings (sagarin.com/sports/soccer.htm)
  • Squawka (http://www.squawka.com/football-team-rankings#performance-score#team-stats#us-major-league-soccer)

Dead List - I'll check it periodically just in case they run one, and their old ratings won't be removed.
* The Sports Network (sportsnetwork.com) *No ranking since 5-19-15

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 20
 		Wk 19 Wk 18 Wk 17 Wk 16 Team
 		W20 Avg W19 Avg W18 Avg W17 Avg W16 Avg Worst
 		Best
 		Range
1
 1
 1
 1
 3
 Kansas City 1.17
 1.40
 1.85
 2.56
 3.47
 3
 1
 2
2
 2
 2
 4
 6
 Los Angeles 2.50
 2.87
 2.92
 5.81
 6.47
 6
 1
 5
3
 4
 7
 9
 10
 Dallas 3.25
 4.27
 6.85
 9.00
 9.13
 8
 2
 6
4
 3
 5
 2
 2
 D.C. 5.25
 4.07
 4.62
 2.63
 2.93
 11
 2
 9
5
 6
 6
 3
 4
 Vancouver 5.42
 6.00
 5.77
 2.94
 3.87
 11
 3
 8
6
 7
 3
 4
 5
 Portland 6.00
 6.53
 4.38
 5.81
 5.20
 10
 1
 9
7
 8
 10
 10
 11
 New York RB 6.42
 7.53
 9.77
 9.13
 12.60
 10
 2
 8
8
 9
 8
 7
 7
 Toronto 7.92
 8.47
 8.77
 6.50
 7.87
 12
 5
 7
9
 5
 4
 6
 1
 Seattle 8.75
 5.40
 4.54
 6.38
 2.33
 17
 4
 13
10
 11
 11
 13
 13
 Columbus 9.17
 12.40
 9.69
 12.31
 13.93
 11
 6
 5
11
 10
 9
 8
 9
 San Jose 12.67
 10.53
 9.62
 7.44
 8.53
 15
 9
 6
12
 18
 15
 14
 14
 Salt Lake 13.42
 16.67
 14.54
 14.56
 14.07
 17
 10
 7
13
 12
 12
 11
 12
 Orlando 13.67
 12.53
 11.31
 11.38
 12.67
 20
 10
 10
14
 17
 13
 12
 8
 New England 14.33
 16.27
 13.62
 11.94
 8.13
 20
 10
 10
15
 15
 17
 16
 16
 Montreal 15.08
 14.60
 16.69
 15.56
 14.53
 19
 12
 7
15
 19
 18
 20
 17
 Colorado 15.08
 17.13
 17.62
 18.88
 17.67
 18
 6
 12
17
 14
 14
 17
 18
 New York FC 16.08
 14.33
 14.15
 16.19
 14.73
 20
 10
 10
18
 13
 16
 15
 14
 Houston 16.25
 13.87
 16.08
 15.44
 14.07
 19
 13
 6
19
 16
 18
 19
 20
 Philadelphia 17.75
 15.87
 17.62
 17.13
 19.33
 19
 12
 7
20
 20
 20
 18
 19
 Chicago 19.75
 18.80
 19.15
 18.75
 18.13
 20
 13
 7

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
 7
 2
 0
 NER +2/ORL -2
 SJE +1.85
 MON -1.53
Soccer by Ives NA NA NA NA NA SJE +2.54
 NER -2.83
Soccer America 4
 8
 3
 5
 PHI -6
 POR +2.80
 SJE -2.77
ESPN 2
 7
 3
 8
 FCD +5/HOU, SEA -5
 FCD +2.12
 NER -2.78
Seattle Times 8
 7
 3
 2
 SJE +4
 NYRB +2.59
 NER -2.04
MLS GB 6
 9
 3
 2
 LAG +3/HOU -3
 TFC +3.06
 RSL -1.54
Black & Red United NA NA NA NA NA TFC +2.65
 SJE -2.51
Sports Illustrated 4
 7
 4
 5
 NYFC -6
 NER +3.28
 VAN -2.29
The Mane Land 5
 5
 1
 9
 SEA +8
 VAN +1.71
 LAG -1.78
Who Scored 3
 5
 6
 7
 DCU +7/NYFC -7
 ORL +5.83
 COL -4.82
Reddit /r/MLS
 13
 7
 0
 0
 7 @ +/- 1
 COL +1.13
 CLB -1.29
The Sports Network
 NA
 NA NA NA NA DEAD LIST
 DEAD LIST
Soccer Info. Network NA NA NA NA NA DCU +1.56
 POR -2.42
Soccer In America 7
 8
 2
 3
 RSL +5
 NYFC +1.77
 VAN -1.50
MLS Fantasy Boss 3
 6
 7
 4
 SEA -5
 TFC +3.96
 NER -4.27
Pro Soccer Talk NA NA NA NA NA SKC +3.27
 SEA -3.27
Bleacher Report
 8
 7
 3
 2
 DCU +3/NER -3
 NYFC +2.67
 VAN -2.01
Jeff Sagarin
 5
 5
 2
 8
 COL -9
 RSL +4.86
 COL -5.02
Squawka
 3 3
 4
 10
 CHI -7
 NER +8.93
 POR -9.30
  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with +1 as tiebreaker) Reddit /r/ MLS with ALL ranks either exact or one away.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 3+ with +2 as tiebreaker) Squawka
  • Furthest Off: Jeff Sagarin with COL 9 places better than average.
  • Site with Worst Bias: Squawka for placing POR an average of 9.30 places better than their average.  (This is due in part to only 5 weeks of tracking, averages are improving each week).
  • Sites with Least Bias - all with bias for/against less than 2:
    • 1st - Reddit /r/MLS
    • 2nd - Soccer In America
    • 3rd - The Mane Land
    • 4th - MLS


Season Average Power Ranking

Team
2015
(run. avg)
 W20 Avg W19 Avg W18 Avg W17 Avg W16 Avg 2014 Avg 2013 Avg
 		2012 Avg
Seattle Sounders 3.38
 3.63
 3.38
 3.26
 3.19
 2.99
 4.04
 9.36
 4.39
FC Dallas 3.93
 4.90
 5.30
 5.09
 4.98
 4.74
 7.09
 8.78
 17.17
LA Galaxy 4.54
 5.68
 5.87
 6.05
 6.23
 6.25
 6.77
 5.14
 2.46
D.C. United
 5.08
 4.2
 4.25
 4.27
 4.25
 4.35
 12.15
 7.29
 9.33
New York Red Bulls 6.14
 6.25
 6.11
 6.03
 5.81
 5.61
 11.07 6.38 7.23
Vancouver Whitecaps 6.97
 5.44
 5.50
 5.47
 5.46
 5.62
 7.40
 10.41
 7.87
Columbus Crew SC 9.17
 9.94
 9.89
 9.75
 9.75
 9.59
 8.97
 12.89
 9.46
Sporting Kansas City 9.20
 6.53
 6.87
 7.16
 7.47
 7.79
 4.45
 4.45
 3.09
Real Salt Lake 9.34
 11.34
 11.30
 11.02
 10.81
 10.58
 2.94 4.52 8.40
Toronto FC 10.00
 10.19
 10.26
 10.33
 10.43
 10.68
 7.47
 16.85
 10.96
New England Revolution 10.56
 9.67
 9.33
 8.94
 8.66
 8.45
 11.50 12.35 14.84
Portland Timbers 11.60
 10.30
 10.55
 10.77
 11.15
 11.48
 11.34
 5.73
 13.89
San Jose Earthquakes 11.87
 10.67
 10.57
 10.59
 10.65
 10.85
 14.44
 12.34
 4.86
Orlando City 12.31
 12.97
 12.93
 12.94
 13.04
 13.14
 -- -- --
New York City FC 12.89
 15.12
 15.11
 15.15
 15.21
 15.14
 -- -- --
Houston Dynamo
 13.06
 13.63
 13.53
 13.52
 13.37
 13.25
 9.48
 7.74
 6.29
Chicago Fire 17.06
 16.93
 16.66
 16.55
 16.39
 16.24
 15.61
 14.27
 13.07
Colorado Rapids 17.20
 17.22
 17.24
 17.25
 17.22
 17.12
 9.66
 9.79
 10.06
Philadelphia Union
 17.55
 18.09
 18.06
 18.18
 18.22
 18.28
 11.33
 10.53
 15.70
Montreal Impact
 18.17
 17.43
 17.55
 17.70
 17.76
 17.90
 17.67 5.32
 15.74


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
 11.77 19.93
Colorado Rapids
 15
 20
 15.29
 19.17
Columbus Crew SC
 5
 14
 6.33
 14.20
D.C. United
 1
 10
 2.21
 10.36
FC Dallas
 1
 10 1.14
 9.40
Houston Dynamo
 7
 18
 8.73
 16.67
LA Galaxy
 1
 11
 1.67
 10.93
Montreal Impact
 15
 20
 14.47
 19.92
New England Revolution
 3
 17
 3.21
 16.86
New York City FC
 4
 20
 6.92
 20.00
New York Red Bulls
 1
 11
 1.40
 12.80
Orlando City
 7
 16
 7.58
 15.77
Philadelphia Union
 16
 20
 14.83
 19.69
Portland Timbers
 3
 17
 4.23
 16.57
Real Salt Lake
 5
 18
 4.69
 16.64
San Jose Earthquakes
 7
 19
 7.57
 18.27
Seattle Sounders
 1
 9
 1.00
 8.75
Sporting Kansas City
 1
 15
 1.17
 14.36
Toronto FC
 3
 17
 3.36
 17.27
Vancouver Whitecaps
 1
 15
 1.33
 13.73

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