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Week 23 Power Ranking Averages from 14 sites

14 of 18 sites published resulting in yet another change at the top, a tie for third, but last remains secure.

By Kreg Asay
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports


MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 23

One site retroactively published rankings for Wk 22 effecting a minor change to the averages.  For Wk 23 - 14 of 18 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.

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)
  • Soccer America (www.socceramerica.com)
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer)
  • Seattle Times Blog (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz) *No ranking for Wk 23
  • MLS GB (mlsbg.com/tag/power-rankings) *No ranking for Wk 23
  • Black & Red United (www.blackandredunited.com)
  • 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 In America (soccer-in-america.com)
  • MLS Fantasy Boss (mlsfantasyboss.com)
  • NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com) *No ranking for Wk 23
  • 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)

Possibly Dead List
* Soccer Information Network (soccerinformationnetwork.com) *No ranking for past 6 weeks

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, site offline 7-27

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 23 Wk 22 Wk 21 Wk 20
 		Wk 19 Team
 		W23 Avg W22 Avg W21 Avg W20 Avg W19 Avg Worst
 		Best
 		Range
1
 3
 3
 2
 2
 Los Angeles 2.67
 3.08
 3.69
 2.20
 2.87
 7
 1
 6
2
 2
 2
 1
 1
 Kansas City 2.83
 3.15
 2.54
 1.20
 1.21
 6
 1
 5
3
 1
 4
 4
 3
 D.C. 2.92
 2.62
 4.00
 4.73
 3.57
 6
 1
 5
3
 4
 5
 5
 6
 Vancouver 2.92
 3.23
 4.69
 5.07
 5.93
 7
 1
 6
5
 6
 6
 6
 8
 New York RB 4.50
 4.92
 6.31
 5.87
 7.93
 7
 2
 5
6
 5
 1
 3
 4
 Dallas 5.42
 4.38
 1.54
 2.93
 3.93
 10
 1
 9
7
 7
 8
 7
 7
 Portland 7.33
 8.23
 7.69
 5.93
 6.29
 9
 2
 7
8
 10
 9
 10
 11
 Columbus 9.17
 11.08
 8.85
 8.47
 12.40
 12
 6
 6
9
 8
 7
 8
 9
 Toronto 9.25
 8.77
 7.62
 7.73
 8.47
 13
 7
 6
10
 13
 13
 18
 13
 Houston 10.42
 12.38
 13.62
 14.87
 13.86
 15
 7
 8
11
 9
 12
 16
 15
 Montreal 11.33
 10.85
 13.54
 14.53
 14.50
 16
 8
 8
12
 11
 16
 14
 17
 New England 11.50
 11.92
 15.00
 13.33
 16.79
 20
 7
 13
13
 12
 10
 9
 5
 Seattle 13.92
 12.69
 10.54
 8.27
 5.40
 20
 8
 12
14
 14
 11
 12
 18
 Salt Lake 14.50
 13.23
 11.38
 12.60
 16.67
 17
 10
 7
15
 15
 18
 13
 12
 Orlando 15.08
 13.77
 16.46
 13.00
 12.57
 20
 12
 8
16
 16
 15
 11
 10
 San Jose 15.33
 15.15
 14.92
 11.53
 10.29
 20
 11
 9
17
 17
 14
 17
 14
 New York FC 15.92
 15.62
 13.69
 14.73
 14.33
 19
 11
 8
18
 18
 17
 15
 19
 Colorado 17.67
 17.38
 15.77
 14.07
 17.13
 20
 14
 6
19
 19
 20
 20
 20
 Chicago 18.25
 17.85
 19.46
 18.47
 19.07
 20
 13
 7
20
 20
 19
 19
 16
 Philadelphia 18.92
 19.62
 18.77
 16.67
 15.87
 20
 15
 5

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 6
 8
 5
 1
 ORL -3
 SJE +2.06
 MON -1.28
Soccer by Ives 5
 8
 3
 4
 SJE -5
 RSL +2.92
 NER -2.20
Soccer America 6
 2
 5
 7
 FCD -5
 POR +2.61
 SJE -2.78
ESPN 5
 9
 4
 2
 LAG +6
 NYFC +2.68
 NER -2.94
Seattle Times NR NR NR NR NR NYRB +2.82
 NER -1.85
MLS GB NR NR NR NR NR TFC +3.23
 RSL -1.48
Black & Red United 4
 6
 2
 8
 SEA +7
 TFC +3.01
 SJE -2.41
Sports Illustrated 1
 8
 7
 4
 3 @ +/-4
 NER +3.10
 VAN -2.24
The Mane Land 6
 9
 2
 3
 SEA +6
 VAN +1.76
 LAG -1.73
Who Scored 3
 8
 1
 8
 NYFC +6
 ORL +5.93
 COL -4.06
Reddit /r/MLS
 9
 9
 2
 0
 HOU +2/VAN -2
 COL +1.46
 CLB -1.10
Soccer Info. Network NR
 NR NR NR NR MON +2.14
 RSL -2.40
Soccer In America 5
 10
 4
 1
 LAG +3
 NYFC +2.08
 VAN -1.40
MLS Fantasy Boss 5
 5
 5
 5
 SEA +5
 TFC +4.09
 NER -3.99
Pro Soccer Talk NR NR NR NR NR RSL +2.66
 SJE -3.28
Bleacher Report
 5
 8
 6
 1
 NER -5
 NYFC +2.59
 VAN -2.09
Jeff Sagarin
 5
 4
 4
 7
 SEA +7
 RSL +3.66
 COL -4.81
Squawka
 4
 4
 4
 8
 NER +8
 NER +9.23
 POR -8.56
  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with +1 as tiebreaker) Reddit /r/MLS with 9 exact and 9 within 1.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 3+ with +2 as tiebreaker) Squawka, with Who Scored and Black & Red United not far behind.
  • Furthest Off: Squawka placed NER 8 places worse than average.
  • Site with Worst Bias: Squawka for placing NER an average of 9.23 places worse than average.
  • Sites with Least Bias - both with bias for/against less than 2:
    • 1st - Reddit /r/MLS
    • 2nd - The Mane Land


Season Average Power Ranking

Team
2015
(run. avg)
 W23 Avg W22 Avg W21 Avg W20 Avg W19 Avg 2014 Avg 2013 Avg
 		2012 Avg
Seattle Sounders 3.39
 4.67
 4.22
 3.84
 3.63
 3.38
 4.04
 9.36
 4.39
FC Dallas 3.99
 4.66
 4.63
 4.64
 4.90
 5.30
 7.09
 8.78
 17.17
LA Galaxy 4.58
 5.25
 5.37
 5.48
 5.68
 5.87
 6.77
 5.14
 2.46
D.C. United
 4.82
 3.96
 4.02
 4.08
 4.21
 4.25
 12.15
 7.29
 9.33
New York Red Bulls 6.04
 5.99
 6.06
 6.11
 6.25
 6.11
 11.07 6.38 7.23
Vancouver Whitecaps 6.71
 5.15
 5.25
 5.34
 5.43
 5.50
 7.40
 10.41
 7.87
Sporting Kansas City 8.62
 5.92
 6.05
 6.19
 6.53
 6.87
 4.45
 4.45
 3.09
Columbus Crew SC 9.09
 9.71
 9.75
 9.67
 9.93
 9.89
 8.97
 12.89
 9.46
Real Salt Lake 9.43
 11.34
 11.21
 11.10
 11.37
 11.30
 2.94 4.52 8.40
Toronto FC 9.83
 9.82
 9.83
 9.90
 10.18
 10.26
 7.47
 16.85
 10.96
New England Revolution 10.30
 9.90
 9.83
 9.73
 9.67
 9.33
 11.50 12.35 14.84
Portland Timbers 11.21
 9.81
 9.92
 10.00
 10.30
 10.55
 11.34
 5.73
 13.89
San Jose Earthquakes 11.72
 11.11
 10.94
 10.72
 10.65
 10.57
 14.44
 12.34
 4.86
Orlando City 12.25
 13.03
 12.93
 12.90
 12.97
 12.93
 -- -- --
New York City FC 12.97
 14.82
 14.77
 14.73
 15.09
 15.11
 -- -- --
Houston Dynamo
 12.93
 13.20
 13.34
 13.37
 13.64
 13.53
 9.48
 7.74
 6.29
Chicago Fire 16.80
 16.86
 16.79
 16.74
 16.93
 16.66
 15.61
 14.27
 13.07
Colorado Rapids 16.93
 16.89
 16.87
 16.83
 17.22
 17.24
 9.66
 9.79
 10.06
Philadelphia Union
 17.33
 17.91
 17.86
 17.78
 18.07
 18.06
 11.33
 10.53
 15.70
Montreal Impact
 17.74
 16.45
 16.67
 16.96
 17.46
 17.55
 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 19.58
Colorado Rapids
 15
 20
 14.07
 19.25
Columbus Crew SC
 5
 14
 6.14
 14.20
D.C. United
 1
 10
 1.87
 9.57
FC Dallas
 1
 10 1.07
 9.40
Houston Dynamo
 7
 18
 8.73
 16.67
LA Galaxy
 1
 11
 1.67
 10.93
Montreal Impact
 9
 20
 10.50
 19.92
New England Revolution
 3
 17
 3.21
 16.79
New York City FC
 4
 20
 6.29
 20.00
New York Red Bulls
 1
 11
 1.27
 12.80
Orlando City
 7
 18
 7.58
 16.46
Philadelphia Union
 16
 20
 14.83
 19.69
Portland Timbers
 3
 17
 4.23
 16.57
Real Salt Lake
 5
 18
 4.62
 16.64
San Jose Earthquakes
 7
 19
 6.80
 18.73
Seattle Sounders
 1
 13
 1.00
 13.92
Sporting Kansas City
 1
 15
 1.20
 14.17
Toronto FC
 3
 17
 3.36
 16.62
Vancouver Whitecaps
 1
 15
 1.33
 13.73

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