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Week 28 Power Ranking Averages from 11 sites

11 out of 17 sites published. Typical end of season blues seems to strike many raters. NYRB keeps first for the 3rd week, Chicago returns to the bottom for the 11th time.

By Kreg Asay
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports


MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 28

For Wk 28 - 11 of the 17 sites are included below.  SBI has now missed 3 weeks, some of the others have missed 2 consecutive.  End of season blues perhaps?

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 28
  • 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) *No ranking for Wk 28
  • Black & Red United (www.blackandredunited.com) *No ranking for Wk 28
  • 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) *No ranking for Wk 28
  • NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com) *No ranking for Wk 28
  • Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com/mls) *No ranking for Wk 28
  • 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; their old ratings won't be removed.

  • The Sports Network (sportsnetwork.com) *No ranking since 5-19-15, site offline 7-27
  • Soccer Information Network (soccerinformationnetwork.com) *No ranking since 6/30

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 28 Wk 27 Wk 26 Wk 25 Team
 		W28 Avg W27 Avg W26 Avg W25 Avg Worst
 		Best
 		Range
1
 1
 1
 3
 New York RB 1.33
 1.36
 1.46
 2.62
 3
 1
 2
2
 2
 2
 1
 Los Angeles 2.78
 1.73
 2.00
 1.15
 5
 1
 4
3
 3
 3
 2
 Vancouver 3.22
 3.73
 3.46
 2.54
 13
 2
 11
4
 4
 4
 7
 Dallas 4.11
 4.36
 5.46
 7.46
 6
 2
 4
5
 5
 9
 9
 New England 5.67
 6.18
 8.69
 9.92
 18
 2
 16
6
 6
 5
 8
 Columbus 6.00
 7.00
 5.69
 8.00
 9
 3
 6
7
 8
 11
 6
 Portland 8.00
 9.00
 9.15
 6.62
 12
 2
 10
8
 8
 8
 5
 D.C. United 9.00
 9.00
 8.31
 5.85
 12
 6
 6
9
 7
 6
 4
 Kansas City 9.56
 7.36
 7.62
 4.69
 13
 3
 10
10
 11
 7
 11
 San Jose 9.89
 9.18
 7.69
 9.77
 12
 5
 7
10
 12
 12
 12
 Seattle 9.89
 10.82
 11.69
 12.62
 15
 8
 7
12
 8
 9
 10
 Toronto 10.44
 9.00
 8.69
 9.38
 17
 4
 13
13
 14
 16
 14
 Montreal 13.67
 14.18
 15.62
 14.08
 17
 10
 7
14
 16
 15
 15
 Salt Lake 13.89
 15.91
 15.54
 14.15
 16
 9
 7
15
 13
 13
 13
 Houston 14.44
 12.91
 12.00
 12.85
 17
 10
 7
16
 15
 14
 17
 Colorado 16.11
 15.36
 14.62
 17.15
 19
 10
 9
17
 20
 19
 19
 Orlando 17.44
 19.18
 18.23
 18.23
 20
 14
 6
18
 17
 20
 18
 Philadelphia 17.89
 16.64
 19.00
 17.31
 19
 14
 5
19
 18
 17
 16
 New York FC 18.67
 17.91
 17.23
 16.00
 20
 12
 8
20
 19
 18
 20
 Chicago 18.78
 18.73
 17.69
 19.62
 20
 12
 8

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
 4
 3
 2
 POR +4
 SJE +1.84
 TFC -1.59
Soccer by Ives NR NR NR NR NR RSL +2.29
 NER -1.95
Soccer America 5
 6
 7
 2
 TFC -4
 POR +2.09
 SJE -2.61
ESPN 6
 10
 3
 1
 ORL -3
 NYFC +2.22
 NER -3.14
Seattle Times 9
 6
 4
 1
 POR +3
 NYRB +2.10
 ORL -1.99
MLS GB NR NR NR NR NR TFC +2.80
 RSL -2.02
Black & Red United NR NR NR NR NR TFC +2.95
 SJE -2.68
Sports Illustrated 7
 4
 4
 5
 DCU,SKC +4
 SKC +2.30
 VAN -1.75
The Mane Land 7
 5
 4
 4
 NER +4
 SEA +1.43
 LAG -1.66
Who Scored 4
 2
 4
 10
 NER +8
 ORL +5.00
 NYFC -4.44
Reddit /r/MLS
 11
 7
 2
 0
 POR +2/CHI -2
 COL +1.05
 CLB -1.17
Soccer In America 7
 9
 2
 2
 POR +5
 NYFC +1.75
 VAN -1.18
MLS Fantasy Boss NR NR NR NR NR TFC +3.91
 NER -3.68
Pro Soccer Talk NR NR NR NR NR SKC +2.37
 SJE -3.35
Bleacher Report
 NR NR NR NR NR RSL +1.94
 NER -2.03
Jeff Sagarin
 1
 6
 1
 12
 COL -6
 SEA +4.00
 COL -4.80
Squawka
 0
 8
 2
 10
 NER +13
 NER +9.29
 POR -7.77
  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) Reddit/r/MLS with 11 exact and 7 one away.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 3+ with 2 off as tiebreaker) Jeff Sagarin with 12 off by 3.
  • Furthest Off: Squawka placed NER 13 places worse than average.
  • Site with Worst Bias: Squawka for placing NER an average of 9.29 places worse than average (down .01 from last week!).
  • Sites with Least Bias - all with bias for/against less than 2 (a few others are nearing this mark!):
    • 1st - Reddit /r/MLS
    • 2nd - The Mane Land
    • 3rd - Soccer In America
    • 4th - Major League Soccer


Season Average Power Ranking

Team
2015
(run. avg)
 W28
Avg		 W27
Avg		 W26
Avg		 W25
Avg		 2014
Avg		 2013
Avg
 		2012
Avg
Seattle Sounders 3.87
 5.89
 5.78
 5.58
 5.34
 4.04
 9.36
 4.39
FC Dallas 4.19
 4.90
 4.92
 4.94
 4.92
 7.09
 8.78
 17.17
LA Galaxy 4.71
 4.73
 4.79
 4.91
 5.03
 6.77
 5.14
 2.46
D.C. United
 4.85
 4.72
 4.49
 4.32
 4.16
 12.15
 7.29
 9.33
New York Red Bulls 6.07
 5.40
 5.53
 5.69
 5.86
 11.07 6.38 7.23
Vancouver Whitecaps 6.43
 4.82
 4.94
 4.98
 5.04
 7.40
 10.41
 7.87
Sporting Kansas City 8.29
 6.06
 5.95
 5.90
 5.83
 4.45
 4.45
 3.09
Columbus Crew SC 9.33
 9.46
 9.53
 9.63
 9.78
 8.97
 12.89
 9.46
Toronto FC 10.00
 9.97
 9.92
 9.96
 10.01
 7.47
 16.85
 10.96
New England Revolution 10.04
 9.79
 9.87
 10.01
 10.06
 11.50
 12.35
 14.84
Real Salt Lake 10.04 12.11
 12.12
 11.98
 11.84
 2.94
 4.52
 8.40
Portland Timbers 11.09
 9.46
 9.66
 9.68
 9.70
 11.34
 5.73
 13.89
San Jose Earthquakes 11.65
 11.06
 11.09
 11.16
 11.30
 14.44
 12.34
 4.86
Orlando City 12.66
 14.14
 13.96
 13.76
 13.58
 -- -- --
Houston Dynamo 13.16
 13.39
 13.31
 13.33
 13.38
 9.48
 7.74
 6.29
New York City FC 13.52
 15.37
 15.26
 15.16
 15.08
 -- -- --
Chicago Fire 17.11
 17.38
 17.36
 17.31
 17.29
 15.61
 14.27
 13.07
Colorado Rapids 17.18
 17.02
 17.07
 17.14
 17.24
 9.66
 9.79
 10.06
Philadelphia Union
 17.73
 18.15
 18.16
 18.22
 18.19
 11.33
 10.53
 15.70
Montreal Impact
 17.73
 16.27
 16.33
 16.41
 16.44
 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
 14
 20
 14.62
 19.17
Columbus Crew SC
 5
 14
 5.69
 14.20
D.C. United
 1
 10
 2.13
 9.00
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
 9
 20
 10.85
 19.54
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
 1.33
 12.80
Orlando City
 7
 20
 7.58
 19.18
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
 7.13
 18.27
Seattle Sounders
 1
 13
 1.00
 13.92
Sporting Kansas City
 1
 15
 1.21
 14.36
Toronto FC
 3
 17
 3.36
 17.27
Vancouver Whitecaps
 1
 15
 1.33
 13.73
  • 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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