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MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 5

Angels finally rise to the top, RSL’s slide continues.

By Kreg Asay
Kreg Asay

The dropped site from last week has been revived! US Soccer Players rating will apparently be monthly rather than weekly; it will remain in the averages for the time being. Sites used are now up to 18 sites; three sites missed this week so only 15 published. As always, if you know of a site I have not used please let me know in the comments and I’ll look into adding it!

A reminder of what Power Rankings should be (not that every site does of course...):

”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

You may notice the list includes several ‘analytic’ sites; they serve to function as a stable counterbalance to the rest which are based more on personal opinions, and those done by ‘team’ blogs’. There are also included sites that some will argue are really ‘prediction rankings’ - but in reality isn’t that what a Power Ranking is (see the quote at the top).

All the averages use the Olympic method (I.E. Truncated Mean value) of dropping the highest and lowest scores, and then averaging the rest to reduce bias.

The 7 year weighted average is the averages that decrease in value over time. Thus 2019 will be worth 100%, 2018 = 90%, 2017 = 80% and so on down. Thus a bad year 4 years ago won’t drag down positive recent years. For expansion teams that don’t have long histories, they are given the overall league average for that year.

2022 Power Ranking Average

Place Team Wk 33 Wk 34 Wk Best Wk Worst Std. Dev 2022 Avg 5-yr avg
Place Team Wk 33 Wk 34 Wk Best Wk Worst Std. Dev 2022 Avg 5-yr avg
21 Atlanta United FC 20.67 20.86 10 25 4.46 17.6 11.0832
5 Austin FC 5.22 6.14 5 17 4.02 7.2 12.992
23 Charlotte FC 20 21.71 16 27 3.61 22.8 14.784
24 Chicago Fire 23.56 22.71 17 24 2.17 20.7 19.678
10 Cincinnati (FC) 11.11 9.57 7 13 1.87 17.5 19.634
18 Colorado Rapids 20.44 18.71 14 22 2.65 16 15.666
12 Columbus Crew SC 8.89 12.71 4 16 3.76 11.3 10.859
28 D.C. United 28 28 28 28 0 24.5 17.176
6 Dallas (FC) 5.89 6.29 4 16 3.82 8.5 11.1342
26 Houston Dynamo 24.56 25.43 24 27 0.88 22 17.22
15 Inter Miami CF 14 15.14 11 21 3.91 21.3 17.622
9 L.A. Galaxy 10.33 8.57 6 12 2.06 9.8 11.408
2 Los Angeles FC 1.56 1.71 1 3 0.67 2 5.5268
11 Minnesota United FC 15.22 12.14 7 17 2.93 11 12.076
3 Montreal (CF) 3 3 2 12 3.06 10.2 14.52
7 Nashville SC 8.11 6.86 4 10 1.96 8.7 11.874
17 New England Revolution 20 18.29 6 23 4.77 14.7 12.164
4 New York City FC 6.33 4.86 3 10 2.11 6.6 6.5156
8 New York RB 7.11 7.29 5 10 1.58 6.4 9.5228
16 Orlando City SC 14.11 15.86 13 23 3.87 13.5 13.312
1 Philadelphia Union 1.44 1.29 1 2 0.5 2.5 6.902
14 Portland Timbers 11.67 14 7 16 2.79 13.8 11.134
13 Real Salt Lake 14.44 13 9 15 1.79 10.8 13.31
25 San Jose Earthquakes 25 24.43 19 26 2.65 23.8 18.838
19 Seattle Sounders FC 19.44 19.43 12 23 3.91 13.9 7.384
22 Sporting Kansas City 20.22 21.14 16 26 3.14 23.5 10.9248
27 Toronto FC 25.67 26.43 20 27 2.54 21.7 14.724
20 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 18.56 20.14 16 25 3.49 22.6 19.364

Site Bias

All sites are going to have bias, whether conscious (blogs) or due to analytic programming ( based on past performance for example). This section lets you see the extent that sites are biased for/against teams.

2020 MLS Site Bias

Team / Site AVG Jeff Sagarin 538 Who Scored ESPN Massey Soc. Amer MLS Sonny Moore Freeborg MLS Multiplex 3rd deg. US Soc. Players AVG Team / Site
Team / Site AVG Jeff Sagarin 538 Who Scored ESPN Massey Soc. Amer MLS Sonny Moore Freeborg MLS Multiplex 3rd deg. US Soc. Players AVG Team / Site
Atlanta United FC 15.5 -0.5 -0.97 1.57 2.83 1.9 0.28 2.19 -1.87 5.67 1.81 5.64 1.1 15.5 ATL
Chicago Fire 18.66 -0.47 -0.59 -3.66 1.09 1.01 2.9 1.34 4.59 0.26 2.84 3.34 3.94 18.66 CHI
Colorado Rapids 14.04 -0.48 1.83 -5.51 1.04 -0.24 1.74 1.59 4.4 -2.87 3.65 2.25 3.96 14.04 COL
Columbus Crew SC 4.71 4.42 -0.98 0.89 -0.21 0.09 -2.04 -1.08 4.42 1.71 -1.27 1.86 0.29 4.71 CLB
D.C. United 20.48 0.58 3.59 -0.68 0.69 2.32 0.96 3.02 -0.98 2.52 0.21 4.38 1.32 20.48 DCU
FC Cincinnati 22.34 2.72 3.06 1.86 1.99 1.33 -1.45 0.97 1.79 0.41 0.72 -0.91 -0.14 22.34 CIN
FC Dallas 9.94 -1.25 -0.01 -2.94 2.39 0.13 0.62 1.75 -2.94 -0.27 4.44 2.77 5.06 9.94 FCD
Houston Dynamo 17.46 0.79 2.67 0.47 0.29 -2.26 2.21 2.29 -1.77 -0.79 1.79 2.25 -0.06 17.46 HOU
Inter Miami CF 6.51 4.86 -0.02 -0.42 2.36 -0.22 2.55 1.74 -6.89 -2.72 4.24 2.68 2.11 6.51 MIA
Los Angeles FC 15.67 -1.88 -1.98 1.96 2.99 0.89 -0.4 1.24 -2.95 9.07 1.68 1.35 -1.11 15.67 LAFC
L.A. Galaxy 6.86 1.77 -1.67 -4.4 0.83 2.13 -2.34 2.21 0.46 4.33 1.08 -3.38 0.93 6.86 LAG
Minnesota United FC 15.85 -1.11 2.87 -4.13 3.64 -1.53 0.25 2.58 -0.23 2.06 1.08 0.71 1.14 15.85 MUFC
Montreal Impact 12.24 2.65 2.55 -1.25 -0.85 2.82 0.59 1.28 5.09 -1.02 -0.22 -0.56 -0.65 12.24 MTL
Nashville SC 9.15 1.56 1.85 2.18 -0.82 -2.95 3.18 -0.38 0.06 0.43 1.99 2.89 1.38 9.15 NASH
N.E. Revolution 13.88 4.45 1.43 0.36 -2.41 1.76 -0.24 -0.11 3.32 -1.41 -0.8 1.76 -1.84 13.88 NER
New York City FC 7.92 -0.65 0.78 3.52 0.68 -0.68 4.96 -0.15 -1.15 -2.48 1.66 -1.86 -0.95 7.92 NYFC
New York RB 13.88 1.12 0.59 -1.28 -0.46 2.52 1.34 1.18 1.81 1.95 -0.82 6.12 5.32 13.88 NYRB
Orlando City SC 7.92 -0.29 2.35 5.21 -0.92 -2.85 1.64 0.14 1.64 -2.75 -0.11 0.37 1.08 7.92 ORL
Philadelphia Union 3.86 -0.61 -0.86 3.94 0.22 -0.73 0.92 -0.3 -0.8 -1.94 0.77 1.85 1.74 3.86 PHI
Portland Timbers 7.53 -0.97 2.2 8.8 0.64 -3.53 1.03 -1.28 1.72 4.72 -0.9 -4.39 -1.13 7.53 POR
Real Salt Lake 15.16 -1.41 1.04 1.64 3.34 2.91 0.62 0.65 -1.1 1.17 1.47 0.41 1.04 15.16 RSL
San Jose Earthquakes 17.05 0.01 0.28 8.08 0.62 2.82 -0.27 1.08 2.95 2.78 0.2 -1.62 -4.25 17.05 SJE
Seattle Sounders FC 4.1 -0.79 0.9 -0.17 0.23 3.57 0.23 -0.6 -0.97 1.98 0.34 -1.24 -0.1 4.1 SEA
Sporting Kansas City 7.64 3.74 -0.51 -0.17 1.86 1.83 1.25 0.17 4.74 -0.22 -1.51 -0.21 -0.64 7.64 SKC
Toronto FC 4.42 1.46 -1.55 3.05 -0.75 4.45 -0.75 -1.48 2.58 -0.17 -1.79 -2.42 4.18 4.42 TFC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 21.04 1.59 2.43 2.36 0.04 3.89 1.4 1.27 3.4 -1.12 -1.23 -2.75 -2.64 21.04 VAN
X Team / Site AVG Sagarin 538 Who Scored ESPN Massey Soc. Amer MLS Sonny Moore Freeborg MLS Multiplex 3rd deg. US Soc. Players AVG Team / Site

Site Accuracy

Just a little table to show how far each site deviated from the week’s average.

2019 MLS Bias (for/vs)

Site Most Bias VS Most Bias For Least Bias
Site Most Bias VS Most Bias For Least Bias
Jeff Sagarin SJE SKC VAN
FiveThirtyEight SJE ATL CLB
Who Scored POR DCU NYFC
ESPN POR NER FCD
Massey NYRB POR NER
Soccer America POR HOU CLB
MLS Soccer DCU COL HOU
MLS Fantasy Boss MUFC SKC DCU
Reddit /r/mls RSL NYRB DCU
Dallas News MTL TFC SEA
ProSoccerUSA NYFC COL SJE
Big D Soccer DCU TFC SKC
AJC NYFC MTL CIN
Cincinnati Soccer Talk POR HOU SJE
Freeborg Power Index NYRB POR ORL
In On It MUFC SKC HOU
US Soccer Players ORL NER ATL
  • Most Accurate: Reddit/r/MLS with 14 exactly on average.
  • Least Accurate: Big D Soccer with 14 off by 6+.

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