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NWSL Power Ranking Averages - Week 9

Washington Spirit retain top spot.

By Kreg Asay

Only 6 of the 7 sites ranked again this week, though the missing site may publish late. The Washington Spirit edge out the Portland Thorns for top of the table.

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

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!

Sites Used

You may notice the list includes ‘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).

2019 NWSL Power Rankings

Team Wk 21 avg Wk 22 avg Wk 23 avg Best Worst St. Dev 2019 2Y Avg
Team Wk 21 avg Wk 22 avg Wk 23 avg Best Worst St. Dev 2019 2Y Avg
Chicago Red Stars 2.17 2 2 2 2 0 3.488 4.22
Houston Dash 6.83 7 7 7 7 0 6.466 6.72
North Carolina Courage 1 1 1 1 1 0 2.305 1.67
Orlando Pride 8.83 9 9 9 9 0 8.513 6.66
Portland Thorns 3.17 3 3.4 3 4 0.55 2.29 2.71
Seattle Reign 4.5 4 3.6 3 4 0.55 4.689 3.66
Sky Blue 8.17 8 8 8 8 0 8.243 8.41
Utah Royals 4.17 5 5.4 5 6 0.55 4.071 4.6
Washington Spirit 6.17 6 5.6 5 6 0.55 4.778 6.23
  • Highest Standard Deviation: Chicago Red Stars at 1.33
  • Lowest Standard Deviation: 3 teams tie with .052

Site Bias

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

NWSL Site Bias

Team / Site AVG 538 Soc. Club Stat Backline Reddit /r/NWSL RSL SB NWSL Freeborg
Team / Site AVG 538 Soc. Club Stat Backline Reddit /r/NWSL RSL SB NWSL Freeborg
Chicago Red Stars 3.488 -0.188 -0.198 0.292 -0.438 0.292 1.242 -0.368
Houston Dash 6.466 0.104 -0.056 -0.136 -0.056 0.404 -1.196 0.244
North Carolina Courage 2.305 -1.005 0.105 0.255 -0.165 0.305 1.145 0.695
Orlando Pride 8.513 0.097 0.307 -0.183 -0.153 0.007 -0.063 0.077
Portland Thorns 2.29 -0.16 0.18 -0.51 0.21 -0.16 0.53 0.53
Seattle Reign 4.689 -0.039 0.781 -0.079 0.261 -0.079 0.491 -0.749
Sky Blue 8.243 0.147 -0.063 0.167 0.117 -0.023 -0.153 0.047
Utah Royals 4.071 0.759 -0.481 -0.311 0.289 -0.591 -0.711 0.459
Washington Spirit 4.778 0.442 -0.428 0.332 0.042 0.002 -1.228 -0.658
Highest Bias VS 0.759 0.781 0.332 0.289 0.404 1.242 0.695
Highest Bias FOR -1.005 -0.481 -0.51 -0.438 -0.591 -1.228 -0.749
Most Bias VS Utah Royals Reign FC Wash. Spirit Utah Royals Houston Dash Chicago RS N. Car. Courage
Most Bias For N. Car. Courage Utah Royals Portland Thorns Chicago RS Utah Royals Wash. Spirit Reign FC
Least Bias Reign FC Houston Dash Reign FC Wash. Spirit Orlando Pride Orlando Pride Sky Blue FC

NWSL Site Accuracy

Site Most Bias VS Most Bias For Least Bias
Site Most Bias VS Most Bias For Least Bias
FiveThirtyEight Utah Royals North Carolina Reign
Soccer Club Stats Reign Utah Royals Sky Blue
Backline Soccer Washington Spirit Portland Thorns Houston Dash
Reddit /r/NWSL Utah Royals Chicago Red Stars Houston Dash
RSL Soapbox Houston Dash Utah Royals Washington Spirit
NWSL NA NA NA
Freeborg North Carolina Reign Orlando Pride

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