Analysis: RSL games on Sunday

If you were one of the many fans thinking that Real Salt Lake tends to play worse if the game is on Sunday, you are not alone! What about mid-week games? They’re a bit harder to judge.

Of the 57 games RSL has played on a Sunday, only 17 were wins (30%), 11 were draws (19%) and the remaining 29 were losses (51%). The goal differential for all Sunday games isn’t even close: 63 for, 90 against.

So what about the games during midweek? I looked at those too, but as MLS scheduling is all over the table, ‘midweek’ can count as anything from Monday to Thursday. RSL tends to break even on those games. 128 games played with a 48-51-32 record, with a goal differential of +2.

Here’s a look at the breakdown for each MLS team

• Atlanta United - No Sunday games, 1 midweek game: 0-1-0 -1 GD.
• Austin FC - No Sunday or midweek games yet.
• Charlotte FC - No games played vs Charlotte yet.
• Chicago Fire - 2 Sunday games, both away: 0-1-1 -2 GD. 5 midweek games: 1-2-2 -3 GD.
• Chivas USA - 5 Sunday games, all away: 1-3-1 -2 GD. 6 midweek games: 4-0-2 +9 GD.
• Colorado Rapids - 4 Sunday games, 2 away (win, loss), 2 home (win, tie): 2-1-1 +2 GD. 9 midweek games: 3-5-1 -3 GD.
• Columbus Crew - No Sunday games. 8 midweek games: 4-2-2 +8 GD.
• D.C. United - No Sunday games. 6 midweek games: 1-5-0 -8 GD
• FC Cincinnati - No Sunday or midweek games yet.
• FC Dallas - 2 Sunday games, all away: 0-1-1 -1 GD. 6 midweek games: 1-4-1 -5 GD.
• Houston Dynamo - 4 Sunday games, 3 away (win, loss, draw), 1 home (win) : 2-1-1 +3 GD. 8 midweek games: 3-4-1 -4 GD.
• Los Angeles FC - 2 Sunday games, 1 home, 1 away: 0-2-0 -3 GD. 4 midweek games: 2-2-0 -1 GD.
• L.A. Galaxy - 7 Sunday games, all away: 0-6-1 -11 GD. 19 midweek games: 7-6-6 +4 GD.
• Miami FC - No games played vs Miami yet.
• Minnesota United - 2 Sunday games, all away: 0-1-1 -4 GD. No midweek games played.
• C.F. Montreal - 1 Sunday game, away: 0-1-0 -1 GD. 3 midweek games: 2-1-0 +2 GD.
• Nashville FC - 1 Sunday game, away: 0-1-0 -2 GD. No midweek games.
• New England Revolution - 1 Sunday game, away: 0-1-0 -2 GD. 4 midweek games: 2-1-1 +1 GD.
• New York City FC - 1 Sunday game, away: 0-1-0 -6 GD. 3 midweek games: 2-1-0 +2 GD.
• New York Red Bulls - No Sunday games. 8 midweek games: 3-1-4 +4 GD.
• Orlando City - 2 Sunday games, both away: 0-1-1 -2 GD. No midweek games.
• Philadelphia Union - 1 Sunday game, away: 1-0-0 +1 GD. 2 midweek games: 0-0-2 0 GD.
• Portland Timbers - 3 Sunday games, 2 away (win, loss), 1 home (win): 2-1-0 0 GD. 7 midweek games: 4-2-1 +4 GD.
• San Jose Earthquakes - 3 Sunday games, all away: 2-1-0 +2 GD. 7 midweek games: 3-2-2 +1 GD.
• Seattle Sounders - 4 Sunday games, all away: 0-4-0 -6 GD. 11 midweek games: 1-4-6 -2 GD.
• Sporting Kansas City - 10 Sunday games, 6 home (3 win, 1 loss, 2 draw), 4 away (2 loss, 2 win): 5-2-3 +3 GD. 6 midweek games: 2-4-0 -4 GD.
• Toronto FC - 1 Sunday game, home: 1-0-0 +1 GD. 5 midweek games: 2-2-1 +2 GD.
• Vancouver Whitecaps - 1 Sunday game, away: 1-0-0 +1 GD. 3 midweek games: 1-2-0 -1 GD.

In summary, we have done OK on Sunday vs some teams (SKC), but most others we have a losing record. For midweek, we’ve done best vs LAG with 7 wins, but our worst record is vs the Rapids with 5 games lost. So if MLS can schedule only our Sunday games against SKC, and midweek games against LAG we should do well!

EDIT

For a home / away breakdown, the majority of RSL’s Sunday games have been on the road (47 to 10). As RSL does tend to do worse on the road anyway (55.7% of all road games were losses), the correlation is that RSL would be expected to lose if the Sunday game is away.

For those interested, here’s the full spreadsheet.