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Original publish date: July 14, 2016

Power Ranking Averages - Week 18

17 if 18 sites published this week, in which Dallas finally overtake the Rapids.

MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 18

17 of 18 sites published for Week 18.

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:

  • Who Scored (whoscored.com)
  • Jeff Sagarin (sagarin.com/sports/soccer.htm)
  • Sports Club Stats (www.sportsclubstats.com/USA/MLS.html)
  • Sports Illustrated (www.soccer.si.com) * No ranking Wk 14-18
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer)
  • SoccerAmerica (socceramerica.com)
  • Major League Soccer (www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings)
  • The Mane Land (themaneland.com)
  • Soccer By Ives (sbisoccer.com/sbi-mls-power-rankings)
  • Reddit user/FlyingCarsArePlanes (User analytic ranking)
  • Reddit r/MLS (reddit.com/r/mls)
  • MLS Fantasy Boss (mlsfantasyboss.com)
  • The Score (thescore.com/mls/news)
  • Seattle Times (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz)
  • Power Rankings & More (powerrankingsandmore.com/tag/mls)
  • Hot Footy (hotfooty.com/major-league-soccer)
  • Sportify (sportify.io/category/analysis)
  • Black & Red United (blackandredunited.com)

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. The 'analytic' sites that are based on numbers make up a control group since they are based on performance and/or results rather than opinion. Each week I'll list the sites closest and furthest from average to show which are more biased than others.

As with previous years, if you know of a site that I have not listed, please let me know in the comments below and I'll add it!


Weekly Power Ranking Averages
Using the "Olympic" method of dropping the highest / lowest scores, and averaging the rest.

Wk18

Wk17

Wk16

Team

Wk18

Avg

Wk17

Avg

Wk16

Avg

Worst

Best

Range

1

2

2

Dallas

1.33

1.93

2.85

3

1

2

2

1

1

Colorado

2.20

1.50

1.08

4

1

3

3

3

5

Los Angeles

3.00

3.93

5.46

5

1

4

4

4

3

Salt Lake

6.13

4.71

4.77

12

4

8

5

7

6

Philadelphia

6.60

8.43

6.54

10

3

7

6

6

7

Montreal

6.80

6.79

8.85

11

3

8

7

5

11

New York FC

7.20

6.21

11.54

15

4

11

8

10

14

Kansas City

8.60

11.14

14.54

11

5

6

9

8

9

Portland

8.67

8.86

9.54

14

3

11

10

9

4

New York RB

10.00

9.21

5.85

11

5

6

11

12

12

Toronto

11.07

12.00

11.69

13

5

8

12

13

10

Vancouver

13.00

13.50

10.85

20

9

11

13

11

8

San Jose

13.73

11.71

8.31

15

10

5

14

14

15

D. C. U.

15.87

14.07

15.77

17

9

8

15

15

13

Orlando

16.20

15.57

12.31

17

11

6

16

17

16

New England

16.60

18.21

17.69

19

13

6

17

16

19

Houston

17.00

17.64

20.00

19

11

8

18

18

18

Seattle

19.60

19.29

19.62

20

15

5

19

19

17

Columbus

19.67

19.43

17.77

20

16

4

20

20

20

Chicago

20.00

20.00

20.00

20

15

5

  • Largest Rise: Philadelphia, Kansas City +2
  • Largest Fall: San Jose -2
  • Largest Range: New York City FC, Portland, Vancouver (11)
  • Smallest Range: Dallas (2)

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 (including Preseason ranking).

Site

Exact

1 off

2 off

3 off

4
off

5+
off

Furthest off

most bias vs

most bias for

Who Scored

2

3

5

2

2

6

VAN

VAN -6.46

CHI +5.77

Jeff Sagarin

8

2

6

1

0

3

NYCFC

POR -2.72

HOU +3.44

Sports Club Stats

2

9

6

1

2

0

ORL/TFC

POR -6.20

CHI +3.59

Sports Illustrated

NA

COL -4.14

SEA +4.94

ESPN

4

7

4

1

2

2

RSL

RSL -3.28

POR +4.17

Soccer America

4

10

3

2

0

1

POR

NYRB -2.09

CHI +2.61

Major League Soccer

7

8

3

1

0

1

MTL

LAG -1.90

TFC +2.51

The Mane Land

6

7

4

1

2

0

PHI/POR

PHI -2.81

VAN +3.51

Soccer By Ives

10

7

2

1

0

0

NER

COL -2.92

SEA +3.31

Reddit u/FlyingCarsArePlanes

3

6

6

3

1

1

POR

FCD -2.57

CLB +4.43

Reddit r/MLS

12

6

2

0

0

0

DCU/NER

COL -0.56

NYFC +1.24

MLS Fantasy Boss

3

6

6

3

0

2

POR

PHI -4.26

POR +6.72

The Score

8

6

3

3

0

0

3@+/-3

COL -2.39

VAN +2.16

Power Rankings & More

5

7

7

1

0

0

NER

TFC -2.05

NYFC +3.03

Seattle Times

11

4

1

4

0

0

4@ +/-3

FCD -1.00

VAN +2.39

Hot Footy

8

7

3

1

1

0

POR

PHI -1.80

SKC +2.18

Sportify

7

4

4

1

1

3

3@+/-5

SKC -3.34

COL +3.80

Black & Red United

11

5

1

3

0

0

3@ +/-3

TFC -4.78

COL +5.83

  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) Reddit r/MLS: with 12 exact matches.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 5+ with 4 and 3 off as tiebreaker): Who Scored with 6 off by 5+.
  • Site with Worst Bias VS: Who Scored with VAN 6.46 from avg.
  • Site with Worst Bias FOR: MLS Fantasy Boss with POR 6.72 places from avg.
  • Site with Least Bias VS: Reddit r/MLS with COL 0.56 places from avg.
  • Site with Least Bias FOR: Reddit r/MLS with NYCFC 1.24 places from avg.

Season Average Power Ranking
The 5 Year Weighted Average is calculated using a variation of the "FIFA method" with the current year counting for 100%, and previous years counting for a decreasing amount. The table is ordered based on the Weighted Points.

Team

Week

18

Week

17

Week

16

5 Yr
Avg*

Weighted
Pts*

Week

17

Week

16

LA Galaxy

3.78

3.83

3.82

5.41

83.57

83.52

83.53

FC Dallas

3.53

3.67

3.77

7.20

80.02

79.88

79.78

Sporting Kansas City

8.91

8.94

8.80

5.69

78.14

78.11

78.25

Real Salt Lake

6.11

6.10

6.19

6.19

76.40

76.41

76.32

New York Red Bulls

11.74

11.86

12.03

7.71

71.86

71.74

71.57

Seattle Sounders

15.71

15.48

15.25

7.82

70.72

70.95

71.18

Vancouver Whitecaps

12.04

11.98

11.89

8.88

69.99

70.05

70.14

Portland Timbers

9.34

9.40

9.43

10.43

66.54

66.48

66.45

Toronto FC

7.72

7.51

7.23

12.22

63.90

64.11

64.39

San Jose Earthquakes

8.45

8.15

7.93

9.96

63.28

63.58

63.80

D.C. United

16.22

16.25

16.39

10.86

62.36

62.33

62.19

Orlando City *

11.62

11.36

11.10

10.57

62.09

62.35

62.61

Montreal Impact

5.83

5.77

5.71

11.52

61.38

61.44

61.50

Colorado Rapids

6.55

6.80

7.13

11.64

61.00

60.75

60.42

Columbus Crew SC

16.03

15.83

15.61

11.78

59.57

59.77

59.99

New York City FC *

13.50

13.87

14.35

11.19

59.08

58.71

58.23

New England Revolution

15.50

15.43

15.25

12.39

58.75

58.82

59.00

Philadelphia Union

7.93

7.99

7.96

12.70

57.9

57.84

57.87

Houston Dynamo

16.33

16.30

16.21

11.47

56.12

56.15

56.24

Chicago Fire

19.05

18.96

18.86

14.91

44.20

44.29

44.39

  • Expansion teams points adjusted to compensate - (median of 9 for missing years)