Archived: This article was archived from RSL Soapbox and may contain outdated information.

Original publish date: August 18, 2016

Week 23 Power Ranking Averages

17 of 19 sites published. Philly rises, Timbers & Caps fall.

17 of 19 sites published for Week 23.

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)
  • ESPN (espnfc.us/major-league-soccer)2
  • 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) *No ranking Wk 23
  • 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) *No ranking Wk 23
  • Black & Red United (blackandredunited.com)
  • CSN Chicago (csnchicago.com/chicago-fire)

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. This does mean that it is possible to get an average lower than 20! For previous weeks I've just rounded it up to "20", but for going forward I will list averages as they are.

Wk23

Wk22

Wk21

Team

Wk23

Avg

Wk22

Avg

Wk21

Avg

Worst

Best

1

1

1

Dallas

1.33

1.27

1.25

4

1

2

3

3

Colorado

2.73

3.07

3.56

5

1

3

2

2

Los Angeles

2.93

3.00

2.31

5

1

4

4

8

Toronto

4.87

4.53

7.88

7

2

5

6

5

New York RB

5.53

6.53

5.81

8

3

6

5

4

New York FC

5.73

5.40

4.38

9

3

7

8

6

Salt Lake

8.67

7.73

7.75

13

5

8

11

10

Philadelphia

9.07

11.40

10.94

14

5

9

7

6

Montreal

9.20

7.13

7.75

12

6

10

10

9

Kansas City

10.67

11.27

8.81

12

7

11

12

12

San Jose

11.20

12.20

12.94

14

7

12

9

11

Portland

12.13

9.73

11.44

14

4

13

14

18

Seattle

14.13

15.80

18.75

17

11

14

16

16

D. C. U.

14.93

16.60

17.13

17

9

15

15

14

Orlando

16.27

16.27

14.19

17

9

16

13

13

Vancouver

16.47

14.73

13.31

20

13

17

18

17

Houston

18.67

18.53

18.63

20

14

18

17

15

New England

18.73

16.80

15.63

20

16

19

19

20

Columbus

20.20

20.53

20.44

20

16

20

20

19

Chicago

20.53

20.73

19.94

20

14

  • Largest Rise: Philadelphia +3
  • Largest Fall: Portland, Vancouver -3

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

1

7

5

3

1

3

CHI/RSL

VAN -6.25

DCU +5.58

Jeff Sagarin

4

7

3

5

1

0

SJE

NYFC -2.46

HOU +3.44

Sports Club Stats

3

13

3

1

0

0

HOU

POR -5.06

CHI +2.99

Sports Illustrated

7

7

0

3

2

1

RSL

COL -2.56

SEA +3.65

ESPN

6

4

6

2

0

2

ORL/RSL

RSL -3.01

POR +3.40

Soccer America

7

6

4

2

1

0

PHI

NYRB -1.27

CHI +2.54

Major League Soccer

9

10

1

0

0

0

TFC

COL -1.63

TFC +2.74

The Mane Land

4

10

3

2

1

0

PHI

PHI -2.51

VAN +3.57

Soccer By Ives

7

12

1

0

0

0

MTL

COL -1.89

SEA +2.84

Reddit u/FlyingCarsArePlanes

NA

FCD -2.63

CLB +4.61

Reddit r/MLS

11

8

1

0

0

0

DCU

DCU -0.56

VAN +1.19

MLS Fantasy Boss

3

7

5

3

0

2

POR

PHI -3.93

POR +6.65

The Score

8

8

2

2

0

0

NY FC/RB

COL -1.66

VAN +2.00

Power Rankings & More

9

9

1

1

0

0

PHI

TFC -1.76

NYFC +2.49

Seattle Times

13

3

3

1

0

0

CLB

COL -0.82

VAN +2.27

Hot Footy

9

3

7

1

0

0

NYRB

POR -1.41

SKC +2.00

Sportify

NA

PHI -2.80

POR +3.19

Black & Red United

2

12

4

2

0

0

SJE/TFC

TFC -3.72

COL +4.02

CSN Chicago

7

10

2

0

1

0

POR

ORL -1.96

SEA +3.37

  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) Seattle Times with 13 exact matches.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 5+ with 4 and 3 off as tiebreaker): Who Scored with 3 off by 5+.
  • Site with Worst Bias VS: Who Scored with VAN 6.25 from avg (improved!).
  • Site with Worst Bias FOR: MLS Fantasy Boss with POR 6.65 places from avg (increased).
  • Site with Least Bias VS: Reddit r/MLS with COL 0.56 places from avg.
  • Site with Least Bias FOR: Reddit r/MLS with VAN 1.19 places from avg.

5 Year Average
Season ending power rank averaged over the last 5 years.

Team

5 Yr
Avg*

Wk 22

Wk 21

Wk 20

Wk 19

LA Galaxy

5.37

5.37

5.38

5.39

5.40

Sporting Kansas City

5.76

5.75

5.73

5.73

5.72

Real Salt Lake

6.28

6.26

6.25

6.23

6.20

FC Dallas

7.11

7.13

7.14

7.17

7.18

New York Red Bulls

7.49

7.53

7.57

7.63

7.69

Seattle Sounders

7.88

7.90

7.91

7.88

7.84

Vancouver Whitecaps

8.94

8.91

8.88

8.67

8.87

San Jose Earthquakes

10.12

10.10

10.08

10.04

10.00

Portland Timbers

10.45

10.43

10.42

10.40

10.40

D.C. United

10.86

10.87

10.87

10.86

10.85

Colorado Rapids

11.46

11.49

11.52

11.54

11.82

Houston Dynamo

11.57

11.56

11.54

11.52

11.50

Montreal Impact

11.61

11.58

11.57

11.55

11.55

Columbus Crew SC

11.95

11.92

11.88

11.84

11.82

Toronto FC

12.23

12.25

12.29

12.29

12.26

New England Revolution

12.43

12.40

12.39

12.39

12.39

Philadelphia Union

12.77

12.76

12.73

12.70

12.69

Orlando City

13.41

13.33

13.23

13.18

13.07

New York City FC

13.62

13.76

13.91

14.11

13.04

Chicago Fire

14.97

14.96

14.94

14.93

14.92

FIFA-esque Power Ranking
The 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.

Team

Week
23

Week
22

Week
21

Week

20

Week

19

LA Galaxy

83.80

83.77

83.74

83.68

83.62

FC Dallas

80.45

80.37

80.28

80.17

80.1

Sporting Kansas City

77.80

77.86

77.96

77.95

78.00

Real Salt Lake

75.95

76.05

76.10

76.17

76.32

New York Red Bulls

73.00

72.76

72.57

72.30

72.00

Seattle Sounders

73.39

70.29

70.28

70.41

70.63

Vancouver Whitecaps

69.67

69.85

69.98

70.04

70.50

Portland Timbers

66.44

66.55

66.58

66.68

66.70

Toronto FC

63.88

63.75

63.59

63.58

63.70

San Jose Earthquakes

62.45

62.54

62.68

62.88

63.08

D.C. United

62.35

62.30

62.31

62.35

62.40

Colorado Rapids

61.89

61.76

61.62

61.51

61.29

Orlando City *

61.11

61.27

61.46

61.56

61.78

Montreal Impact

60.94

61.07

61.12

61.20

61.20

New York City FC *

60.82

60.54

60.23

59.83

59.54

Columbus Crew SC

58.72

58.86

59.05

59.24

59.38

New England Revolution

58.56

58.69

58.75

58.76

58.74

Philadelphia Union

57.55

57.60

57.74

57.88

57.96

Houston Dynamo

55.62

55.70

55.79

55.89

55.98

Chicago Fire

43.93

43.98

44.05

44.09

44.16

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