Wasatch Soccer Sentinel17 of 20 sites published for Week 24. One new site added - Inonit.com has just started doing analytical power rankings and is now included for week 23 as well.
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)
- 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) *No ranking Wk 24
- Power Rankings & More (powerrankingsandmore.com/tag/mls) *No ranking Wk 24
- Seattle Times (seattletimes.com/author/matt-pentz)
- Hot Footy (hotfooty.com/major-league-soccer)
- Sportify (sportify.io/category/analysis)
- Black & Red United (blackandredunited.com)
- CSN Chicago (csnchicago.com/chicago-fire) *No ranking Wk 24
- Inonit.com (inotit.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 - this does mean that it is possible to get an average lower than 20!
Wk24
Wk23
Wk22
Team
Wk24
Avg
Wk23
Avg
Wk22
Avg
Worst
Best
1
1
1
Dallas
2.67
1.50
1.27
5
1
2
4
4
Toronto
2.87
4.75
4.53
6
1
3
2
3
Colorado
3.67
2.69
3.07
6
1
4
3
2
Los Angeles
4.20
2.81
3.00
7
1
5
6
5
New York FC
3.73
5.94
5.40
10
1
6
5
6
New York RB
5.60
5.44
6.53
8
1
7
7
8
Salt Lake
7.93
8.56
7.73
13
5
8
10
10
Kansas City
8.27
10.63
11.27
10
6
9
9
11
Philadelphia
11.00
9.06
11.40
16
7
10
8
7
Montreal
11.53
9.00
7.13
14
8
11
13
14
Seattle
11.60
14.19
15.80
15
7
12
11
12
San Jose
11.93
10.94
12.20
16
8
13
12
9
Portland
13.07
12.06
9.73
15
7
14
14
16
D. C. U.
14.73
15.06
16.60
17
8
15
15
15
Orlando
15.47
16.13
16.27
17
11
16
17
18
Houston
17.13
18.38
18.53
20
12
17
16
13
Vancouver
18.60
16.44
14.73
20
15
18
19
19
Columbus
19.13
20.06
20.53
19
15
19
20
20
Chicago
19.27
20.44
20.73
20
11
20
18
17
New England
20.40
18.81
16.80
20
13
- Largest Rise: Kansas City +2
- Largest Fall: Colorado, Montreal, Seattle, New England -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
Worst
most
bias vs
most
bias for
Who Scored
5
5
5
1
1
3
CHI
VAN -6.01
CHI +5.64
Jeff Sagarin
7
6
4
2
1
0
FCD
NYFC -2.45
HOU +3.40
Sports Club Stats
5
5
6
3
1
0
HOU
POR -4.95
NYFC +3.01
Sports Illustrated
8
5
1
2
3
1
RSL
COL -2.37
SEA +3.75
ESPN
3
6
4
6
1
0
ORL
RSL -2.91
POR +3.21
Soccer America
3
12
2
2
1
0
PHI
NYRB -1.17
CHI +2.48
Major League Soccer
6
12
2
0
0
0
LAG/NYFC
LAG -1.63
TFC +2.70
The Mane Land
6
5
7
1
1
0
NYFC
PHI -2.43
VAN +3.58
Soccer By Ives
9
9
1
1
0
0
SEA
COL -1.71
SEA +2.90
Reddit u/FlyingCarsArePlanes
3
7
4
3
3
0
3@+/-3
FCD -2.57
CLB +4.21
Reddit r/MLS
11
8
1
0
0
0
NYFC
DCU -0.55
VAN +1.22
MLS Fantasy Boss
2
9
4
3
1
1
POR
PHI -3.78
POR +6.44
The Score
NA
COL -1.74
VAN +2.26
Power Rankings & More
NA
TFC -1.96
NYFC +2.63
Seattle Times
6
7
5
1
1
0
MTL
COL -0.74
VAN +2.26
Hot Footy
8
8
1
2
1
0
TFC
NYRB -1.34
SKC +1.92
Sportify
2
7
3
4
2
2
PHI
PHI -3.09
NYRB +3.71
Black & Red United
3
9
3
3
1
1
NER
TFC -3.46
COL +4.00
CSN Chicago
NA
ORL -1.85
SEA +3.18
In On It
6
3
3
4
3
1
NYFC
NER -4.10
NYRB +6.37
- Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) Reddit r/MLS with 11 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 6.01 from avg (improved!).
- Site with Worst Bias FOR: MLS Fantasy Boss with POR 6.44 places from avg (improved!).
- Site with Least Bias VS: Reddit r/MLS with DCU 0.55 places from avg.
- Site with Least Bias FOR: Reddit r/MLS with VAN 1.22 places from avg.
5 Year Average
Season ending power rank averaged over the last 5 years (2 years for ORL & NYCFC).
Team
5 Yr
Avg
Wk
23
Wk
22
Wk
21
Wk
20
Wk
19
5.37
5.37
5.37
5.38
5.39
5.40
5.75
5.76
5.75
5.73
5.73
5.72
6.29
6.28
6.26
6.25
6.23
6.20
7.11
7.11
7.13
7.14
7.17
7.18
7.44
7.49
7.53
7.57
7.63
7.69
7.85
7.89
7.90
7.91
7.88
7.84
8.99
8.94
8.91
8.88
8.67
8.87
10.14
10.12
10.10
10.08
10.04
10.00
10.48
10.45
10.43
10.42
10.40
10.40
10.85
10.87
10.87
10.87
10.86
10.85
11.45
11.46
11.49
11.52
11.54
11.82
11.57
11.57
11.56
11.54
11.52
11.50
11.65
11.60
11.58
11.57
11.55
11.55
11.96
11.95
11.92
11.88
11.84
11.82
12.19
12.23
12.25
12.29
12.29
12.26
12.47
12.43
12.40
12.39
12.39
12.39
12.79
12.77
12.76
12.73
12.70
12.69
13.45
13.62
13.76
13.91
14.11
13.04
13.46
13.40
13.33
13.23
13.18
13.07
14.96
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
24
Week
23
Week
22
Week
21
Week
20
Week
19
LA Galaxy
83.78
83.80
83.77
83.74
83.68
83.62
FC Dallas
80.45
80.44
80.37
80.28
80.17
80.1
Sporting Kansas City
77.84
77.80
77.86
77.96
77.95
78.00
Real Salt Lake
75.88
75.95
76.05
76.10
76.17
76.32
New York Red Bulls
73.23
73.00
72.76
72.57
72.30
72.00
Seattle Sounders
70.58
73.38
70.29
70.28
70.41
70.63
Vancouver Whitecaps
69.41
69.67
69.85
69.98
70.04
70.50
Portland Timbers
66.30
66.44
66.55
66.58
66.68
66.70
Toronto FC
64.08
63.89
63.75
63.59
63.58
63.70
D.C. United
62.41
62.34
62.30
62.31
62.35
62.40
San Jose Earthquakes
62.37
62.46
62.54
62.68
62.88
63.08
Colorado Rapids
61.97
61.89
61.76
61.62
61.51
61.29
New York City FC *
61.15
60.81
60.54
60.23
59.83
59.54
Orlando City *
61.00
61.12
61.27
61.46
61.56
61.78
Montreal Impact
60.73
60.95
61.07
61.12
61.20
61.20
Columbus Crew SC
58.64
58.72
58.86
59.05
59.24
59.38
New England Revolution
58.35
58.55
58.69
58.75
58.76
58.74
Philadelphia Union
57.42
57.55
57.60
57.74
57.88
57.96
Houston Dynamo
55.63
55.63
55.70
55.79
55.89
55.98
Chicago Fire
43.94
43.93
43.98
44.05
44.09
44.16
- Expansion teams points adjusted to compensate - (median of 9 for missing years)
