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Original publish date: September 22, 2016

Week 28 Power Ranking Averages

19 of 20 sites (only one missing is a bi-weekly site). Sounders and Revolution on the rise!

19 of 20 sites published for Week 28.

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)
  • Power Rankings & More (powerrankingsandmore.com/tag/mls)
  • 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 - bi-weekly) *No ranking Wk 28
  • 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.

Wk 28

Wk27

Wk26

Team

Wk28
Avg

Wk27
Avg

Wk26
Avg

Worst

Best

1

1

3

Toronto

2.00

1.88

3.85

4

1

2

2

1

Dallas

2.18

2.35

1.38

5

1

3

3

4

Los Angeles

2.65

2.76

4.08

5

1

4

5

2

New York RB

3.94

4.29

3.62

7

1

5

4

7

Colorado

4.71

4.18

6.54

6

3

6

6

5

New York FC

5.59

6.24

4.23

11

4

7

9

11

Portland

8.24

9.47

11.38

11

5

8

7

6

Salt Lake

8.35

6.71

4.46

14

6

9

8

8

Philadelphia

9.47

8.88

8.62

14

7

10

10

10

Kansas City

10.24

10.12

9.38

13

7

11

14

12

Seattle

11.29

12.76

12.31

15

8

12

12

12

D. C. U.

12.24

12.41

12.31

16

7

13

16

17

New England

13.18

16.18

17.92

20

7

14

11

9

Montreal

13.24

10.41

9.00

19

9

15

15

14

San Jose

15.06

15.59

14.15

19

11

16

13

15

Orlando

15.76

12.71

14.23

18

13

17

18

20

Houston

16.76

17.76

18.46

19

10

18

17

19

Vancouver

17.71

16.47

18.15

20

15

19

20

17

Columbus

17.94

19.59

17.92

19

16

20

19

16

Chicago

19.59

18.53

17.31

20

10

  • Largest Rise: Seattle, New England +3
  • Largest Fall: Montreal, Orlando -3

Analytic Site Average

For those interested in seeing how the Analytic Sites differ, here's their averages alone.

Wk28

Wk27

Wk26

Team

Wk28
Avg

Wk27
Avg

Wk26
Avg

Difference

1

1

1

Los Angeles

2.00

1.71

2.00

-2

2

2

4

Toronto

2.43

2.29

3.00

+1

3

3

2

New York RB

2.57

2.71

2.80

-1

4

4

2

Dallas

3.29

3.29

2.80

+2

5

5

6

Colorado

5.14

4.71

6.60

0

6

6

5

New York FC

6.43

7.14

6.00

0

7

8

11

Portland

8.29

8.86

10.60

0

8

9

9

Philadelphia

9.71

9.71

9.00

-1

9

10

10

Kansas City

9.86

9.80

9.80

-1

9

11

12

D. C. U.

9.86

10.71

11.60

-3

11

7

7

Salt Lake

10.00

8.57

7.00

+3

12

14

13

Seattle

11.29

12.86

12.60

+1

13

15

14

San Jose

13.86

15.29

14.00

-2

14

12

8

Montreal

14.57

10.86

8.60

0

15

16

17

Houston

15.00

16.71

17.00

-2

16

13

15

Orlando

15.71

11.71

14.80

0

17

20

20

New England

16.43

18.43

19.80

+4

18

16

19

Vancouver

17.57

16.71

18.60

0

18

18

17

Columbus

17.57

18.86

17.00

0

20

19

16

Chicago

18.29

17.29

15.80

0


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

4

4

6

1

2

3

CHI

VAN -5.85

CHI +5.42

Jeff Sagarin

2

12

2

3

0

1

NER

NYFC -2.58

HOU +2.67

Sports Club Stats

4

9

4

2

0

1

MTL

POR -4.73

NYFC +2.42

Sports Illustrated

6

6

4

2

1

1

NER

COL -2.13

SEA +3.16

ESPN

5

10

2

2

1

0

SJE

RSL -3.00

POR +2.84

Soccer America

6

10

3

0

1

0

PHI

NYRB -1.07

CHI +1.67

Major League Soccer

9

10

1

0

0

0

DCU

LAG -1.67

TFC +2.10

The Mane Land

4

7

4

4

0

1

NER

PHI -2.52

VAN +2.49

Soccer By Ives

4

8

5

2

1

0

DCU

COL -1.44

SEA +2.21

Reddit u/FlyingCarsArePlanes

8

4

3

2

0

3

RSL

RSL -2.90

POR +2.99

Reddit r/MLS

9

9

1

1

0

0

DCU

DCU -1.20

VAN +0.77

MLS Fantasy Boss

4

6

4

3

2

1

MTL

PHI -3.89

POR +5.82

The Score

7

8

4

0

1

0

MTL

COL -1.68

VAN +1.98

Power Rankings & More

10

8

2

0

0

0

DCU/VAN

TFC -2.18

NER +2.01

Seattle Times

7

7

5

1

0

0

CLB

NYRB -1.06

VAN +1.94

Hot Footy

2

12

5

0

1

0

MTL

NYRB -1.66

SKC +1.16

Sportify

2

10

1

3

0

4

HOU

PHI -3.37

NYRB +3.83

Black & Red United

4

8

3

2

3

0

3@+/-4

TFC -3.24

COL +3.50

CSN Chicago

NA

HOU -1.94

RSL +2.73

In On It

1

8

5

4

0

2

NER

NER -4.45

NYRB +5.72

  • Most Accurate Site: (best Exact, with 1 off as tiebreaker) Power Rankings & More with 10 exact matches.
  • Least Accurate Site: (most 5+ with 4 and 3 off as tiebreaker): Sportify.
  • Site with Worst Bias VS: Who Scored with VAN 5.85 from avg.
  • Site with Worst Bias FOR: MLS Fantasy Boss with POR 5.82 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
27

Wk
26

Wk
25

Wk
24

Wk
23

LA Galaxy

5.36

5.36

5.37

5.36

5.35

5.34

Sporting Kansas City

5.70

5.69

5.68

5.68

5.67

5.68

Real Salt Lake

6.24

6.23

6.22

6.24

6.25

6.24

FC Dallas

7.06

7.07

7.07

7.08

7.09

7.10

New York Red Bulls

7.21

7.25

7.29

7.34

7.38

7.43

Seattle Sounders

7.64

7.66

7.68

7.70

7.72

7.76

Vancouver Whitecaps

9.06

9.02

9.00

8.95

8.91

8.87

San Jose Earthquakes

10.26

10.22

10.17

10.14

10.09

10.08

Portland Timbers

10.42

10.43

10.43

10.42

10.40

10.38

D.C. United

10.64

10.66

10.68

10.71

10.74

10.75

Colorado Rapids

11.42

11.42

11.43

11.43

11.44

11.45

Houston Dynamo

11.49

11.49

11.48

11.46

11.59

11.45

Montreal Impact

11.72

11.67

11.64

11.62

11.59

11.56

Columbus Crew SC

11.87

11.86

11.84

11.83

11.83

11.81

Toronto FC

11.98

12.01

12.05

12.08

12.11

12.15

New England Revolution

12.40

12.42

12.42

12.40

12.36

12.33

Philadelphia Union

12.76

12.75

12.74

12.74

12.75

12.73

New York City FC

12.88

12.96

13.05

13.17

13.30

13.46

Orlando City

13.34

13.28

13.28

13.24

13.20

13.15

Chicago Fire

14.83

14.82

14.82

14.83

14.83

14.83

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
28

Week
27

Week
26

Week
25

Week
24

Week
23

LA Galaxy

83.85

83.82

83.79

83.81

83.9

83.92

FC Dallas

80.70

80.67

80.65

80.59

80.53

80.51

Sporting Kansas City

78.09

78.13

78.18

78.20

78.25

78.20

Real Salt Lake

76.14

76.21

76.22

76.15

76.09

76.14

New York Red Bulls

74.38

74.19

73.99

73.75

73.51

73.30

Seattle Sounders

71.62

71.49

71.41

71.30

71.21

71.02

Vancouver Whitecaps

69.09

69.26

69.40

69.62

69.81

70.05

Portland Timbers

66.56

66.51

66.52

66.60

66.66

66.78

Toronto FC

65.11

64.95

64.76

64.64

64.49

64.28

D.C. United

63.47

63.37

63.26

63.14

62.98

62.91

New York City FC *

62.30

62.13

61.96

61.71

61.46

61.14

Colorado Rapids

62.11

62.08

62.03

62.07

62.02

61.94

San Jose Earthquakes

61.78

61.97

62.20

62.38

62.60

62.70

Orlando City *

61.24

61.36

61.38

61.45

61.52

61.62

Montreal Impact

60.38

60.62

60.77

60.87

61.00

61.19

Columbus Crew SC

59.09

59.14

59.26

59.32

59.33

59.40

New England Revolution

58.70

58.61

58.63

58.73

58.89

59.07

Philadelphia Union

57.59

57.64

57.67

57.69

57.65

57.75

Houston Dynamo

56.03

56.05

56.10

56.18

56.23

56.22

Chicago Fire

44.62

44.66

44.65

44.60

44.63

44.60

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