Archived: This article was archived from RSL Soapbox and may contain outdated information.

Original publish date: August 8, 2019

MLS Power Ranking Averages - Week 22

LAFC remain on top, Philly and RSL make a large moves up.

13 of 17 sites updated this week, and some that missed last week managed to get in retroactively, and one ‘dead’ site has returned to life; so last week’s totals and positions have been updated. Los Angeles FC maintain their run in first for the 18th week, and 2nd place changes yet again leaving no one to challenge.

As always, if you know of a site I have not used please let me know in the comments and I’ll look into adding it!

Sites Used

You may notice the list includes several ‘analytic’ sites; they serve to function as a stable counterbalance or ‘control group’ to the rest which are based more on personal opinions, and those done by ‘team’ blogs. There are also sites included that some will argue are ‘prediction rankings’ - but that also is a form of Power Ranking is (see the quote at the top).

All the averages use the Olympic method (I.E. Truncated Mean value) of dropping the highest and lowest scores, and then averaging the rest to reduce bias.

The 7 year weighted average is the averages that decrease in value over time. Thus 2019 will be worth 100%, 2018 = 90%, 2017 = 80% and so on down. Thus a bad year 4 years ago won’t drag down positive recent years. For expansion teams that don’t have long histories, they are given the overall league average for that year.

PlaceTeamWk 33Wk 34Wk BestWk WorstStd. Dev2022 Avg5-yr avg
21Atlanta United FC20.6720.8610254.4617.611.0832
5Austin FC5.226.145174.027.212.992
23Charlotte FC2021.7116273.6122.814.784
24Chicago Fire23.5622.7117242.1720.719.678
10Cincinnati (FC)11.119.577131.8717.519.634
18Colorado Rapids20.4418.7114222.651615.666
12Columbus Crew SC8.8912.714163.7611.310.859
28D.C. United28282828024.517.176
6Dallas (FC)5.896.294163.828.511.1342
26Houston Dynamo24.5625.4324270.882217.22
15Inter Miami CF1415.1411213.9121.317.622
9L.A. Galaxy10.338.576122.069.811.408
2Los Angeles FC1.561.71130.6725.5268
11Minnesota United FC15.2212.147172.931112.076
3Montreal (CF)332123.0610.214.52
7Nashville SC8.116.864101.968.711.874
17New England Revolution2018.296234.7714.712.164
4New York City FC6.334.863102.116.66.5156
8New York RB7.117.295101.586.49.5228
16Orlando City SC14.1115.8613233.8713.513.312
1Philadelphia Union1.441.29120.52.56.902
14Portland Timbers11.67147162.7913.811.134
13Real Salt Lake14.44139151.7910.813.31
25San Jose Earthquakes2524.4319262.6523.818.838
19Seattle Sounders FC19.4419.4312233.9113.97.384
22Sporting Kansas City20.2221.1416263.1423.510.9248
27Toronto FC25.6726.4320272.5421.714.724
20Vancouver Whitecaps FC18.5620.1416253.4922.619.364
  • Highest Standard Deviation: San Jose Earthquakes at 4.65
  • Lowest Standard Deviation: Los Angeles FC 0.0
  • Biggest Rise: Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake - Up 4
  • Biggest Fall: Houston Dynamo, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders - Down 3

Site Bias

All sites are going to have bias, whether conscious (blogs) or due to analytic calculation (based on past performance). This section lets you see the extent that sites are biased for/against teams.

Team / SiteAVGJeff Sagarin538Who ScoredESPNMasseySoc. AmerMLSSonny MooreFreeborgMLS Multiplex3rd deg.US Soc. PlayersAVGTeam / Site
Atlanta United FC15.5-0.5-0.971.572.831.90.282.19-1.875.671.815.641.115.5ATL
Chicago Fire18.66-0.47-0.59-3.661.091.012.91.344.590.262.843.343.9418.66CHI
Colorado Rapids14.04-0.481.83-5.511.04-0.241.741.594.4-2.873.652.253.9614.04COL
Columbus Crew SC4.714.42-0.980.89-0.210.09-2.04-1.084.421.71-1.271.860.294.71CLB
D.C. United20.480.583.59-0.680.692.320.963.02-0.982.520.214.381.3220.48DCU
FC Cincinnati22.342.723.061.861.991.33-1.450.971.790.410.72-0.91-0.1422.34CIN
FC Dallas9.94-1.25-0.01-2.942.390.130.621.75-2.94-0.274.442.775.069.94FCD
Houston Dynamo17.460.792.670.470.29-2.262.212.29-1.77-0.791.792.25-0.0617.46HOU
Inter Miami CF6.514.86-0.02-0.422.36-0.222.551.74-6.89-2.724.242.682.116.51MIA
Los Angeles FC15.67-1.88-1.981.962.990.89-0.41.24-2.959.071.681.35-1.1115.67LAFC
L.A. Galaxy6.861.77-1.67-4.40.832.13-2.342.210.464.331.08-3.380.936.86LAG
Minnesota United FC15.85-1.112.87-4.133.64-1.530.252.58-0.232.061.080.711.1415.85MUFC
Montreal Impact12.242.652.55-1.25-0.852.820.591.285.09-1.02-0.22-0.56-0.6512.24MTL
Nashville SC9.151.561.852.18-0.82-2.953.18-0.380.060.431.992.891.389.15NASH
N.E. Revolution13.884.451.430.36-2.411.76-0.24-0.113.32-1.41-0.81.76-1.8413.88NER
New York City FC7.92-0.650.783.520.68-0.684.96-0.15-1.15-2.481.66-1.86-0.957.92NYFC
New York RB13.881.120.59-1.28-0.462.521.341.181.811.95-0.826.125.3213.88NYRB
Orlando City SC7.92-0.292.355.21-0.92-2.851.640.141.64-2.75-0.110.371.087.92ORL
Philadelphia Union3.86-0.61-0.863.940.22-0.730.92-0.3-0.8-1.940.771.851.743.86PHI
Portland Timbers7.53-0.972.28.80.64-3.531.03-1.281.724.72-0.9-4.39-1.137.53POR
Real Salt Lake15.16-1.411.041.643.342.910.620.65-1.11.171.470.411.0415.16RSL
San Jose Earthquakes17.050.010.288.080.622.82-0.271.082.952.780.2-1.62-4.2517.05SJE
Seattle Sounders FC4.1-0.790.9-0.170.233.570.23-0.6-0.971.980.34-1.24-0.14.1SEA
Sporting Kansas City7.643.74-0.51-0.171.861.831.250.174.74-0.22-1.51-0.21-0.647.64SKC
Toronto FC4.421.46-1.553.05-0.754.45-0.75-1.482.58-0.17-1.79-2.424.184.42TFC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC21.041.592.432.360.043.891.41.273.4-1.12-1.23-2.75-2.6421.04VAN
X Team / SiteAVGSagarin538Who ScoredESPNMasseySoc. AmerMLSSonny MooreFreeborgMLS Multiplex3rd deg.US Soc. PlayersAVGTeam / Site

Site Accuracy

Just a little table to show how far each site deviated from the week’s average.

SiteMost Bias VSMost Bias ForLeast Bias
Jeff SagarinSJESKCVAN
FiveThirtyEightSJEATLCLB
Who ScoredPORDCUNYFC
ESPNPORNERFCD
MasseyNYRBPORNER
Soccer AmericaPORHOUCLB
MLS SoccerDCUCOLHOU
MLS Fantasy BossMUFCSKCDCU
Reddit /r/mlsRSLNYRBDCU
Dallas NewsMTLTFCSEA
ProSoccerUSANYFCCOLSJE
Big D SoccerDCUTFCSKC
AJCNYFCMTLCIN
Cincinnati Soccer TalkPORHOUSJE
Freeborg Power IndexNYRBPORORL
In On ItMUFCSKCHOU
US Soccer PlayersORLNERATL
  • Most Accurate: Cincinnati Soccer Talk with 8 exactly on average, and 10 off by 1 (tiebreaker).
  • Least Accurate: In On It with 7 off by 6+.