MLS: All Time Rankings

Now that the season is over, we can see how this year's teams rank with the league's best and worst of all time. There have now been 110 MLS team seasons, and they are ranked using what I like to call Adjusted Points Per Game (APPG), which simply means that I count shootouts as draws. Any ties were broken by goal differential. OVERALL PREFORMANCE 3-SJ 8-NE 21-DC 38-CHI 41-DAL 42-MET 47-KC 48-COL 50-LA 86-CLB 108-RSL 109-CHV Only the 1998 Galaxy and the 2001 Fusion had better seasons than this year's Earthquakes. Those three teams are the only ones to average 2.00 APPG. The 4 losses is a record too. The Revs had their best season by far, way outpacing their 2003 season (40th). That gives this season two teams in the top ten all time, the only other seasons to match that are 1998 and 2001. The Crew had their worst season ever despite the late surge. They actually had the same record as 2000, but had a worse goal differential. RSL and Chivas posted the third and second worst seasons ever. They just came in ahead of the 2001 Mutiny. The 22 losses by both teams are a new record. GOALS FOR (avg) 22-DC 27t-NE 36t-SJ 36t-MET 39t-DAL 39t-KC 55t-CHI 76t-LA 93t-COL 105-CLB 108-CHV 110-RSL The "t" stands for tie obviously. DC leads the pack, but are still only the 5th best United team in this category. In fact, none of the teams posted their best season ever. That's to be expected since the scoring was really high the first few years. There was one team to post their worst season, the Crew (previously 1997). The Rapids slightly improved on last season, where they finished 109th. Joining the 2004 Rapids as the only teams to average fewer than a goal a game are the two expansion teams. RSL is officially the worst offensive team of all time. GOALS AGAINST (avg) 3-SJ 11t-DC 11t-NE 11t-COL 29t-DAL 29t-KC 37t-LA 37t-CLB 51t-MET 58t-CHI 104-RSL 106-CHV SJ, DC, and NE all posted their best seasons ever here. The Quakes join the 2000 Wizards and the 1999 Galaxy as the only teams to allow fewer than a goal per game. The 2001 Mutiny also hold the record for worst defensive team. They are also tied with Chivas for the worst goal differntial. TOTAL GOALS PER GAME Scoring is down compared to the first few years, and that means that this year's Metros only rank 45th (tie), despite being 2005's leader in this category. The 1998 Rapids and Galaxy are the top two teams, as games involving them averaged over 4 goals per. The Rapids this season are 104th (tie). That's an improvement over last year's team, last by far: only 2.03 goals per game. That team was 109th in offense and 5th (tie) on defense. The 2004 Wizards are the second to last. HOME PREFORMANCE 9-NE 17-SJ 26-LA 31-COL 46-DC 49-DAL 61-CHI 77-MET 82-KC 92-CLB 103-RSL 108-CHV Despite being the first team to go undefeated at home, the Quakes only rank 17th because of 7 draws. Who's the best team? It's the 2002 Quakes, who finished 12-1-1 for 2.64 APPG. Only 17 of 110 teams have had a losing record at home. NE had their best season, while CLB has their worst season. Once again, the 2001 Mutiny rank last. AWAY PREFORMANCE 3-SJ 9-DC 20-NE 21-MET 23-CHI 28-KC 40-DAL 58-CLB 79-COL 85-LA 103-CHV 110-RSL SJ is only behind the 1998 Galaxy and the 1999 DC United teams. SJ and NE had their best years. Only 19 teams have had winning records on the road. RSL is officially the worst road team ever (0.13 APPG), way outpreforming the 1999 Wizards (0.38).