Friday, October 21, 2005

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).

Comments on "MLS: All Time Rankings"

 

Blogger Unknown said ... (8:00 PM, October 21, 2005) : 

Great post. Thanks for cranking the stats out.

 

post a comment