BASAs: Old Player of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Jason Kreis 4 3 29 2 Chris Armas 1 5 2 22 3 Pat Onstad 3 1 1 19 4 Tony Sanneh 2 4 14 4 Claudio Suarez 1 3 14 6 Juan Francisco Palencia 1 1 3 11 7 Preston Burpo 1 1 1 9 8 Chris Henderson 1 1 6 9 Diego Gutierrez 1 5 10 Youri Djorkaeff 1 3 11 Cobi Jones 2 2 12 Scott Garlick 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) Last year I thought it would be fun to create the opposite of the Young Player award that's become a common thing in soccer, and so the Old Player award was born. The cut off date is July 1. Young players had to be under 23 on that day to be eligible, and I thought that exactly ten years later would be a good definition for old players. So this award was for MLS players 33 and over on July 1, 2006. I definitely don't agree with this result. Kreis was very good last year, but not so much in 2006. Maybe this award is the like the Grammy's where they basically honor a band for their whole career even though it's supposed to be for one album. Armas and Onstad put up a good fight, but some late votes for Kreis put him in front. I really think that any of the next four players would've been a better choice. Not only that, but how could anyone vote for Burpo over Onstad? I would take Bo Oshoniyi over Burpo. The 2005 winner Djorkaeff's year was very bad as well. Speaking of Oshoniyi, he was one of the few players eligible who did not receive votes. There were 19 total up for it, and 12 received votes. From this list, the eligible are Onstad through Jose Manuel Abundis. The others who did not receive a vote in addition to Oshoniyi and Abundis are Meola/Hislop/Llamosa/Hendrickson/Valakari. Kinda surprising that Valakari didn't get a vote with FC Dallas' success. Kreis and Armas were both newly eligible, turning 33 late last year. Next year 12 more players will be in the running, including Jaime Moreno, Ante Razov, and Steve Ralston. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year (Jonathan Bornstein) 10/26-Defender of the Year (Bobby Boswell) 10/27-Young Player of the Year (Kenny Cooper) 10/30-Midfielder of the Year (Christian Gomez) 10/31-Old Player of the Year (Jason Kreis) 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

BASAs: Midfielder of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Christian Gomez 15 75 2 Dwayne De Rosario 12 1 37 3 Amado Guevara 2 6 4 Clint Dempsey 1 2 5 5 Landon Donovan 2 2 5 Andy Dorman 2 2 5 Juan Pablo Garcia 2 2 8 Chris Armas 1 1 8 Ricardo Clark 1 1 8 Terry Cooke 1 1 8 Ivan Guerrero 1 1 8 Justin Mapp 1 1 8 Ronnie O'Brien 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) The very first unanimous BASA, and well deserved at that. Second place was also no contest, and the rest were left to fight for whatever scraps remained. Even though it's just meager support, Guevara doesn't deserve the third place spot. He was much better last year. There really wasn't a clear third choice and this vote reflects that. The top two switched places from last year, where De Rosario won and Gomez was second (tied with Shalrie Joseph). BTW, MLS this year and last year now uses "De Rosario" instead of DeRosario. I wonder if they just screwed up and didn't change it for a while (probably). Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year (Jonathan Bornstein) 10/26-Defender of the Year (Bobby Boswell) 10/27-Young Player of the Year (Kenny Cooper) 10/30-Midfielder of the Year (Christian Gomez) 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

2006 MLS Team MVPs

If you haven't been scouring various articles over the past couple of weeks, here's the full list: CHI-Andy Herron CHV-Ante Razov CLB-Marcos Gonzalez COL-Nicolas Hernandez DAL-Kenny Cooper DC-Christian Gomez HOU-Dwayne De Rosario KC-Jose Burciaga LA-Landon Donovan NE-Matt Reis NY-Amado Guevara RSL-Jeff Cunningham Cooper instead of Carlos Ruiz is interesting. To me, the one that really seems weird is Hernandez for the Rapids. You would've expected Kyle Beckerman or Terry Cooke instead. I would comment on the Crew and Gonzalez, but I can't think of a player that stands out for them. It's good to see that there's not a bunch of questionable decisions like last year. Oh, and I never did find out who won for Chivas last year. Email me if you know.

BASAs: Young Player of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Kenny Cooper 11 2 57 2 Freddy Adu 2 3 3 22 3 Jonathan Bornstein 1 3 2 16 4 Justin Mapp 1 2 11 5 Michael Parkhurst 3 1 10 6 Marvell Wynne 2 2 8 7 Nate Sturgis 1 3 7 Francisco Mendoza 1 3 9 Sacha Kljestan 1 1 9 Ramon Nunez 1 1 9 Dasan Robinson 1 1 9 Willis Forko 1 1 9 Josmer Altidore 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) Probably my favorite award of the BASAs (along with Old Player) simply because there isn't an official MLS version of it. It's an award that's given out in England, at the World Cup, and elsewhere, but it's unheard of in American soccer. The traditional age limit is 23, and I picked a cut off date of July 1st. Why that date? That's the date used in baseball to determine what age a player is for that season among statisticians, since it's about the halfway point of MLB. That's pretty much the case in MLS as well, so I used it for this award. On this list of MLS players sorted by age, everyone U23 on July 1 is eligible (Jeff Curtin through Josmer Altidore). Since there's no official equivalent, there's no nominees or discussion to influence peoples' voting. Also, depending on how serious the bloggers took the BASAs, they may have overlooked somebody on the list. Just named the FC Dallas team mvp, Cooper was the easy choice. Adu gets decent support and takes second over the best rookie Bornstein. If he sticks around, I'm sure he'll win it eventually. Freddy still has five more years of eligibility! I would've thought Nunez might've got more support. Some notable players who were shut out completely include Eddie Gaven, Eddie Johnson, Chad Marshall, and Santino Quaranta. Also, I guess that the people who liked Wynne really liked him, because he did better here than several of his fellow rookies (he finished 5th in that award). Let's talk about eligibility. I already mentioned Adu, but Cooper is eligible next year as well. Next year there''ll be a chance of a repeat, unlike this year. Last year's winner Clint Dempsey was out of the running this year. Who becomes ineligible next season? Johnson and Parkhurst are the biggest names. Not a lot of talent compared to the ones that will drop off for 2008. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year (Jonathan Bornstein) 10/26-Defender of the Year (Bobby Boswell) 10/27-Young Player of the Year (Kenny Cooper) 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

BASAs: Defender of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Bobby Boswell 8 3 43 2 Jose Burciaga 3 2 2 23 3 Facundo Erpen 4 12 4 Chris Albright 3 2 11 5 Eddie Robinson 1 1 6 5 C.J. Brown 2 6 7 Pablo Mastroeni 1 5 7 Claudio Suarez 1 5 7 Michael Parkhurst 1 5 7 Craig Waibel 1 2 5 11 Tony Sanneh 1 1 4 12 Jimmy Conrad 1 3 12 Greg Vanney 1 3 14 Bryan Namoff 1 1 14 Aitor Karanka 1 1 14 Marvell Wynne 1 1 14 Ugo Ihemelu 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) Defender of the Year is possibly the most interesting award. That's because without the benefit of stats, it's hard to judge defensive abilities (especially as a casual observer). As someone who didn't grow up with the game (except for a youth league), it took me a couple years to get a good tactical sense of soccer. Plus, you have to watch a lot of games to get a good sense of every team in the league. So that's the explanation of why 17 different players from 10 different teams received votes (no Columbus/RSL). Just like last year, only the winner was named on half the ballots. Boswell is the runaway winner here and he just won the official award as well. Everyone expected that. After him is where it gets interesting. Burciaga and Conrad were the two other official MLS finalists. Burcaiga is the runner up here, but Conrad only received one second-place vote. IMO, this is the more accurate position for him as he may have got that nomination on reputation alone (I don't believe they released the voting results like last year). How does a team ranked 10th in goals allowed get two guys in the running for best defender? The best defenses in the league this year belonged to New England, Los Angeles, and DC United in that order. Despite that, virtually no support for Revs guys. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year (Jonathan Bornstein) 10/26-Defender of the Year (Bobby Boswell) 10/27-Young Player of the Year 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

BASAs: Rookie of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Jonathan Bornstein 14 1 73 2 Sacha Kljestan 7 21 3 Mehdi Ballouchy 1 2 6 17 4 Dasan Robinson 3 3 12 5 Marvell Wynne 1 4 7 6 Josmer Altidore 1 3 7 Jacob Peterson 2 2 (5-3-1 scoring system) A near unanimous vote as Bornstein wins to no one's surprise. The race for second was closer; Kljestan took it despite appearing on fewer ballots than Ballouchy. A 1-2 sweep for Chivas. No votes for three guys who got a lot of playing time: Willis Forko, Jason Garey, and Nathan Sturgis. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year (Jonathan Bornstein) 10/26-Defender of the Year 10/27-Young Player of the Year 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

Team Breakdowns: 2006 vs 2005

This post will take a look at how each MLS team has preformed this season in terms of PPG, goals scored, and goals allowed. I'll also compare it to last season to see how things have changed. Here's the 2005 vs 2004 post I made a year ago. First things first. The average PPG per team leaguewide was 1.354 this year compared to 1.385 last year, slightly lower due to more draws. Also, there were exactly 0.25 fewer goals per game scored this season. The average goals scored and conceded during a game was 1.31. So that's the benchmark for an average offense or defense. Overall, this year saw Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake become respectable teams, rising up from the deep depths of suckyness they were at in 2005. After you take that into account, very few other teams show improvement. That's because having two really bad teams made everyone else look better in the stats last year. The all time ranks are done by PPG, with shootouts counting as draws. CHICAGO OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.53 1.53 1.56 2006 1.47 1.34 1.28 The first column is PPG, while the others are goals per game. Despite the decent season last year, the Fire allowed more goals than they scored. In 2006, the defense was much more solid. Jesse Marsch was effectively replaced by Diego Gutierrez, while Tony Sanneh finally played up to his abilities. With a better defense there's less of a need for offense. 2006 All Time Rank: 7th out of 9 seasons CHIVAS USA OVR OFF DEF 2005 0.56 0.97 2.09 2006 1.34 1.41 1.31 I don't think much needs to be said here. Despite the dramatic turnaround, the 2006 goats only have the 4th best improvement in league history (2000 Metros are 1st). Bob Bradley's three year tenure with the Metrostars wasn't even that bad. His worst season there was in 2004 where they averaged 1.33 PPG, or pretty much exactly the same as this year's Chivas team. 2006 All Time Rank: 1st out of 2 seasons COLORADO OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.41 1.25 1.16 2006 1.28 1.13 1.53 The Rapids are a team that is always underrated, yet nearly always manage to make the playoffs. They still made it this year, but it was a worse team than usual for them. Last year was the only year that they had a positive goal differential, so it's back to normalcy for them. In a year where goals scored dropped by a good amount, it makes their defensive decline even more pronounced. Maybe they could've used Nat Borchers and Ritchie Kotschau. On the other hand, they still managed to score goals when they needed to. Only one time id they win by more than one goal, whereas they lost by three goals five times. 2006 All Time Rank: 9th out of 11 seasons COLUMBUS OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.19 1.06 1.41 2006 1.03 0.94 1.31 Yeah, things became even worse for the Crew despite the signing of Sigi Schmid. His Galaxy teams were excellent on defense, so I expected an improvement there (although it's not as big as I would've imagined). But after numerous injuries and the trade of Edson Buddle, they were extremely bad at scoring. They ended up tied with last year's RSL team as the worst offensively in league history. 2006 All Time Rank: 11th out of 11 seasons DALLAS OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.50 1.63 1.38 2006 1.63 1.50 1.38 Basically the same season as last year, except they didn't swoon quite as much in the second half. They appear to have a deeper squad, although that's somewhat due to the lack of injuries compared to 2005. Kenny Cooper has been great, but Ronnie O'Brien hasn't had the magic touch and has only scored once (down from six goals a year ago). 2006 All Time Rank: 2nd out of 11 seasons DC UNITED OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.69 1.81 1.16 2006 1.72 1.63 1.19 Despite the amazing start to the season, this year's DC team barely finished with a better record than last year's, and declined on both offense and defense. They missed their chance to be the best MLS team ever, but have still put together a phenomenal year even by their standards. 2006 All Time Rank: 4th out of 11 seasons HOUSTON OVR OFF DEF 2005 2.00 1.66 0.97 2006 1.44 1.38 1.25 The history is officially separate from that of the San Jose Earthquakes, but it's fine to compare them to last year's team. The Dynamo suffered a massive decline, and it's no shock considering that they had the third best MLS record ever last year. It would be the 8th worst decline overall in league history if the histories were the same. There was nowhere else to go but down, but they still did pretty good. They declined by exactly the same amount on offense and defense; how often does that happen? As for the players, Ryan Cochrane is no Danny Califf. Also, they suffered when their star forward Brian Ching was out of the lineup, getting only a point per game in the 11 games he missed. 2006 All Time Rank: 1st out of 1 season KANSAS CITY OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.41 1.63 1.38 2006 1.19 1.34 1.41 Let's see, no Eddie Johnson or Josh Wolff due to the World Cup, and for all intents and purposes they weren't there for the rest of the season either. Thank god for Scott Sealy. Both of these Wizards teams missed the playoffs, but as you can see there's a huge difference in the results. They went from the 7th best team in MLS to the 11th. They also missed Jimmy Conrad, although that didn't seem to matter. They only won 3/15 games with him in the lineup. 2006 All Time Rank: 9th out of 11 seasons LOS ANGELES OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.41 1.38 1.41 2006 1.22 1.16 1.16 Steve Sampson is out and so is the playoff streak. Just like last year, the Galaxy lived and died based on Landon Donovan. Two points in the eight games he (and Chris Albright) missed. And despite all the anger among fans, they only dropped six points and one spot on the overall table from their double winning team. They just have extremely high standards due to their success. Imagine if they had a five win season? 2006 All Time Rank: 10th out of 11 seasons NEW ENGLAND OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.84 1.72 1.16 2006 1.50 1.22 1.09 Offense way down probably due to Pat Noonan's ineffectiveness. Best defensive team in the league though. Steve Nicol's got his men working as a disciplined unit, although that hasn't helped him come playoff time where they always seem to end up a goal short. Recovered at the end just like the Revs of recent years. 2006 All Time Rank: 3rd out of 11 seasons NEW YORK OVR OFF DEF 2005 1.47 1.66 1.53 2006 1.22 1.28 1.28 Seems amazing that the Red Bulls are so improved defensively. They went from 9th to 5th in the league. Goal differential is back to zero though, as numerous departures and lesser seasons from Amado Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff took a toll. Bruce Arena's didn't do much in terms of performance while he was coaching (PPG: 1.25 vs 1.20). 2006 All Time Rank: 8th out of 11 seasons REAL SALT LAKE OVR OFF DEF 2005 0.63 0.94 2.03 2006 1.22 1.41 1.53 Way better, and still not great. In other words they lived up to expectations. The offense became respectable (3rd best) while the defense still sucked (tied for last). That has to be the focus for next year. The young kids aren't good enough. 2006 All Time Rank: 1st out of 2 seasons LEAGUEWIDE Overall Improvement/Decline (PPG) 1 Chivas USA 0.78 2 Real Salt Lake 0.59 3 Dallas 0.13 4 DC United 0.03 5 Chicago -0.06 6 Colorado -0.13 7 Columbus -0.16 8 Los Angeles -0.19 9 Kansas City -0.22 10 New York -0.25 11 New England -0.34 12 Houston -0.56 Offensive Improvement/Decline (goals scored) 1 Real Salt Lake 0.47 2 Chivas USA 0.44 3 Colorado -0.13 3 Columbus -0.13 3 Dallas -0.13 6 Chicago -0.19 6 DC United -0.19 8 Los Angeles -0.22 9 Houston -0.28 9 Kansas City -0.28 11 New York -0.38 12 New England -0.50 Defensive Improvement/Decline (goals allowed) 1 Chivas USA -0.78 2 Real Salt Lake -0.50 3 Chicago -0.28 4 Los Angeles -0.25 4 New York -0.25 6 Columbus -0.09 7 New England -0.06 8 Dallas 0.00 9 Kansas City 0.03 9 DC United 0.03 11 Houston 0.28 12 Colorado 0.38 (negative numbers are on top here because that means they allowed fewer goals)

BASAs: Coach of the Year

1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Bob Bradley 7 7 56 2 Peter Nowak 7 2 3 44 3 Dave Sarachan 1 2 7 18 4 Colin Clarke 3 1 10 5 Dominic Kinnear 1 1 4 6 Frank Yallop 2 2 7 Richie Williams 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) Another close race. The top two received the same number of first place votes, but Bradley got more second places and wins the coach of the year BASA. He'll also likely win it in real life for leading Chivas out of the cellar and into the playoffs. Sarachan was named on ten ballots and wins third despite Chicago actually having a worse record than last year. Guess the second half matters more than the first, or Clarke might've got those votes. Also, no votes for Steve Nicol despite the third best record in the league or John Ellinger for an improvement almost as great as Bradley's. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year (Bob Bradley) 10/25-Rookie of the Year 10/26-Defender of the Year 10/27-Young Player of the Year 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

BASAs: Goalkeeper of the Year

Welcome to the 2006 BASAs, which stands for Blogosphere American Soccer Awards. I wanted to see how the opinions of US soccer bloggers compared to the real awards, and now I have the results, to be revealed one per day. This is the second year I've done this. Let's get started: 1st 2nd 3rd Points 1 Troy Perkins 6 8 1 55 2 Matt Reis 7 5 1 51 3 Joe Cannon 1 2 2 13 4 Kevin Hartman 1 7 12 5 Dario Sala 2 2 6 Jon Conway 1 1 6 Preston Burpo 1 1 (5-3-1 scoring system) This was a very close vote. Despite receiving fewer first place votes, Perkins was named on every ballot and prevails over Reis, who was left off by two voters. Perkins was just announced as the official award winner this past Thursday, and now he's the first BASA award winner of 2006. Hartman was named on over half the ballots, which is surprising to me. However, he still finished behind Cannon in the race for third, which means that the top three here are the same as the three official MLS finalists. I'm also very surprised that Pat Onstad, last year's winner, did not receive a single vote. Results Schedule 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year (Troy Perkins) 10/24-Coach of the Year 10/25-Rookie of the Year 10/26-Defender of the Year 10/27-Young Player of the Year 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

BASAs Results Schedule

Well, this year 15 American soccer blogs returned their ballots, an increase over 12 last year. Thanks to all those who replied. I sent out way more than last year, so the turnout is somewhat disappointing. Here are the participating blogs: 116street Soccer American Soccer Blog Climbing the Ladder DCenters, The Desert Crown du Nord From College to the Pros James and the Giant Blog Kin Of Fish, The My Soccer Blog My Very Brain Pseudo Corner Kick Quarter Volley Real Salt lake Blog We Call It Soccer Here's the schedule for the results to be announced: 10/23-Goalkeeper of the Year 10/24-Coach of the Year 10/25-Rookie of the Year 10/26-Defender of the Year 10/27-Young Player of the Year 10/30-Midfielder of the Year 10/31-Old Player of the Year 11/1-Forward of the Year 11/2-Favorite MLS Player 11/3-Most Annoying US Soccer Personality 11/6-Best XI 11/7-USMNT Player of the Year 11/8-MLS Player of the Year

The New MPF

WOF: Wizards Offseason Fever Better or worse than Metrostars Playoff Fever? Interestingly enough, the New York Red Bulls haven't missed the playoffs since 2003 when they started that campaign. Picture comes from the Kansas City "dog day" they had this year. Also, I regret putting the apostrophe in there. Oops.

The Myth of the Low Scoring Playoffs

Last season in MLS, we were treated to playoffs that saw numerous upsets culminating in the worst team in the running, the Los Angeles Galaxy, taking the championship. Unpredictable, yes. Too many teams? An unfair system? Possibly. You can make plenty of arguments that the current system is not optimal. However, the one thing I will not even listen to is the argument that the playoffs are low scoring. After two scoreless draws in the opening weekend (COL-DAL, CHI-DC), people started complaining about the lack of goals, and blamed the system. 'It encourages teams to bunker in the first game,' they said. Yes, last season's playoffs were low scoring, that's a fact. And yes, over past three years the aggregate quarterfinal series have been lower scoring than the single elimination games (2.29 vs 3.22). However, last year it was the exact opposite as the knockout games were devoid of goals, and it's important to note that there's been only 9 knockout games vs 24 aggregate games. The current system has only been around for three years. That's not a long time, and I think overall it's a little too early to make any judgments there. Especially since the first two years saw their fair share of goals. It's short-sighted to consider the playoff system as broken, because last year was the exception to the rule. Last season's playoffs had a goals per game average of 2.09, way lower than the regular season average of 2.87. However, that decrease of 27% was the largest in MLS history by 10%. Let's look at why the MLS playoffs are not low scoring: 1) It is normal for scoring to drop in the playoffs in MLS. In eight of ten seasons, the amount of scoring in the playoffs has been less than in the regular season. The exceptions were 1999 and 2003. Overall, the average playoff game has 7.4% fewer goals than the average regular season game. In 2006, MLS has averaged 2.62 goals per game. If that pattern holds, this year's postseason should average 2.43. Keep that in mind before you start complaining. A history of MLS regular season and playoff scoring: MLS Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1996 3.37 3.12 -0.25 -7.5% 1997 3.26 2.77 -0.49 -15.1% 1998 3.57 3.14 -0.42 -11.9% 1999 2.86 3.06 0.20 7.1% 2000 3.19 2.94 -0.25 -7.8% 2001 3.28 2.72 -0.56 -17.1% 2002 3.01 3.00 -0.01 -0.2% 2003 2.89 3.00 0.11 3.9% 2004 2.61 2.55 -0.07 -2.6% 2005 2.87 2.09 -0.78 -27.1% OVR 3.10 2.87 -0.23 -7.4% As you can see here, two of the "best" four years came in 2003 and 2004, the first two years of the new system. So unless there's another big decrease this year, I would say last year was the exception. It seems to balance out overall. Take a look at this table showing how the three MLS playoff formats compare: MLS Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1996-9 3.26 3.03 -0.23 -7.0% 2000-2 3.17 2.88 -0.28 -9.0% 2003-5 2.80 2.55 -0.25 -9.0% Basically the exact same thing on the field. Of course, the current system makes it much easier off the field with no Wednesday games, no "if necessary" games, and knowing the dates ahead of time. 2) It is normal for scoring to drop in the playoffs in American sports. It's pretty much the industry standard. I went and collected the scoring data for the major sports leagues in the USA over the last ten seasons, to compare to what's happened in MLS. I also included the World Cup's difference between the group stage and knockout round (1998-2006). Check it out: Reg PO Diff PCT Diff NFL 41.5 43.0 1.48 3.6% WNBA 137.4 134.7 -2.66 -1.9% NBA 191.2 185.3 -5.98 -3.1% MLS 3.10 2.87 -0.23 -7.4% NHL 5.45 4.97 -0.48 -8.9% MLB 9.67 8.57 -1.10 -11.4% WC 2.59 2.21 -0.38 -14.7% Other than the NFL, all show a decrease. That makes sense because bad teams don't make the playoffs (usually). MLB had a decrease in 8/10 years, WNBA in 8/10, NBA in 9/10, NHL in 9/9. Again, this is a normal thing in sports. MLS is not alone. Here's the individual data for each league: (some WNBA figures may be slightly off because for a few seasons I could only find team averages and not actual total points) MLB Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1996 10.1 8.4 -1.7 -16.6% 1997 9.5 8.4 -1.1 -11.8% 1998 9.6 7.2 -2.4 -24.6% 1999 10.2 9.0 -1.1 -11.2% 2000 10.3 8.3 -2.0 -19.4% 2001 9.6 6.8 -2.7 -28.5% 2002 9.2 10.3 1.1 11.4% 2003 9.5 8.1 -1.4 -14.9% 2004 9.6 10.4 0.8 7.8% 2005 9.2 8.7 -0.5 -4.9% OVR 9.7 8.6 -1.10 -11.4% NBA Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1997 193.8 188.0 -5.8 -3.0% 1998 191.1 182.5 -8.7 -4.5% 1999 183.2 175.2 -7.9 -4.3% 2000 194.9 183.7 -11.3 -5.8% 2001 189.6 187.2 -2.4 -1.3% 2002 191.0 188.5 -2.5 -1.3% 2003 190.2 179.5 -10.7 -5.6% 2004 186.8 176.1 -10.7 -5.7% 2005 194.4 194.2 -0.2 -0.1% 2006 194.0 195.6 1.6 0.8% OVR 191.2 185.3 -5.98 -3.1% NFL Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1996 40.9 44.3 3.42 8.4% 1997 41.5 37.5 -4.03 -9.7% 1998 42.6 45.6 3.07 7.2% 1999 41.6 42.9 1.28 3.1% 2000 39.9 35.4 -4.56 -11.4% 2001 40.4 43.3 2.85 7.1% 2002 43.3 50.9 7.56 17.4% 2003 41.7 44.7 3.06 7.4% 2004 43.0 47.3 4.30 10.0% 2005 40.1 38.0 -2.10 -5.2% OVR 41.5 43.0 1.48 3.6% NHL Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1997 5.85 5.35 -0.50 -8.5% 1998 5.28 5.22 -0.06 -1.1% 1999 5.27 5.05 -0.22 -4.1% 2000 5.49 4.64 -0.85 -15.6% 2001 5.51 4.80 -0.71 -12.9% 2002 5.24 4.78 -0.46 -8.8% 2003 5.14 4.70 -0.44 -8.6% 2004 5.14 4.61 -0.53 -10.3% 2005 No Season 2006 6.17 5.64 -0.53 -8.6% OVR 5.45 4.97 -0.48 -8.9% WNBA Reg PO Diff PCT Diff 1997 137.8 113.3 -24.4 -17.7% 1998 139.8 137.9 -2.0 -1.4% 1999 138.0 130.5 -7.5 -5.4% 2000 137.6 132.3 -5.4 -3.9% 2001 131.4 126.9 -4.5 -3.4% 2002 135.3 141.6 6.4 4.7% 2003 136.2 137.3 1.1 0.8% 2004 134.2 131.0 -3.2 -2.4% 2005 134.6 134.2 -0.3 -0.2% 2006 150.5 144.2 -6.3 -4.2% OVR 137.4 134.7 -2.66 -1.9%