2010 MLS Remaining Strength of Schedule

Sure, there's still a third of the season remaining. I don't think, though, that it's too early to begin looking at this. The playoff picture is starting to clear up a little, with 5 teams seemingly in good shape and 6 more with little chance, leaving 5 teams (CHI-COL-SEA-SJ-TOR) fighting for the final 3 spots. Of course, we all know that it's foolish to write anyone off in MLS. A hot finish can sneak you into the postseason, and from there your chances are as good as anyone's. Here is the remaining strength of schedule for each team, ranked by the average points per game of their opponents. The number of home/away games remaining for each team is listed in the other column. Remaining SOS - Opponents' Overall PPG PPG H-A 1 HOU 1.214 5-5 2 LA 1.291 6-4 3 SJ 1.293 6-6 4 TOR 1.303 5-6 5 SEA 1.324 4-5 6 CHV 1.326 6-5 7 PHI 1.327 6-5 8 KC 1.346 5-6 9 NE 1.347 5-7 10 CHI 1.349 7-7 11 CLB 1.353 5-5 12 DC 1.386 5-5 13 COL 1.424 6-5 14 RSL 1.446 4-5 15 DAL 1.475 6-5 16 NY 1.500 5-5 With two more home games than away and the second easiest schedule, the Galaxy are in great shape. They really don't need the help, but with this kind of finish they can make a run at the record books. They probably should be even bigger favorites for the Supporters Shield than they already are. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, have the toughest schedule. The last couple games could give them momentum going into the playoffs, but the next six are all against contenders with four on the road. Despite this, me and everyone else still expects them to qualify given their added talent. The Dynamo have by far the easiest schedule, but it appears to be too little, too late. They need 6-7 wins in their last ten games, and that's a bit much to expect. I do think they should finish strong, though. The Revs have been hot a few weeks now, but they have two more away matches and it's hard to see them getting the large haul of points necessary. Now, whenever I post something like this, a lot of people always want to see a more detailed analysis where you use the home and away PPG rather than just overall. So I've also done that, here: Remaining SOS - Opponents' Home/Away PPG PPG 1 LA 1.173 2 HOU 1.183 3 TOR 1.250 4 CHV 1.254 5 DC 1.265 6 CHI 1.308 7 NE 1.317 8 PHI 1.332 9 KC 1.343 10 SEA 1.352 11 COL 1.352 12 CLB 1.371 13 SJ 1.405 14 DAL 1.423 15 NY 1.511 16 RSL 1.600 Four teams moved up/down by more than two places. DC United & Chicago move up by 7 and 4 places respectively, while Seattle moves down 5 spots and San Jose goes all the way from 3rd to 13th, 10 spots. However, in terms of the actual average PPG, Chicago and Seattle had little movement. RSL's PPG moved up the most, followed by SJ. DC's moved down the most, followed by LA.