MLS: First Teams to 100 Goals

In the last post, I looked at the breakdown of goals by competition and by team. I couldn't help but notice that Seattle is already over 100 goals in only two seasons, helped by their US Open Cup success. Not only that, they're 2/3rds of the way to Toronto's total despite playing two seasons vs four for TFC. It got me thinking, how long did each team take to get to the 100 goal milestone? It's not exactly a fair comparison for all teams, since the goals per game average was higher for the original MLS franchises. It was over 3.00 for six of the first seven years (and none since). As for Chicago and Miami, 1998 was the single highest scoring year (3.57 per game). However, 1999 was a down year (2.86), so the totals for 1996-97 are actually higher than 1998-99. The past decade's expansion teams mostly took a bit longer to get there. However, I think that it's fair to compare them and the original teams amongst their own groups. This includes all competitions: Number of Games to 100 Goals DC 49 KC 52 TB 52 CHI 56 DAL 59 LA 59 SJ 61 CLB 64 COL 68 HOU 71 NY 73 NE 74 SEA 77 MIA 80 CHV 81 RSL 89 TOR 91 DC leads the list, scoring at a rate of two per game. NE is the last original team, just one game behind NY, while Miami was even worse. Toronto comes up last, taking 91 games to score 100 goals. That would be the 2-0 home win over DC on August 15, 2009. Funny that the next season, they hire a defensive coach. I'm not surprised that the club which famously set records for scoring futility in their expansion season ends up with this record as well. RSL barely bests TFC, not reaching the mark until August 29, 2007. That 3-1 home win over Kansas City also marked Javier Morales' debut. Currently, after one season Philadelphia has scored 36 times in 31 matches. Such a rate suggests that it will take 86 matches, though it's likely that they'll improve a bit. But given the struggles most recent expansion teams have seen, and more importantly the downward trend in scoring, it wouldn't be a shock to see them or one of the other new teams (Portland, Vancouver, Montreal) break the mark.