Climbing the Ladder

NCAA D1 ranked by avg MLS GP

2011-12-27T06:24:00.003-06:00

Stats for all division one NCAA schools that have had at least 10 players play a game in MLS. Ranked by average games played.

			Players	Avg GP	Median GP	Avg Goals
1	FIU	CUSA	11	118.1	28	10.0
2	UCLA	P12	57	101.5	75	8.9
3	Indiana	B10	29	98.7	54	7.7
4	Creighton	MVC	13	92.6	40	7.0
5	Stanford	P12	12	87.2	59	4.5
6	North Carolina	ACC	29	83.7	40	3.3
7	Duke	ACC	16	80.9	58	10.2
8	Saint Louis	A10	18	77.3	31	9.5
9	Virginia	ACC	42	76.4	53	4.8
10	Santa Clara	WCC	17	75.9	31	6.4
11	Portland	WCC	14	74.6	59	9.6
12	Washington	P12	18	70.2	45	1.9
13	SMU	CUSA	16	61.3	33	3.9
14	Wake Forest	ACC	22	59.6	24	2.7
15	Clemson	ACC	26	59.3	38	5.7
16	CS Fullerton	Big West	12	57.2	24	2.3
17	Rutgers	Big East	16	56.6	31	5.0
18	Saint John's	Big East	11	54.8	7	3.7
19	Maryland	ACC	37	51.7	31	5.4
20	Connecticut	Big East	17	48.8	23	3.8
21	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	12	31.3	18	2.5
22	Notre Dame	Big East	10	30.5	19	1.4
23	Akron	MAC	13	30.5	28	3.1
24	California	P12	23	25.8	12	0.8

Southern Connecticut State, a D2 school, has also had double digit players. They're had 11, and their final three columns would read 62.4-37-4.2.

2011 MLS Team Ages

2011-11-24T02:54:00.001-06:00

Here's the numbers, which take into account all regular season minutes played:

1	NY	29.05
2	SEA	28.38
3	COL	28.25
4	RSL	27.91
5	CHV	27.77
6	SJ	27.76
7	LA	27.73
8	DAL	27.57
9	PHI	26.97
10	CLB	26.92
11	KC	26.80
12	NE	26.52
13	HOU	26.51
14	VAN	26.35
15	CHI	26.23
16	POR	25.87
17	TOR	25.44
18	DC	25.18

For 1996-2010, click here.

All Time PPG: every minute, scoring margin, home/away

2011-10-03T05:47:00.003-05:00

So, here's the PPG data including every MLS regular season game ever through the past weekend. Shootouts are counted as draws, and all games that went to overtime use the score after 90 minutes.

Well, there's actually one game which isn't included: DC-KC from 2000, which was only 45 minutes due to power failure.

No team has dropped points after a four goal lead, so those aren't shown.

HOME TEAMS

	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3
1			2.91	1.69	1.12
2			2.55	1.69	0.84
3		3.00	2.46	1.69	0.82	1.00
4		3.00	2.45	1.69	0.81	1.00
5		3.00	2.47	1.69	0.80	0.50
6		2.67	2.41	1.68	0.83	0.50
7		2.70	2.38	1.68	0.92	0.33
8		2.77	2.40	1.67	0.99	0.17
9		2.72	2.37	1.66	0.97	0.14
10		2.76	2.38	1.66	0.99	0.11
11		2.76	2.39	1.66	0.93	0.10
12		2.80	2.39	1.66	0.94	0.09
13	3.00	2.71	2.38	1.66	0.91	0.08
14	3.00	2.71	2.34	1.66	0.92	0.29
15	3.00	2.63	2.35	1.66	0.92	0.24
16	3.00	2.67	2.37	1.66	0.93	0.40
17	3.00	2.73	2.37	1.65	0.93	0.38
18	3.00	2.71	2.36	1.65	0.95	0.38
19	3.00	2.80	2.34	1.65	0.94	0.35	0.00
20	3.00	2.78	2.36	1.65	0.92	0.37	0.00
21	3.00	2.77	2.38	1.65	0.89	0.50	0.00
22	3.00	2.77	2.37	1.65	0.86	0.47	0.00
23	3.00	2.69	2.38	1.65	0.85	0.43	0.00
24	3.00	2.72	2.38	1.65	0.85	0.39	0.00
25	3.00	2.78	2.38	1.63	0.86	0.45	0.33
26	3.00	2.79	2.38	1.63	0.86	0.36	0.25
27	3.00	2.79	2.37	1.63	0.84	0.37	0.20
28	3.00	2.80	2.38	1.62	0.87	0.36	0.00
29	3.00	2.80	2.37	1.62	0.84	0.35	0.00
30	3.00	2.79	2.38	1.61	0.86	0.33	0.00
31	3.00	2.80	2.37	1.62	0.83	0.32	0.00
32	3.00	2.80	2.38	1.61	0.82	0.31	0.00
33	3.00	2.79	2.37	1.61	0.80	0.29	0.14
34	3.00	2.78	2.39	1.60	0.78	0.38	0.13
35	3.00	2.78	2.38	1.61	0.76	0.32	0.13
36	3.00	2.78	2.40	1.60	0.75	0.35	0.10
37	3.00	2.79	2.40	1.58	0.76	0.35	0.11
38	3.00	2.79	2.40	1.58	0.75	0.39	0.10
39	3.00	2.79	2.40	1.58	0.75	0.35	0.13
40	3.00	2.80	2.41	1.57	0.74	0.34	0.13
41	3.00	2.81	2.41	1.57	0.75	0.33	0.13
42	3.00	2.81	2.40	1.56	0.74	0.36	0.11
43	3.00	2.81	2.41	1.56	0.74	0.37	0.09
44	3.00	2.81	2.40	1.56	0.73	0.37	0.08
45	3.00	2.83	2.41	1.56	0.71	0.35	0.07
46	3.00	2.83	2.41	1.55	0.71	0.34	0.06
47	2.97	2.82	2.41	1.56	0.68	0.34	0.05
48	2.97	2.82	2.41	1.56	0.66	0.32	0.05
49	2.97	2.84	2.41	1.55	0.66	0.32	0.05
50	2.95	2.86	2.40	1.55	0.64	0.31	0.05
51	2.97	2.85	2.41	1.54	0.64	0.31	0.05
52	2.97	2.85	2.41	1.54	0.62	0.34	0.04
53	2.98	2.87	2.42	1.54	0.60	0.33	0.04
54	2.98	2.86	2.44	1.53	0.58	0.32	0.00
55	2.98	2.87	2.45	1.52	0.58	0.24	0.00
56	2.98	2.86	2.44	1.52	0.56	0.24	0.00
57	2.98	2.86	2.45	1.51	0.55	0.23	0.00
58	2.98	2.85	2.46	1.50	0.55	0.23	0.03
59	2.98	2.87	2.46	1.50	0.54	0.19	0.03
60	2.98	2.86	2.47	1.49	0.56	0.16	0.03
61	2.98	2.87	2.48	1.47	0.55	0.15	0.03
62	2.98	2.88	2.48	1.46	0.55	0.14	0.06
63	2.98	2.89	2.48	1.46	0.53	0.16	0.06
64	2.98	2.90	2.47	1.45	0.53	0.14	0.06
65	2.98	2.90	2.49	1.42	0.52	0.16	0.06
66	3.00	2.91	2.50	1.41	0.50	0.16	0.05
67	3.00	2.91	2.52	1.40	0.51	0.12	0.05
68	3.00	2.89	2.52	1.40	0.51	0.12	0.05
69	3.00	2.88	2.54	1.37	0.50	0.13	0.05
70	3.00	2.89	2.54	1.38	0.48	0.12	0.05
71	3.00	2.91	2.55	1.37	0.45	0.12	0.05
72	3.00	2.92	2.56	1.35	0.44	0.11	0.02
73	3.00	2.94	2.57	1.35	0.42	0.09	0.00
74	3.00	2.94	2.58	1.33	0.42	0.08	0.00
75	3.00	2.93	2.60	1.30	0.42	0.08	0.00
76	3.00	2.94	2.61	1.30	0.39	0.08	0.00
77	3.00	2.96	2.62	1.29	0.36	0.08	0.00
78	3.00	2.96	2.62	1.27	0.36	0.07	0.00
79	3.00	2.97	2.63	1.27	0.35	0.03	0.00
80	3.00	2.97	2.64	1.25	0.31	0.02	0.00
81	3.00	2.97	2.66	1.25	0.28	0.02	0.00
82	3.00	2.97	2.68	1.24	0.26	0.02	0.00
83	3.00	2.98	2.69	1.23	0.23	0.02	0.00
84	3.00	2.98	2.72	1.20	0.22	0.02	0.00
85	3.00	2.98	2.76	1.19	0.20	0.02	0.00
86	3.00	2.99	2.79	1.17	0.18	0.02	0.00
87	3.00	2.99	2.81	1.14	0.16	0.02	0.00
88	3.00	3.00	2.83	1.12	0.13	0.02	0.00
89	3.00	3.00	2.86	1.10	0.10	0.02	0.00
90	3.00	3.00	3.00	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

AWAY TEAMS

	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3
1			1.47	1.04	0.05
2			1.81	1.04	0.30
3		1.00	1.89	1.04	0.38	0.00
4		1.00	1.90	1.04	0.37	0.00
5		2.00	1.91	1.04	0.36	0.00
6		2.00	1.89	1.04	0.41	0.33
7		2.33	1.80	1.05	0.43	0.30
8		2.67	1.74	1.06	0.41	0.23
9		2.71	1.74	1.06	0.43	0.22
10		2.78	1.72	1.06	0.42	0.19
11		2.80	1.78	1.06	0.42	0.19
12		2.82	1.77	1.06	0.42	0.16
13		2.83	1.81	1.06	0.42	0.25	0.00
14		2.64	1.82	1.05	0.45	0.24	0.00
15		2.71	1.82	1.05	0.44	0.30	0.00
16		2.50	1.82	1.05	0.43	0.26	0.00
17		2.52	1.80	1.06	0.43	0.22	0.00
18		2.50	1.80	1.06	0.44	0.22	0.00
19	3.00	2.54	1.81	1.05	0.45	0.15	0.00
20	3.00	2.48	1.82	1.05	0.44	0.15	0.00
21	3.00	2.28	1.85	1.05	0.42	0.16	0.00
22	3.00	2.32	1.88	1.05	0.43	0.16	0.00
23	3.00	2.38	1.89	1.04	0.42	0.21	0.00
24	3.00	2.44	1.89	1.05	0.42	0.19	0.00
25	2.33	2.36	1.88	1.06	0.42	0.14	0.00
26	2.50	2.46	1.88	1.06	0.42	0.13	0.00
27	2.60	2.43	1.90	1.05	0.44	0.13	0.00
28	3.00	2.44	1.87	1.06	0.43	0.13	0.00
29	3.00	2.47	1.89	1.06	0.44	0.12	0.00
30	3.00	2.49	1.88	1.06	0.43	0.13	0.00
31	3.00	2.52	1.92	1.05	0.44	0.12	0.00
32	3.00	2.52	1.92	1.06	0.43	0.12	0.00
33	2.71	2.56	1.95	1.06	0.43	0.12	0.00
34	2.75	2.48	1.96	1.06	0.42	0.13	0.00
35	2.75	2.54	1.98	1.05	0.43	0.13	0.00
36	2.80	2.52	1.98	1.06	0.41	0.12	0.00
37	2.78	2.54	1.97	1.07	0.41	0.11	0.00
38	2.80	2.51	1.98	1.07	0.41	0.12	0.00
39	2.75	2.56	1.98	1.07	0.41	0.12	0.00
40	2.75	2.57	1.99	1.07	0.40	0.11	0.00
41	2.75	2.58	1.99	1.07	0.39	0.11	0.00
42	2.78	2.56	2.00	1.07	0.40	0.11	0.00
43	2.82	2.55	1.99	1.08	0.39	0.12	0.00
44	2.85	2.55	2.00	1.08	0.39	0.11	0.00
45	2.87	2.56	2.01	1.07	0.38	0.10	0.00
46	2.88	2.57	2.01	1.08	0.38	0.10	0.00
47	2.89	2.57	2.04	1.07	0.38	0.11	0.02
48	2.90	2.56	2.07	1.06	0.38	0.11	0.01
49	2.90	2.56	2.07	1.06	0.38	0.09	0.01
50	2.90	2.57	2.10	1.05	0.39	0.08	0.03
51	2.90	2.56	2.10	1.06	0.38	0.08	0.01
52	2.92	2.54	2.11	1.05	0.39	0.09	0.01
53	2.92	2.55	2.14	1.04	0.39	0.07	0.01
54	3.00	2.56	2.15	1.05	0.37	0.08	0.01
55	3.00	2.64	2.14	1.05	0.37	0.07	0.01
56	3.00	2.64	2.16	1.04	0.37	0.07	0.01
57	3.00	2.65	2.18	1.05	0.36	0.08	0.01
58	2.94	2.67	2.18	1.05	0.35	0.08	0.01
59	2.94	2.73	2.17	1.05	0.36	0.07	0.01
60	2.94	2.77	2.16	1.05	0.36	0.07	0.01
61	2.93	2.80	2.16	1.06	0.35	0.07	0.01
62	2.88	2.80	2.17	1.06	0.35	0.06	0.01
63	2.89	2.79	2.19	1.06	0.34	0.06	0.01
64	2.88	2.81	2.19	1.06	0.35	0.05	0.01
65	2.88	2.79	2.21	1.07	0.33	0.05	0.01
66	2.90	2.78	2.24	1.07	0.32	0.05	0.00
67	2.89	2.82	2.23	1.07	0.31	0.05	0.00
68	2.90	2.82	2.24	1.06	0.30	0.07	0.00
69	2.90	2.82	2.25	1.09	0.28	0.08	0.00
70	2.90	2.84	2.27	1.06	0.28	0.07	0.00
71	2.90	2.84	2.30	1.06	0.28	0.06	0.00
72	2.95	2.84	2.32	1.07	0.27	0.05	0.00
73	3.00	2.86	2.35	1.07	0.26	0.04	0.00
74	3.00	2.87	2.35	1.08	0.25	0.04	0.00
75	3.00	2.87	2.36	1.10	0.24	0.04	0.00
76	3.00	2.87	2.39	1.10	0.23	0.04	0.00
77	3.00	2.88	2.42	1.09	0.22	0.03	0.00
78	3.00	2.90	2.42	1.09	0.22	0.03	0.00
79	3.00	2.94	2.44	1.08	0.21	0.02	0.00
80	3.00	2.96	2.49	1.07	0.20	0.02	0.00
81	3.00	2.96	2.53	1.06	0.19	0.02	0.00
82	3.00	2.97	2.55	1.06	0.18	0.02	0.00
83	3.00	2.96	2.60	1.05	0.18	0.01	0.00
84	3.00	2.96	2.62	1.06	0.16	0.01	0.00
85	3.00	2.96	2.64	1.04	0.14	0.01	0.00
86	3.00	2.96	2.68	1.04	0.12	0.01	0.00
87	3.00	2.96	2.71	1.03	0.10	0.00	0.00
88	3.00	2.96	2.76	1.02	0.09	0.00	0.00
89	3.00	2.96	2.82	1.02	0.078	0.00	0.00
90	3.00	3.00	3.00	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

OVERTIME

From 2000-03:

	home	away
begin	1.34	0.94
91	1.32	0.95
92	1.27	0.98
93	1.27	0.97
94	1.26	0.96
95	1.23	0.96
96	1.21	0.95
97	1.16	0.95
98	1.08	0.99
99	1.02	1.02
100	1.00	1.00

2011 PPG for Every Margin, Every Minute

2011-09-22T02:52:00.002-05:00

This week's MLSsoccer column:

Climbing the Ladder: Who scores the most important goals?

I've seen several people do this for other leagues (for example, Soccermetrics), but I've yet to see it for MLS. Using the data below, I determined how many points each goal was worth by comparing the PPG from teams in each situation in each minute. Using that, it's then possible to figure out who's goals have been the most important this year (like WPA in baseball).

This is the 2011 data (through 9/17), which is what I used for the article. The next step is to do this for every single year, because one year can cause some issues with small sample size. There's a couple scenarios below where scoring a goal causes the PPG to go down. For instance, the only time this season an away team has had a 3 goal lead in the 25th minute was the PHI-NE game where the Union came back to draw (at least, until last night).

There's also the issue of what to do when multiple goals are scored during stoppage time. If one team scores in the 93rd and the other scores in the 94th, what to do then? I've always treated it statistically like MLS does, counting all of it as one minute so that a full game equals 90. It could be treated separately, but then it's impossible to know exactly how long the stoppage time was for each match (that is, you can't assume all games even had a 93rd minute).

So here's the PPG for every margin after each minute (2011, through 9/17):

Home Teams

	5	4	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5
1						1.68	2.00
2					2.71	1.67	1.00
3					2.50	1.67	1.29
4					2.50	1.66	1.20
5					2.50	1.69	1.00
6					2.50	1.69	0.94
7					2.57	1.68	1.05
8				3.00	2.50	1.67	1.05
9				3.00	2.36	1.66	1.14
10				3.00	2.36	1.65	1.25	0.00
11				3.00	2.39	1.66	1.19	0.00
12				3.00	2.42	1.67	1.00	0.00
13				3.00	2.28	1.69	0.92	0.00
14				3.00	2.30	1.69	0.96	0.00
15				3.00	2.29	1.69	0.96	0.00
16				3.00	2.26	1.69	0.96	0.20
17				3.00	2.28	1.68	0.96	0.20
18				3.00	2.29	1.68	0.93	0.20
19				3.00	2.27	1.68	0.93	0.17
20				3.00	2.19	1.70	0.93	0.17
21			3.00	3.00	2.21	1.69	0.92	0.29
22			3.00	3.00	2.14	1.71	0.86	0.29
23			3.00	3.00	2.07	1.73	0.90	0.25
24			3.00	3.00	2.04	1.74	0.94	0.13
25			3.00	3.00	2.06	1.76	0.89	0.00	1.00
26			3.00	3.00	2.08	1.75	0.87	0.00	1.00
27			3.00	3.00	2.06	1.77	0.86	0.00	1.00
28			3.00	3.00	2.08	1.76	0.93	0.13
29			3.00	3.00	2.11	1.74	0.89	0.13
30			3.00	3.00	2.13	1.75	0.89	0.13
31			3.00	3.00	2.17	1.77	0.83	0.13
32			3.00	3.00	2.16	1.77	0.77	0.13
33			3.00	3.00	2.16	1.73	0.76	0.00	1.00
34			3.00	3.00	2.16	1.73	0.73	0.00	1.00
35			3.00	3.00	2.16	1.72	0.73	0.00	1.00
36			3.00	3.00	2.20	1.71	0.71	0.00	1.00
37			3.00	2.86	2.24	1.68	0.71	0.00	1.00
38			3.00	2.88	2.20	1.69	0.73	0.00	1.00
39			3.00	2.88	2.23	1.66	0.78	0.00	1.00
40		3.00	3.00	2.90	2.22	1.62	0.83	0.00	1.00
41		3.00	3.00	2.89	2.23	1.62	0.81	0.00	1.00
42		3.00	3.00	2.90	2.24	1.62	0.88	0.00	1.00
43		3.00	3.00	2.90	2.23	1.62	0.88	0.00	1.00
44		3.00	3.00	2.91	2.21	1.63	0.83	0.00	0.50
45		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.26	1.56	0.92	0.00	0.50
46		3.00	3.00	2.91	2.23	1.55	0.92	0.00	0.50
47		3.00	3.00	2.83	2.25	1.54	0.89	0.00	0.50
48		3.00	3.00	2.85	2.23	1.58	0.71	0.00	0.50
49		3.00	3.00	2.85	2.27	1.59	0.69	0.00	0.50
50		3.00	3.00	2.86	2.32	1.53	0.68	0.00	1.00
51		3.00	3.00	2.85	2.37	1.51	0.68	0.00	1.00
52		3.00	3.00	2.86	2.35	1.49	0.67	0.00	1.00
53		3.00	3.00	2.93	2.40	1.45	0.67	0.00	1.00
54		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.42	1.42	0.60	0.08
55		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.43	1.41	0.62	0.07
56		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.42	1.42	0.56	0.08
57		3.00	3.00	2.83	2.47	1.42	0.55	0.08
58		3.00	3.00	2.83	2.46	1.42	0.51	0.14
59			3.00	2.85	2.41	1.42	0.51	0.14
60			3.00	2.84	2.40	1.41	0.59	0.13
61		3.00	3.00	2.83	2.43	1.43	0.56	0.13
62		3.00	3.00	2.82	2.43	1.42	0.55	0.07	1.00
63		3.00	3.00	2.91	2.36	1.46	0.54	0.07	1.00
64		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.33	1.42	0.50	0.07	1.00
65		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.36	1.40	0.49	0.07	1.00
66		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.38	1.39	0.50	0.07	0.50
67		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.39	1.35	0.47	0.08	0.50
68		3.00	3.00	2.74	2.44	1.35	0.46	0.08	0.50
69		3.00	3.00	2.75	2.42	1.33	0.43	0.08	0.50
70		3.00	3.00	2.85	2.41	1.29	0.45	0.08	0.50
71		3.00	3.00	2.92	2.37	1.27	0.45	0.08	0.50
72		3.00	3.00	2.91	2.39	1.28	0.36	0.08	0.33
73		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.39	1.28	0.35	0.17	0.00
74		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.43	1.25	0.39	0.15	0.00
75		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.46	1.24	0.39	0.14	0.00
76		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.44	1.26	0.32	0.15	0.00
77		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.47	1.22	0.33	0.14	0.00
78		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.46	1.23	0.35	0.15	0.00
79		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.45	1.20	0.37	0.08	0.00
80		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.47	1.18	0.35	0.08	0.00
81		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.45	1.17	0.33	0.08	0.00
82		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.43	1.11	0.33	0.08	0.00
83		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.45	1.11	0.28	0.07	0.00
84		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.44	1.12	0.25	0.07	0.00
85		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.52	1.12	0.22	0.07	0.00
86		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.59	1.07	0.24	0.07	0.00
87		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.65	1.05	0.21	0.08	0.00
88		3.00	3.00	3.00	2.66	1.02	0.17	0.09	0.00
89	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	2.72	1.01	0.14	0.10	0.00	0.00
90	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Away Teams

away	5	4	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5
1					0.50	0.96
2					1.60	0.97	0.14
3					1.29	0.97	0.25
4					1.20	0.98	0.25
5					1.56	0.95	0.25
6					1.65	0.94	0.25
7					1.50	0.96	0.21
8					1.50	0.96	0.25	0.00
9					1.41	0.98	0.32	0.00
10				3.00	1.25	0.99	0.32	0.00
11				3.00	1.33	0.97	0.30	0.00
12				3.00	1.55	0.96	0.29	0.00
13				3.00	1.67	0.93	0.41	0.00
14				3.00	1.61	0.94	0.40	0.00
15				3.00	1.65	0.94	0.35	0.00
16				2.60	1.65	0.93	0.42	0.00
17				2.60	1.63	0.94	0.41	0.00
18				2.60	1.68	0.94	0.40	0.00
19				2.67	1.70	0.93	0.41	0.00
20				2.67	1.70	0.92	0.49	0.00
21				2.43	1.73	0.92	0.47	0.00	0.00
22				2.43	1.82	0.89	0.57	0.00	0.00
23				2.50	1.70	0.88	0.60	0.00	0.00
24				2.75	1.59	0.88	0.61	0.00	0.00
25			1.00	3.00	1.64	0.86	0.62	0.00	0.00
26			1.00	3.00	1.66	0.87	0.61	0.00	0.00
27			1.00	3.00	1.64	0.85	0.62	0.00	0.00
28				2.75	1.60	0.85	0.61	0.00	0.00
29				2.75	1.64	0.86	0.58	0.00	0.00
30				2.75	1.62	0.86	0.57	0.00	0.00
31				2.75	1.71	0.83	0.54	0.00	0.00
32				2.75	1.72	0.85	0.54	0.00	0.00
33			1.00	3.00	1.76	0.87	0.54	0.00	0.00
34			1.00	3.00	1.73	0.88	0.54	0.00	0.00
35			1.00	3.00	1.73	0.89	0.54	0.00	0.00
36			1.00	3.00	1.78	0.88	0.52	0.00	0.00
37			1.00	3.00	1.78	0.90	0.50	0.07	0.00
38			1.00	3.00	1.75	0.90	0.53	0.06	0.00
39			1.00	3.00	1.71	0.93	0.48	0.06	0.00
40			1.00	3.00	1.66	0.96	0.49	0.05	0.00	0.00
41			1.00	3.00	1.70	0.95	0.48	0.05	0.00	0.00
42			1.00	3.00	1.63	0.94	0.48	0.05	0.00	0.00
43			1.00	3.00	1.61	0.94	0.49	0.05	0.00	0.00
44			2.00	3.00	1.65	0.94	0.50	0.05	0.00	0.00
45			2.00	3.00	1.53	1.01	0.45	0.04	0.00	0.00
46			2.00	3.00	1.54	1.01	0.48	0.04	0.00	0.00
47			2.00	3.00	1.54	1.02	0.47	0.09	0.00	0.00
48			2.00	3.00	1.71	0.97	0.48	0.08	0.00	0.00
49			2.00	3.00	1.76	0.94	0.47	0.08	0.00	0.00
50			1.00	3.00	1.77	0.98	0.44	0.07	0.00	0.00
51			1.00	3.00	1.77	0.99	0.41	0.07	0.00	0.00
52			1.00	3.00	1.81	1.00	0.42	0.07	0.00	0.00
53			1.00	3.00	1.81	1.03	0.37	0.04	0.00	0.00
54				2.85	1.88	1.05	0.36	0.04	0.00	0.00
55				2.86	1.85	1.06	0.35	0.04	0.00	0.00
56				2.85	1.95	1.03	0.35	0.04	0.00	0.00
57				2.85	1.98	1.03	0.31	0.08	0.00	0.00
58				2.71	2.05	1.02	0.31	0.09	0.00	0.00
59				2.71	2.05	1.02	0.34	0.08	0.00
60				2.73	1.98	1.03	0.34	0.08	0.00
61				2.73	2.02	0.99	0.33	0.08	0.00	0.00
62			1.00	2.87	2.05	0.99	0.33	0.09	0.00	0.00
63			1.00	2.87	2.07	0.96	0.36	0.04	0.00	0.00
64			1.00	2.86	2.15	0.98	0.38	0.04	0.00	0.00
65			1.00	2.86	2.18	0.99	0.36	0.04	0.00	0.00
66			2.00	2.86	2.16	0.99	0.35	0.04	0.00	0.00
67			2.00	2.85	2.22	1.02	0.35	0.04	0.00	0.00
68			2.00	2.85	2.26	1.02	0.30	0.19	0.00	0.00
69			2.00	2.83	2.30	1.01	0.33	0.18	0.00	0.00
70			2.00	2.83	2.26	1.03	0.36	0.08	0.00	0.00
71			2.00	2.83	2.26	1.03	0.40	0.04	0.00	0.00
72			2.33	2.83	2.36	1.01	0.39	0.05	0.00	0.00
73			3.00	2.67	2.38	1.01	0.36	0.00	0.00	0.00
74			3.00	2.69	2.29	1.05	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
75			3.00	2.71	2.29	1.03	0.31	0.00	0.00	0.00
76			3.00	2.69	2.35	1.02	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
77			3.00	2.71	2.33	1.05	0.31	0.00	0.00	0.00
78			3.00	2.69	2.30	1.05	0.31	0.00	0.00	0.00
79			3.00	2.83	2.26	1.06	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
80			3.00	2.85	2.29	1.07	0.31	0.00	0.00	0.00
81			3.00	2.85	2.33	1.07	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
82			3.00	2.85	2.33	1.11	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
83			3.00	2.86	2.44	1.07	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
84			3.00	2.86	2.50	1.05	0.32	0.00	0.00	0.00
85			3.00	2.87	2.56	1.01	0.29	0.00	0.00	0.00
86			3.00	2.86	2.53	1.04	0.25	0.00	0.00	0.00
87			3.00	2.85	2.59	1.05	0.22	0.00	0.00	0.00
88			3.00	2.82	2.66	1.06	0.21	0.00	0.00	0.00
89		3.00	3.00	2.80	2.71	1.08	0.16	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
90		3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

MLS: Goals by Month

2011-07-26T01:30:00.002-05:00

Remember, there's only been a lot of March & October games in recent years, where there's been fewer goals overall than the inflated early years.

Only counting the six months from April to September, here's the number of times each month has been the high and low point in the scoring average:

	Low	High
April	7	1
May	2	3
June	2	4.5
July	3	1.5
August	1	3
September		2

Last year was the first time that April, usually the lowest scoring month, finished first. This year, it was clearly higher than May or June, though July is slightly ahead with one weekend left.

games		MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT
	1996		16	28	30	31	31	24
	1997	6	22	27	23	28	25	29
	1998	11	28	34	23	34	30	32
	1999	10	24	28	28	28	33	29	12
	2000	10	32	32	35	30	38	15
	2001		24	32	30	29	32	11
	2002	8	18	19	25	32	22	16
	2003		15	24	23	23	24	20	21
	2004		17	26	23	26	22	21	15
	2005		29	30	31	28	27	26	21
	2006		28	25	32	35	27	33	12
	2007		26	27	30	28	28	35	21
	2008	6	29	34	31	22	32	27	29
	2009	14	31	39	28	25	35	27	26
	2010	8	29	42	22	35	34	36	34
	2011	19	44	43	44	38

goals		MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT
	1996		44	106	102	108	108	71
	1997	10	74	72	87	97	86	96
	1998	34	94	126	95	108	112	116
	1999	31	52	78	90	90	97	76	35
	2000	37	94	105	109	85	131	51
	2001		70	97	107	92	115	38
	2002	17	42	61	79	101	70	51
	2003		34	68	68	75	62	56	70
	2004		37	71	68	70	53	59	34
	2005		83	78	89	76	89	78	58
	2006		76	74	73	89	67	80	44
	2007		59	76	92	67	66	107	51
	2008	15	88	95	74	53	89	88	89
	2009	40	78	103	73	61	82	77	57
	2010	16	79	107	51	77	77	94	90
	2011	48	110	101	103	96

per game		MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT
	1996		2.75	3.79	3.40	3.48	3.48	2.96
	1997	1.67	3.36	2.67	3.78	3.46	3.44	3.31
	1998	3.09	3.36	3.71	4.13	3.18	3.73	3.63
	1999	3.10	2.17	2.79	3.21	3.21	2.94	2.62	2.92
	2000	3.70	2.94	3.28	3.11	2.83	3.45	3.40
	2001		2.92	3.03	3.57	3.17	3.59	3.45
	2002	2.13	2.33	3.21	3.16	3.16	3.18	3.19
	2003		2.27	2.83	2.96	3.26	2.58	2.80	3.33
	2004		2.18	2.73	2.96	2.69	2.41	2.81	2.27
	2005		2.86	2.60	2.87	2.71	3.30	3.00	2.76
	2006		2.71	2.96	2.28	2.54	2.48	2.42	3.67
	2007		2.27	2.81	3.07	2.39	2.36	3.06	2.43
	2008	2.50	3.03	2.79	2.39	2.41	2.78	3.26	3.07
	2009	2.86	2.52	2.64	2.61	2.44	2.34	2.85	2.19
	2010	2.00	2.72	2.55	2.32	2.20	2.26	2.61	2.65
	2011	2.53	2.50	2.35	2.34	2.53

	Total	2.70	2.70	2.89	2.97	2.85	2.96	2.99	2.76

Gold Cup notes

2011-06-13T00:27:00.003-05:00

1) The USA's loss to Panama is only their 6th in 51 Gold Cup games, and first in the group stage (as you might've heard by now). Previously, they had only lost to Brazil and Mexico. Both the Americans and the Mexicans now have six defeats each, though the USA have played three more games.

2) Ominously for the US, no team has ever won the Gold Cup with a loss.

3) Cuba's performance in this year's edition (0 points, -15 goal differential) was the worst in tournament history, beating out 2009's Grenada (0, -10). There's still hope for the Spice Boys: If they lose by more than 5 to Guatemala today, they'll get that title back. Seems unlikely due to the lack of firepower by the Guatemalans. Of course, I still expect a 3+ goal win.

4) Mexico, who helped put some of that hurt on the Cubans, is scoring at a phenomenal rate of over 4 goals per game. They have 14 so far after 3 games (with 1 against), but they'll have to continue at that exact pace to match the 1993 winners. That Mexico team ended up with 28 goals scored and 2 allowed, all coming in only five matches.

Countdown to 10k goals: Update #2

2011-05-30T01:33:00.003-05:00

We were at 9,544 goals scored by MLS players before the first competitive game of the season.

2011 totals:

MLS - 262 goals in 106 games.

Open Cup qualifying - 25 goals in 8 games.

Canadian Championship - 8 goals in 5 games. Hassli's in the canceled game doesn't count.

CONCACAF Champions League - 10 goals in 6 games.

Total through May 2011: 9,849

When we reach the final 100, I'll start listing each individual one to help build the tension.

In June, there are 44 league games and the Open Cup round of 16 (eight games) on June 28th. We need about 2.9 goals per game to get there that month. However, don't forget that that the Open Cup games will only feature one MLS team each, so they won't average that many for sure. In fact, the last four years suggests only about 11-12 from the eight MLS teams combined in that round.

So that means MLS games would need to average an unlikely 3.15 goals per game to reach this in June, making July far more likely. Using an average of 2.5 goals per league game, that suggests Wednesday, July 6th could be the historic date.

Four games are scheduled then: NY-TOR, KC-COL, VAN-CLB, and CHV-SJ.

If it doesn't happen, then certainly it will on July 9th, when a further seven games are played.

YA Premiership Appearances (1992/93 - 2010/11)

2011-05-24T21:39:00.001-05:00

Updated to include this past season's numbers. Thanks to Numerista on Bigsoccer for originally compiling the list through 2005/6, to which I've been adding to it since (so if anything's wrong, take it up with him :P).

This does not include data for any seasons before the formation of the Premiership. I've also decided to leave out the non-USMNT Americans like Giuseppe Rossi.

Ten Americans saw action in the EPL this past season, one more than in 2009/10. Clint Dempsey finished with 12 goals, and is now only three away from tying McBride for the most by an American. He's also one appearance away from matching McBride for the most by a field player. Brad Friedel has now played 400 games exactly, more than anyone in the MLS regular season (Ralston-378). Stuart Holden and Tim Howard also were full time starters, while Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, and Eric Lichaj played for the first time in England's highest level. Marcus Hahnemann, Eddie Johnson, and Jonathan Spector played on occasion, completing the list of ten. That's everyone, right?

		Games	Goals	Clubs
1	Brad Friedel	400	1	Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa
2	Tim Howard	231	0	Manchester Utd, Everton
3	Kasey Keller	201	0	Leicester, Tottenham, Southampton, Fulham
4	Brian McBride	148	36	Everton, Fulham
5	Clint Dempsey	147	33	Fulham
6	Jonathan Spector	124	2	Manchester Utd, Charlton, West Ham
7	Carlos Bocanegra	116	8	Fulham
8	Marcus Hahnemann	115	0	Reading, Wolves
9	Claudio Reyna	104	7	Sunderland, Manchester City
10	Roy Wegerle	75	13	Blackburn, Coventry
11	Joe-Max Moore	52	8	Everton
12	Preki	46	4	Everton
13	John Harkes	43	2	Sheff Wed, West Ham, Nottingham
14	Jay DeMerit	33	2	Watford
14	Juergen Sommer	33	0	QPR
16	Bobby Convey	29	0	Reading
17	Jozy Altidore	28	1	Hull
17	Stuart Holden	28	2	Bolton
19	Eddie Lewis	25	0	Fulham, Derby
20	Jovan Kirovski	23	2	Birmingham
21	Cobi Jones	21	2	Coventry
22	Eddie Johnson	19	0	Fulham
23	DaMarcus Beasley	18	3	Manchester City
24	Jermaine Jones	15	0	Blackburn
25	Oguchi Onyewu	12	0	Newcastle
26	Landon Donovan	10	2	Everton
26	Benny Feilhaber	10	0	Derby
28	Ian Feuer	5	0	West Ham, Derby
28	Jemal Johnson	5	0	Blackburn
28	Eric Lichaj	5	0	Aston Villa
31	Michael Bradley	3	0	Aston Villa
32	Brad Guzan	1	0	Aston Villa
32	Johann Smith	1	0	Bolton

OTFATT 2011: Update #2

2011-05-23T01:19:00.003-05:00

Previous Updates

4/11

66 players remaining

In these updates throughout the season, I'll be keeping track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game in the regular season. That feat has been accomplished only 42 times in 15 seasons. Click here for the complete list.

This month, three more teams have exhausted their supply of remaining OTFATT players. They are DC, Vancouver, and KC. As it stands now, there are 26 players left spread across 13 MLS teams. Eight keepers remain, along with 18 field players.

One player who will certainly be dropping off the list is Chicago's Marco Pappa, who was called up by Guatemala for next month's CONCACAF Gold Cup. Houston's Lovel Palmer, however, was not named in Jamaica's squad. It's likely that Andrew Hainault will join Canada, while there's an outside chance for several Americans to be named in Bob Bradley's squad (to be announced later today).

My picks for last remaining keeper (Nielsen) and field player (J.Hernandez) are already out. On average, about three players survive each season, but this year it seems like it could be fewer with the combination of the international callups and the longer schedule. Will there be a sole survivor, or even none like in 1998?

Remaining Candidates (26)

1	CHI	Pappa
1	CHV	Pearce
3	CLB	Hesmer, James, Marshall
4	COL	Kimura, Larentowicz, Moor, Pickens
3	DAL	Hartman, Hernandez, John
3	HOU	Hainault, Hall, Palmer
1	LA	Dunivant
1	NY	Solli
3	PHI	Le Toux, Mondragon, Valdes
2	POR	Brunner, Jewsbury
2	SEA	Alonso, Keller
1	SJ	Busch
1	TOR	Frei

Order of teams being totally wiped out for 2011, with last surviving player:

1. RSL - Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Javier Morales, Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert (4/9)
2. NE - Pat Phelan (4/9)
3. DC - Marc Burch (5/4)
4. VAN - Alain Rochat (5/14)
5. KC - Jimmy Nielsen (5/14)

MLS: Number of Games Where Both Teams Led

2011-05-19T03:58:00.004-05:00

There hasn't been too many so far this year, did you notice? It's only happened five times in 86 games.

	PCT	GPG
1996	18.1%	3.37
1997	24.4%	3.26
1998	21.9%	3.57
1999	12.5%	2.86
2000	17.2%	3.19
2001	19.6%	3.28
2002	18.6%	3.01
2003	19.3%	2.89
2004	16.7%	2.61
2005	15.6%	2.87
2006	15.6%	2.62
2007	15.4%	2.66
2008	15.7%	2.81
2009	12.9%	2.54
2010	11.7%	2.46
2011	5.8%	2.38

Obviously, it's related to the number of goals, since at least three are needed in a match.. This year's seen a smaller percentage than would be normal so far, though it should creep back up to at least at ten percent eventually.

One note about this data. I used the MLS method of counting each game as exactly 90 minutes, regardless of how long stoppage time is. So if one team were took a lead and then gave it up during that time in either half, then I'm not able to include it here. It can't have happened too many times in league history, though.

Also, games from 2000-03 that went into overtime are affected. Since some of the games ended with a golden goal, I don't count those winners as a lead. If a game was 0-0 until a golden goal in the 97th minute, then I would record it as 97 tied minutes.

There have been several MLS teams to only have one game in an entire season where both teams led, but never has a team gone the whole season without one. Although, NY and RSL each had only one last year and zero this year so far (not including the RSL-Dallas playoff game).

Seven teams have broken double digits, and it's fair to say that these teams were exciting to watch, right? Even though some weren't very good:

RSL	2006	10
NY	2005	10
CHI	2000	10
KC	1998	11
NY	1998	10
NE	1997	10
NY	1997	11

Alternate History 4: UEFA Champions League

2011-05-05T04:55:00.001-05:00

The tournament formerly known as the European Cup used to be limited to only one team per country. Prior to the mid-90s, it actually was a competition for champions only (imagine that), along with the title holders.

1997-98 was the first tournament to include teams that didn't win their domestic championships, and Manchester United was the first team to win who wouldn't have qualified under the old standard.

What if the old rules had remained in effect? Who would've won in each season from 1998 until today? Find out after the jump.

Rules: Teams will be ranked on how they finished in the real competitions, based on the round they were eliminated in. So if a finalist isn't available, then both semifinalists will be checked, and so on. If two teams are tied in the same round, then total points in the competition for that year will be used (not counting qualifying rounds).

1997-98

Real Life:	Real Madrid	d.	Juventus
Alternate History:	Real Madrid	d.	Juventus

No changes in the first edition, as both teams were the reigning champions of their leagues.

1998-99

Real Life:	Manchester Utd	d.	Bayern Munich
Alternate History:	Dynamo Kiev	d.	Juventus

No miracle for Man Utd, as Arsenal were the defending EPL winners. Bayern Munich also missed out, as the previous year was the one were Kaiserslautern won in their first year after promotion.

So that left the semifinalists, who had both won their leagues. Juventus barely scraped through the group stage with a win and five draws, which means that the Ukrainian club gets the title, 16-13 on points.

1999-00

Real Life:	Real Madrid	d.	Valencia
Alternate History:	Barcelona	d.	Bayern Munich

This blog is a conspiracy. Yes, the title goes from Real to Barca, and Valencia's out as well, as only Barcelona qualified from Spain due to winning La Liga in 1998-99.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich made the semifinals in real life, so it went down to total points. The final total was 36-29, not particularly close.

2000-01

Real Life:	Bayern Munich	d.	Valencia
Alternate History:	Bayern Munich	d.	Deportivo

Deportivo was the reigning La Liga champ, so Valencia didn't make it. Man Utd were the English entrant, so neither semifinalist was eligible (Leeds, Real Madrid). So that meant a runner up had to come from the quarterfinals.

Arsenal was also ruled out, so it came down to points for the other three teams from that stage. Deportivo won a very close race, 23-22-21 over Man Utd and Galatasaray.

2001-02

Real Life:	Real Madrid	d.	Bayer Leverkusen
Alternate History:	Real Madrid	d.	Manchester Utd

Leverkusen and semifinalist Barcelona were out, leaving the English champions and other semifinalists to make the final.

2002-03

Real Life:	AC Milan	d.	Juventus
Alternate History:	Juventus	d.	Real Madrid

This was the year three Italian teams made the final four, but only Juventus made it in for the alternate history edition. Real Madrid was the other semifinalist, but they only qualified as defending champions - Valencia won the 2001-02 Spanish title.

2003-04

Real Life:	Porto	d.	Monaco
Alternate History:	Porto	d.	Real Madrid

Another runner up medal for Real. Lyon had won the French league, and Man Utd and Real Madrid won in England and Spain respectively. So Monaco and semifinalists Chelsea and Deportivo are ineligible.

Of the quarterfinalists, Arsenal were another non-winning English team and AC Milan wasn't Italy's entry (Juventus). Real Madrid topped Lyon 21-17 on points.

2004-05

Real Life:	Liverpool	d.	AC Milan
Alternate History:	AC Milan	d.	Lyon

Arsenal were the defending English champions, so semifinal rivals Chelsea and Liverpool were out. DaMarcus Beasley's semifinalist PSV Eindoven team were also out.

Lyon was the only quarterfinalist to make it. Inter and Juventus had finished behind AC Milan, while Werder Bremen was Germany's entrant, not Bayern Munich.

2005-06

Real Life:	Barcelona	d.	Arsenal
Alternate History:	Barcelona	d.	AC Milan

Arsenal didn't make it, as Chelsea won their first title of the Roman era in the previous year.

Juventus was the Italian champion, but AC Milan gets here as the defending champion in this universe. They were in the semis, along with Villarreal, who didn't qualify as they finished third behind Barcelona.

2006-07

Real Life:	AC Milan	d.	Liverpool
Alternate History:	Chelsea	d.	Bayern Munich

Chelsea finally wins that title they've been dreaming of. With 3/4 English clubs in the last four, only one could make it. Meanwhile, AC Milan had finished behind Inter in Italy (at least after the whole scandal was taken care of, remember that?).

So we go to the last eight to find a runner up. AS Roma and Valencia weren't champions, so Bayern Munich beats out PSV 16-14 on points.

2007-08

Real Life:	Manchester Utd	d.	Chelsea
Alternate History:	Manchester Utd	d.	Chelsea

The first unchanged final since 1998, despite both teams hailing from England. That's because Man Utd were Premier League winners, and Chelsea were defending champions. It's also the only same country final in this exercise.

2008-09

Real Life:	Barcelona	d.	Manchester Utd
Alternate History:	Manchester Utd	d.	Bayern Munich

We finally get the 1999 result, only a decade later. Real Madrid qualified from Spain, so the title goes to the holders.

Bayern only made the last eight. Still, they became finalists because four of the other teams in the final four (Arsenal, Chelsea) and final eight (Liverpool, Villarreal) didn't qualify. Porto, another last eight team, is beaten 21-15 on points.

2009-10

Real Life:	Inter Milan	d.	Bayern Munich
Alternate History:	Inter Milan	d.	Barcelona

Wolfsburg were the German champions, so no Bayern. Other semifinalist Lyon finished third in France, allowing Barcelona to move in.

2010-11

Real Life:	Barcelona	vs	Manchester Utd
Alternate History:	Barcelona	d.	Shakhtar

This year's final has yet to be played, but the alternate history winner is already known. Chelsea won the EPL last year, so no Man U. There's also no Real Madrid, Schalke, or Tottenham.

It came down to three quarterfinalists: Chelsea, Inter, and Shakhtar. The points were 15-10-15 after the group stage, so Inter was pretty much done. After the round of 16, it's 19-13-21. All three lost both of their quarterfinal matches, so that's how it ended. Shahktar is the runner up.

If only Chelsea had won that return leg against Copenhagen. It would've to go to goal difference, and they would've advanced instead on that tiebreaker.

Summary

Champions by League

	Real	Alternate
England	3	3
France	0	0
Germany	1	1
Italy	3	3
Portugal	1	1
Spain	5	5
Ukraine	0	1

Despite 6/13 years having different winners, it turns out looking almost exactly the same. Only Ukraine could break through.

Finalists by League

	Real	Alternate
England	8	5
France	1	1
Germany	4	4
Italy	6	6
Portugal	1	1
Spain	8	9
Ukraine	0	2

England gets fewer teams in the final, despite winning the same number of times.

Champions by League

	Real	Alternate
AC Milan	2	1
Barcelona	2	3
Bayern Munich	1	1
Chelsea	0	1
Dynamo Kiev	0	1
Inter Milan	1	1
Juventus	0	1
Liverpool	1	0
Manchester Utd	2	2
Porto	1	1
Real Madrid	3	2

Three different champions, while Liverpool is the only one to lose theirs.

Finalists by Club

	Real	Alternate
AC Milan	3	2
Arsenal	1	0
Barcelona	3	4
Bayer Leverkusen	1	0
Bayern Munich	3	4
Chelsea	1	2
Deportivo	0	1
Dynamo Kiev	0	1
Inter Milan	1	1
Juventus	2	3
Liverpool	2	0
Lyon	0	1
Manchester Utd	4	3
Monaco	1	0
Porto	1	1
Real Madrid	3	4
Shakhtar	0	1
Valencia	2	0

Liverpool and Valencia both lose two finals, while nobody gains two.

Jack Edwards NHL rant

2011-04-30T05:47:00.005-05:00

Found a link to this on Yahoo sports. He's been doing the Boston Bruins hockey games for the last few years, and he hasn't changed a bit. From what I've read online, he is still the same love/hate announcer with his own unique brand of catchphrases. This is classic Jack:

The man loves his history references.

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: How bad a red card hurts

2011-04-27T16:05:00.003-05:00

This week's column:

Climbing the Ladder: How bad a red card hurts

How many goals per 90 will it cost your team to go down a man?

And I already realized that I missed the RSL-Columbus series for the article's second point, about drawing the away leg of the CCL first. Doh.

Previous Columns

March 9 - Champs usually start hot
March 16 - Home-field advantage
March 23 - Hidden milestones of Week 1
April 1 - Playing percentages by nationality
April 6 - Dixon and the Name Game
April 13 - Winning PK shootouts
April 20 - How MLS teams rank by age

Top Ten Most/Least Domestic MLS Teams

2011-04-25T01:43:00.005-05:00

Recently, I looked at every team from the past five years in my April 1 column on the subject. I've since gone back and done it for every year and every team, though I'm still not 100% sure that I got every single nationality change. At least those from American to foreign, and vice versa.

There's Arturo Alvarez, Jeff Cunningham, Taylor Graham, Pablo Mastroeni, and Preki. Also possibly Martin Vasquez (wasn't capped during 1996 season, though he was called up), but I didn't count him.

Based on the percentage of minutes played:

Most Domestic MLS Teams

1	KC	2001	88.85%
2	COL	2003	87.99%
3	CHI	2003	87.15%
4	KC	2003	85.32%
5	CLB	2004	84.77%
6	KC	2000	84.21%
7	CLB	2003	84.16%
8	KC	2002	84.05%
9	KC	2007	84.01%
10	KC	2005	83.98%

Notice anything? Bob Gansler's KC teams relied heavily on American players. It's interesting that under Peter Vermes, the team has seen a steep drop in their percentage. The drop from 2009 to 2010 was 30 percentage points (79 vs 49), and 2011 is right at the same level as last year.

The 2001 Wizards are at the top of the list. They were a lot like the 2000 Wizards, but without Miklos Molnar's minutes. And no Preki, which lead to a much worse record. The only foreign players were Gary Glasgow, Mo Johnston, and Onandi Lowe. Hey, remember when Lowe came in and somewhat took the league by storm for half a year? He racked up the highest fouls suffered per 90 rate of all time.

Least Domestic MLS Teams

All right, you knew Toronto would dominate the top ten list, so I've expanded it to 14 to include 10 American teams.

1	TOR	2008	22.28%
2	CHV	2005	31.18%
3	TOR	2010	31.24%
4	TOR	2007	32.24%
5	NY	2010	33.29%
6	TOR	2009	36.22%
7	NY	2009	43.92%
8	DAL	2008	45.34%
9	NE	1998	46.88%
10	CHV	2010	47.27%
11	SEA	2009	47.41%
12	SEA	2010	48.55%
13	DAL	2006	49.04%
14	DC	2009	49.07%

The least domestic American team is the infamous 2005 Chivas USA expansion side. It was obvious from the preseason results and turmoil that things weren't going to be smooth for them (remember Ramon Ramirez and his nanny?). And to think, people were worried about them fielding a mostly foreign team.

Second to them among American teams is last year's New York Red Bulls. This year, they're on track to beat Chivas 2005 as the league's overall domestic percentage continues to decrease. Tim Ream and Juan Agudelo are the only American starters, and for the last two games it was only Ream.

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: How MLS teams rank by age

2011-04-22T04:03:00.003-05:00

This week's column:

Climbing the Ladder: How MLS teams rank by age

Features a list of the team ages so far this season. Interesting to see that the most foreign and most domestic teams, NY & SJ, are the two oldest so far this season.

Previous Columns

March 9 - Champs usually start hot
March 16 - Home-field advantage
March 23 - Hidden milestones of Week 1
April 1 - Playing percentages by nationality
April 6 - Dixon and the Name Game
April 13 - Winning PK shootouts

Alternate History 3: NBA & Pro/Rel

2011-04-20T05:33:00.001-05:00

I've already examined the NFL and NHL, so now it's time for professional basketball.

What if the NBA had implemented a system of promotion and relegation? There was no obvious point to start like with the NFL and NHL, so I settled on the 1967-68 season. That's when the league was expanded to 12 team, the same starting number I used for the NHL, and it also means that all three of these posts started right around the same time.

Like the other posts, I used the same number of playoff teams that would be used for one conference in real life. I also used the same number of promoted and relegated teams (three each).

NBA FINALS CHANGES

Due to the yearly dominance of the top seeds in the NBA, I wasn't expecting many changes. But there turned out to be five different champions, one more than the NHL. Losing their titles were 1969 Boston, 1975 Golden State, 1977 Portland, 1995 Houston, and 2008 Boston. They are replaced by Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, Orlando, and Los Angeles. So the Celtics lose twwo titles, while the Lakers gain two. That would shift the current balance from 17-16 in Boston's favor to 18-15, LA.

Here's the full list of different finalists. Champions are listed as the first team. With pro/rel is on the left, and real life is on the right:

1968	Boston	vs	Philadelphia	Boston	vs	Los Angeles
1969	Los Angeles	vs	New York	Boston	vs	Los Angeles
1971	Milwaukee	vs	New York	Milwaukee	vs	Baltimore
1972	Los Angeles	vs	Milwaukee	Los Angeles	vs	New York
1975	Washington	vs	Boston	Golden State	vs	Washington
1976	Boston	vs	Golden State	Boston	vs	Phoenix
1977	Philadelphia	vs	Houston	Portland	vs	Philadelphia
1981	Boston	vs	Philadelphia	Boston	vs	Houston
1995	Orlando	vs	San Antonio	Houston	vs	Orlando
2002	Los Angeles	vs	Sacramento	Los Angeles	vs	New Jersey
2008	Los Angeles	vs	Detroit	Boston	vs	Los Angeles
2010	Los Angeles	vs	Orlando	Los Angeles	vs	Boston

Why did each finalist miss out?

In second division:

1968 Los Angeles
1975 Golden State
1976 Phoenix
1977 Portland
2002 New Jersey
2008 Boston

Didn't qualify for playoffs:

1969 Boston (relegated)
1971 Baltimore
1972 New York
1981 Houston
1995 Houston
2010 Boston

YEARS IN EACH DIVISON

(including 2011-12)

		PCT	1st	2nd	Playoffs
1	Los Angeles Lakers	86.67%	39	6	32
2	San Antonio Spurs	77.78%	28	8	21
3	Utah Jazz	71.05%	27	11	18
4	Phoenix Suns	70.45%	31	13	17
5	Portland Trailblazers	69.05%	29	13	13
6	Boston Celtics	62.22%	28	17	20
6	Houston Rockets	62.22%	28	17	12
8	New York Knicks	55.56%	25	20	13
9	Miami Heat	54.17%	13	11	8
9	New Orleans Hornets	54.17%	13	11	2
11	Detroit Pistons	53.33%	24	21	15
11	Oklahoma City Thunder	53.33%	24	21	13
13	Dallas Mavericks	53.13%	17	15	14
14	Denver Nuggets	52.78%	19	17	9
15	Milwaukee Bucks	52.27%	23	21	12
16	Chicago Bulls	51.11%	23	22	16
16	Philadelphia 76ers	51.11%	23	22	15
18	Atlanta Hawks	48.89%	22	23	10
19	Orlando Magic	47.83%	11	12	5
20	Sacramento Kings	42.22%	19	26	6
21	Minnesota Timberwolves	39.13%	9	14	4
22	Indiana Pacers	38.89%	14	22	5
23	Cleveland Cavaliers	38.10%	16	26	5
24	Golden State Warriors	35.56%	16	29	3
24	Washington Wizards	35.56%	16	29	7
26	New Jersey Nets	33.33%	12	24	5
27	Toronto Raptors	29.41%	5	12	0
28	Memphis Grizzlies	23.53%	4	13	2
29	Los Angeles Clippers	16.67%	7	35	2
30	Charlotte Bobcats	12.50%	1	7	0

Look at how good Utah, Phoenix, and Portland have been with little to show for it. Toronto and Charlotte have yet to make the playoffs, while the Clippers only boast two appearances in 42 years. Ouch. At least Golden State has 3.

MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN D1/D2

The longest lengths of time spent in division one (bold means a current streak):

	Years	First	Last
Utah Jazz	21	1985	2005
Portland Trailblazers	18	1988	2005
Los Angeles Lakers	17	1996	2012
Los Angeles Lakers	16	1978	1993
Boston Celtics	14	1981	1994
San Antonio Spurs	14	1999	2012
New York Knicks	13	1990	2002
Milwaukee Bucks	12	1981	1992
Philadelphia 76ers	12	1977	1988
Chicago Bulls	11	1989	1999
Dallas Mavericks	11	2002	2012

The Lakers can't quite match the 30 year streak of the NHL's Boston Bruins, but they are one of three west teams with a current double digit streak. They didn't get relegated despite missing the real life playoffs in 2004-05, as they were only the fourth worst team in the alternate reality D1 that year.

The longest lengths of time spent in division two:

	Years	First	Last
Los Angeles Clippers	15	1978	1992
Washington Wizards	13	2000	2012
Golden State Warriors	12	1996	2007
Los Angeles Clippers	12	1995	2006
Cleveland Cavaliers	10	1980	1989
Dallas Mavericks	10	1992	2001
New York Knicks	10	2003	2012
Utah Jazz	10	1975	1984

The alternate reality Wizards join the alternate reality Redskins in having their league's longest current streak in D2. Not a great time to be a Washington sports fan, huh?

2011 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS

Here's how two divisions would look for the current, just finished 2010-11 season, with the real life W-L records.

NBA-1

Chicago Bulls	62	20
San Antonio Spurs	61	21
Miami Heat	58	24
Los Angeles Lakers	57	25
Dallas Mavericks	57	25
Boston Celtics	56	26
Orlando Magic	52	30
Denver Nuggets	50	32

Portland Trailblazers	48	34
Atlanta Hawks	44	38
Phoenix Suns	40	42
Utah Jazz	39	43

Milwaukee Bucks	35	47
Charlotte Bobcats	34	48
Cleveland Cavaliers	19	63

So the eight playoff teams would correspond to the real life top eight seeds, with the exception of Denver instead of Oklahoma City.

The three relegated teams are Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Cleveland.

NBA-2

Oklahoma City Thunder	55	27
Memphis Grizzlies	46	36
New Orleans Hornets	46	36

Houston Rockets	43	39
New York Knicks	42	40
Philadelphia 76ers	41	41
Indiana Pacers	37	45
Golden State Warriors	36	46
Los Angeles Clippers	32	50
Detroit Pistons	30	52
Sacramento Kings	24	58
New Jersey Nets	24	58
Washington Wizards	23	59
Toronto Raptors	22	60
Minnesota Timberwolves	17	65

Three western conference teams are promoted in place of the relegated eastern three.

That gives us the following divisions for the 2011-12 season:

2012 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS

The number represents the current consecutive number of years in the division.

NBA-1

Atlanta Hawks	3
Boston Celtics	4
Chicago Bulls	2
Dallas Mavericks	11
Denver Nuggets	8
Los Angeles Lakers	17
Memphis Grizzlies	1
Miami Heat	3
New Orleans Hornets	1
Oklahoma City Thunder	1
Orlando Magic	4
Phoenix Suns	7
Portland Trailblazers	3
San Antonio Spurs	14
Utah Jazz	6

NBA-2

Charlotte Bobcats	1
Cleveland Cavaliers	1
Detroit Pistons	2
Golden State Warriors	3
Houston Rockets	2
Indiana Pacers	5
Los Angeles Clippers	4
Milwaukee Bucks	1
Minnesota Timberwolves	6
New Jersey Nets	3
New York Knicks	10
Philadelphia 76ers	8
Sacramento Kings	5
Toronto Raptors	3
Washington Wizards	13

YEAR BY YEAR CHART

Orange = promoted
Blue = relegated
Green = playoffs

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: Winning PK shootouts

2011-04-14T07:25:00.002-05:00

This week's column:

Climbing the Ladder: Winning PK shootouts

If the CCL final goes to one, everything is pointing to RSL having a great chance (knock on wood).

Previous Columns

March 9 - Champs usually start hot
March 16 - Home-field advantage
March 23 - Hidden milestones of Week 1
April 1 - Playing percentages by nationality
April 6 - Dixon and the Name Game

OTFATT 2011: Update #1

2011-04-11T04:18:00.002-05:00

In these updates throughout the season, I'll be keeping track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game in the regular season. That feat has been accomplished only 42 times in 15 seasons. Click here for the complete list.

This year, we started with 198 eligible players (18 teams times 11 starters). A month into the season, and the total now stands at exactly one-third of that: 66. More interestingly, two teams have both been wiped out already, and they just played each other on Saturday. RSL rested most of their starters (thank god MLS won't fine them like the EPL), while New England simply have been hit with injuries and needless ejections. They were down to two players going into the match: Shalrie Joseph and Pat Phelan, and you know what happened next. The Revs were also the second team out last year.

For rookies, there's Anibaba, Balchan, and Sapong left.

Of the three players who survived last year (Hesmer, Moor, Ream), two of the three remain in 2011. Ream was called up for the USMNT games.

Six teams have changed their goalkeeper so far. Of the survivors, I like Jimmy Nielsen of Kansas City to have the best chance to survive the whole year. He would've last year if not for being rested in the final weekend. From the field players, looking at the defenders obviously, I like Jason Hernandez. He lasted until July 31st a year ago, and seems less likely to be carded than several of the others.

Remaining Candidates (66)

5	CHI	Anibaba, Gibbs, Johnson, Pappa, Pause
3	CHV	LaBrocca, Pearce, Zemanski
5	CLB	Balchan, Hesmer, James, Marshall, Miranda
6	COL	Kimura, Larentowicz, Moor, Pickens, Smith, Wynne
4	DAL	Ferreira, Hartman, Hernandez, John
1	DC	Burch
5	HOU	Boswell, Cameron, Hainault, Hall, Palmer
4	KC	Besler, Espinoza, Nielsen, Sapong
4	LA	Dunivant, Franklin, Juninho, Leonardo
4	NY	Lindpere, Miller, Solli, Tainio
5	PHI	Califf, Le Toux, Miglioranzi, Mondragon, Valdes
4	POR	Brunner, Cooper, Jewsbury, Purdy
4	SEA	Alonso, Gonzalez, Keller, Parke
7	SJ	Busch, Convey, Cronin, Hernandez, Johnson, McDonald, Wondolowski
3	TOR	Cann, Frei, Harden
2	VAN	Leathers, Rochat

Order of teams being totally wiped out for 2011, with last surviving player:

1. RSL - Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Javier Morales, Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert (4/9)
2. NE - Pat Phelan (4/9)

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: Dixon and The Name Game

2011-04-07T04:43:00.003-05:00

Link:

Climbing the Ladder: Dixon and The Name Game

This week, I looked at the significance of Houston Dynamo academy signing Alex Dixon's debut, as well as a few more notes on the Champions League and the Rapids' excellent start. Check it out!

Previous Columns

March 9 - Champs usually start hot
March 16 - Home-field advantage
March 23 - Hidden milestones of Week 1
April 1 - Playing percentages by nationality

Error in Lineup Database

2011-04-05T04:15:00.003-05:00

I noticed a couple of errors yesterday relating to the LA Galaxy's games in the 2000 CONCACAF Champions Cup (played in January 2001, but still called the 2000 edition). They've been fixed, and the corrected version can be downloaded here (stats through 2010).

Brian Kelly & Zak Ibsen were each listed with two sub appearances. In reality, Kelly and Sasha Victorine should each have three for that tournament and Ibsen none (he started each match).

In addition, the minutes of the subs in game one were off, and Peter Vagenas was not subbed off in game two. Here's what the correct lineups should look like:

Kevin Hartman, Greg Vanney, Alexi Lalas, Paul Caligiuri, Zak Ibsen (Brian Kelly 74), Ezra Hendrickson, Simon Elliot, Peter Vagenas, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Cobi Jones, Adam Frye (Sasha Victorine 71)

Kevin Hartman, Ezra Hendrickson, Paul Caligiuri, Alexi Lalas, Zak Ibsen (Brian Kelly 88), Greg Vanney, Peter Vagenas, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Simon Elliott, Cobi Jones, Adam Frye (Sasha Victorine 62)

Kevin Hartman, Greg Vanney, Alexi Lalas, Paul Caliguiri, Zak Ibsen, Ezra Hendrickson, Simon Elliot, Peter Vagenas, Mauricio Cienfuegos (Brian Kelly 92+), Cobi Jones, Adam Frye (Sasha Victorine 60)

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: domestic/foreign minutes played by team

2011-04-02T19:49:00.005-05:00

New MLSsoccer.com column. Didn't get published on the normal day this week, so you might have missed it:

Climbing the Ladder: Playing percentages by nationality

I'll probably go back and figure out the rest of the years in the near future, though it can be tricky as certain players have changed nationalities (like Jeff Cunningham, domestic since 2002 but foreign before).

Previous Columns

Alternate History 2: NHL & Pro/Rel

2011-03-30T07:24:00.002-05:00

Last week, I looked at what would've happened if the NFL had promotion and relegation. Today, I look at the NHL using the same rules.

Like the NFL, there's a clear point in which implementing it would've made sense. That's the 1967-68 expansion which saw the size of the league double, from the long-standing six teams to twelve. The league even put all six teams in a different division, and most were much weaker for many years.

Details after the jump.

I tried to use the same number of playoff teams one conference would have. And, I tried to have three teams going up and down each season, though it wasn't possible for the earliest years.

As with the NFL previous post, I picked the playoff teams via the best records (tiebreakers: head to head, then goal differential). Then, of the playoff teams, the ones who went the furthest in real life were recorded as champions and runners up. If two teams went to the same round, then the same tiebreakers were applied.

STANLEY CUP CHANGES

Only four champions ended up being different. They are 1991 Pittsburgh, 1994 NY Rangers, 2006 Carolina, and 2007 Anaheim. Respectively, they were replaced by Boston, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Ottawa.

Here's the full list of different finalists. With pro/rel is on the left, and real life is on the right:

1968	Montreal	vs	Boston	Montreal	vs	Saint Louis
1970	Boston	vs	Chicago	Boston	vs	Saint Louis
1991	Boston	vs	Edmonton	Pittsburgh	vs	Minnesota
1994	New Jersey	vs	Toronto	NY Rangers	vs	Vancouver
1996	Colorado	vs	Detroit	Colorado	vs	Florida
1998	Detroit	vs	Dallas	Detroit	vs	Washington
2002	Detroit	vs	Toronto	Detroit	vs	Carolina
2003	New Jersey	vs	Ottawa	New Jersey	vs	Anaheim
2004	Tampa Bay	vs	Philadelphia	Tampa Bay	vs	Calgary
2006	Ottawa	vs	New Jersey	Carolina	vs	Edmonton
2007	Ottawa	vs	Buffalo	Anaheim	vs	Ottawa

Why did each finalist miss out?

In second division:

1968 Saint Louis
1991 Pittsburgh
1991 Minnesota
1994 New York Rangers
1996 Florida
1998 Washington
2002 Carolina
2003 Anaheim
2004 Calgary
2006 Carolina
2006 Edmonton
2007 Anaheim

Didn't qualify for playoffs:

1970 Saint Louis (relegated)
1994 Vancouver (relegated)

YEARS IN EACH DIVISON

		PCT	1st	2nd	Playoffs
1	Boston Bruins	86.05%	37	6	31
2	Montreal Canadiens	83.72%	36	7	26
3	Buffalo Sabres	72.50%	29	11	19
4	Philadelphia Flyers	72.09%	31	12	26
5	Colorado Avalanche	64.52%	20	11	15
6	Calgary Flames	60.53%	23	15	13
7	Detroit Red Wings	60.47%	26	17	20
7	New York Rangers	60.47%	26	17	13
9	Chicago Blackhawks	55.81%	24	19	11
10	New Jersey Devils	55.56%	20	16	16
11	Saint Louis Blues	53.49%	23	20	11
12	Washington Capitals	52.78%	19	17	13
13	Ottawa Senators	50.00%	9	9	6
14	Dallas Stars	48.84%	21	22	13
14	Pittsburgh Penguins	48.84%	21	22	11
16	Toronto Maple Leafs	46.51%	20	23	5
17	Edmonton Oilers	45.16%	14	17	9
18	New York Islanders	44.74%	17	21	13
19	San Jose Sharks	42.11%	8	11	6
20	Nashville Predators	41.67%	5	7	2
21	Minnesota Wild	40.00%	4	6	1
22	Los Angeles Kings	37.21%	16	27	7
23	Anaheim Ducks	35.29%	6	11	1
24	Vancouver Canucks	35.00%	14	26	5
25	Phoenix Coyotes	25.81%	8	23	1
26	Tampa Bay Lightning	22.22%	4	14	1
27	Carolina Hurricanes	19.35%	6	25	2
28	Florida Panthers	17.65%	3	14	1
29	Cleveland Barons	8.33%	1	11	0
30	Atlanta Thrashers	0.00%	0	11	0
30	Columbus Blue Jackets	0.00%	0	10	0

The Cleveland Barons were one of the 1967 expansion teams, which folded in 1978 - the last team in the "big four" leagues to do so.

Interesting to see a team like Toronto with 20 ears in the first division, but only 5 playoff appearances. As somebody who doesn't follow hockey too closely, I'm surprised to see Buffalo so high. I guess they're like the Phoenix Suns of the NBA; almost always good but never great (I've done the other leagues already).

MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN D1/D2

The longest lengths of time spent in division one (bold means a current streak):

	Years	First	Last
Boston Bruins	30	1968	1997
Detroit Red Wings	18	1993	2011
New Jersey Devils	18	1993	2011
Montreal Canadiens	17	1968	1984
Philadelphia Flyers	16	1974	1989
Saint Louis Blues	14	1992	2006
Washington Capitals	14	1984	1997
Buffalo Sabres	13	1974	1986
Colorado Avalanche	13	1996	2009
Dallas Stars	11	1998	2009
Edmonton Oilers	11	1983	1993
Philadelphia Flyers	11	1996	2007
Pittsburgh Penguins	11	1992	2002
Montreal Canadiens	10	1986	1995

Boston had that really long playoff streak, and they easily top this category.

The longest lengths of time spent in division two:

	Years	First	Last
Carolina Hurricanes	14	1992	2006
New Jersey Devils	14	1975	1988
Detroit Red Wings	13	1975	1987
Toronto Maple Leafs	13	1981	1993
Atlanta Thrashers	11	2000	2011
Tampa Bay Lightning	11	1993	2003
Columbus Blue Jackets	10	2001	2011
San Jose Sharks	10	1992	2001

Some expansion pains here.

2011 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS

Here's how two divisions would look for the current, almost finished 2010-11 season. The number represents the current consecutive number of years in the division.

NHL-1

Anaheim Ducks	4
Boston Bruins	2
Buffalo Sabres	5
Calgary Flames	6
Chicago Blackhawks	2
Detroit Red Wings	18
Los Angeles Kings	1
Nashville Predators	5
New Jersey Devils	18
Philadelphia Flyers	3
Phoenix Coyotes	1
Pittsburgh Penguins	4
San Jose Sharks	6
Vancouver Canucks	1
Washington Capitals	2

NHL-1

Atlanta Thrashers	11
Carolina Hurricanes	4
Colorado Avalanche	2
Columbus Blue Jackets	10
Dallas Stars	2
Edmonton Oilers	6
Florida Panthers	9
Minnesota Wild	1
Montreal Canadiens	1
New York Islanders	5
New York Rangers	1
Ottawa Senators	2
Saint Louis Blues	5
Tampa Bay Lightning	3
Toronto Maple Leafs	3

For the current season, it looks as though New Jersey, Buffalo, and Calgary will likely be relegated. The three promoted teams would come out of these four: Tampa Bay, Montreal, NY Rangers, and Dallas.

YEAR BY YEAR CHART

Orange = promoted
Blue = relegated
Green = playoffs

This should be a better reflection of reality than the NFL, who didn't play many inter-conference games. But one interesting thing is, for most teams until the more recent expansions, either you made the playoffs or were relegated.

Countdown to 10k goals: Update #1

2011-03-28T05:23:00.002-05:00

We were at 9,544 before the first competitive game of the season. With Open Cup qualifying and another CCL game on tap, it seems like a good time to update.

The CCL games involving Columbus and Real Salt Lake meant another 7 were scored (
RSL 4:1 CLB in the second leg, and RSL 2:0 Saprissa).

Now with 19 MLS games in the books, 48 goals have been scored in league action so far. Add that to the CCL 7, and that means:

Current total: 9,599

Still probably about three months away, but creeping up.

CTL on MLSsoccer.com #3 - Hidden milestones of Week 1

2011-03-23T23:07:00.002-05:00

It can be read by clicking here.

Features notes on the longest amount of time between league games (Adin Brown is up there), new nationalities in MLS, Faryd Mondragon's debut, and more.

Previous Columns

#1 - Champs usually start hot
#2 - Home-field advantage

Alternate History: If the NFL had Promotion & Relegation

2011-03-23T05:07:00.000-05:00

The year is 1970. The Kansas City Chiefs have just defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, evening the score at two wins each for the NFL and the AFL. It's now time for the merger between the two leagues to take place. But instead of the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers jumping to the new American Football Conference and making one 26 team league, the owners instead decide to take a cue from European soccer and institute pro/rel in a major American sport for the first time.

It's decided that the 10 AFL teams will be joined by the three worst NFL teams from 1969: the Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Saint Louis Cardinals. Together, they would from a second division, the NFL-2. Meanwhile, the playoffs and Super Bowl would continue to settle the NFL league champion, but now there was drama at the bottom of the standings as well. Thus, a new era began for professional football.

How did everything turn out? Many, many details after the jump.

RULES

Three teams were promoted and relegated in each season, using the real life win-loss records. There was an exception for most of the expansion years (1976, 1995, 1999): in the year before, only two teams were relegated to keep the leagues equal. All expansion teams would automatically enter in the second division, with the exception of Baltimore (though it turned out not to matter).

In 1999 when Cleveland joined, this meant that the leagues were uneven (16-15). Therefore, in 2002 when Houston joined, there was no need to relegate fewer teams.

Each year has the same number of playoff teams as one conference did in real life. So that's four from 1970-77, five from 1978-89, and six from 1990-present. The playoff teams would be determined by the top teams based on the overall records (not on who actually qualified).

The Super Bowl winner and runner up were then determined by looking at the qualified playoff teams, then taking the top two which advanced furthest in the real life playoffs (then using the season records if still tied). I didn't go to the trouble of actually seeding teams for every year, since it's not like the records would be exactly the same anyway.

Tiebreakers were broken by head-to-head record, followed by point differential.

SUPER BOWL CHANGES

As it turns out, only 6/41 had different winners than in real life using this system. However, an additional 18 runners up were different than in real life.

Here's the list, with champions first. Differences from real life are in red text.

1966	1	Green Bay	vs	Kansas City
1967	2	Green Bay	vs	Oakland
1968	3	NY Jets	vs	BAL Colts
1969	4	Kansas City	vs	Minnesota

1970	5	BAL Colts	vs	San Francisco
1971	6	Dallas	vs	Miami
1972	7	Miami	vs	Washington
1973	8	Miami	vs	Minnesota
1974	9	Pittsburgh	vs	Oakland
1975	10	Pittsburgh	vs	LA Rams
1976	11	Oakland	vs	Minnesota
1977	12	Dallas	vs	Denver
1978	13	Pittsburgh	vs	Dallas
1979	14	Pittsburgh	vs	Houston
1980	15	Oakland	vs	Philadelphia
1981	16	Dallas	vs	San Diego
1982	17	Miami	vs	Dallas
1983	18	LA Raiders	vs	Washington
1984	19	San Francisco	vs	Miami
1985	20	Chicago	vs	New England
1986	21	NY Giants	vs	Denver
1987	22	Washington	vs	Denver
1988	23	San Francisco	vs	Chicago
1989	24	San Francisco	vs	LA Rams
1990	25	NY Giants	vs	Buffalo
1991	26	Washington	vs	Buffalo
1992	27	Dallas	vs	Buffalo
1993	28	Dallas	vs	Buffalo
1994	29	San Francisco	vs	San Diego
1995	30	Dallas	vs	Pittsburgh
1996	31	Green Bay	vs	San Francisco
1997	32	Denver	vs	Green Bay
1998	33	Denver	vs	Minnesota
1999	34	Jacksonville	vs	Tampa Bay
2000	35	NY Giants	vs	Minnesota
2001	36	Saint Louis	vs	Pittsburgh
2002	37	Tampa Bay	vs	Oakland
2003	38	New England	vs	Indianapolis
2004	39	New England	vs	Philadelphia
2005	40	Pittsburgh	vs	Denver
2006	41	Indianapolis	vs	New England
2007	42	New England	vs	San Diego
2008	43	Pittsburgh	vs	Baltimore
2009	44	New Orleans	vs	Indianapolis
2010	45	Green Bay	vs	Pittsburgh

Here's why the teams who made it in real life didn't here:

1) Didn't qualify for the playoffs:

1970 - Dallas
1974 - Minnesota
1975 - Dallas
1979 - Los Angeles Rams (actually relegated during this season, tough year)
2007 - New York Giants

2) In second division at the time:

1981 - Cincinnati
1981 - San Francisco
1982 - Washington
1988 - Cincinnati
1989 - Denver
1996 - New England
1998 - Atlanta
1999 - Saint Louis
1999 - Tennessee
2000 - Baltimore
2001 - New England
2003 - Carolina
2005 - Seattle
2006 - Chicago
2008 - Arizona

Overall, no team gained or lost more than one title. Baltimore lost its only win, while Jacksonville is the only non-winner that became one. Cincinnati lost both of their appearances, while San Diego gained two.

YEARS IN EACH DIVISON

Which teams spent the most years in the first or second divisions? Ranked by the percentage of time in the first division. 2011 season is included, though it hasn't taken place yet.

		PCT	1st	2nd	Playoffs
1	Miami Dolphins	76.19%	32	10	14
1	Pittsburgh Steelers	76.19%	32	10	16
3	Denver Broncos	73.81%	31	11	9
4	Dallas Cowboys	71.43%	30	12	18
5	Baltimore Ravens	68.75%	11	5	4
6	New England Patriots	66.67%	28	14	10
7	Minnesota Vikings	64.29%	27	15	11
8	Philadelphia Eagles	61.90%	26	16	12
8	San Francisco 49ers	61.90%	26	16	15
10	Oakland Raiders	59.52%	25	17	12
10	Saint Louis Rams	59.52%	25	17	7
12	Indianapolis Colts	54.76%	23	19	10
12	New York Giants	54.76%	23	19	6
14	Carolina Panthers	52.94%	9	8	2
15	Buffalo Bills	52.38%	22	20	7
16	Green Bay Packers	50.00%	21	21	9
16	Washington Redskins	50.00%	21	21	8
18	Tennessee Titans	47.62%	20	22	7
19	Jacksonville Jaguars	47.06%	8	9	3
20	Cleveland Browns	46.15%	18	21	3
21	Kansas City Chiefs	45.24%	19	23	7
22	San Diego Chargers	42.86%	18	24	7
23	Chicago Bears	40.48%	17	25	4
23	New York Jets	40.48%	17	25	3
25	Atlanta Falcons	35.71%	15	27	1
25	Cincinnati Bengals	35.71%	15	27	1
27	New Orleans Saints	30.95%	13	29	4
28	Seattle Seahawks	30.56%	11	25	2
29	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	27.78%	10	26	4
30	Detroit Lions	26.19%	11	31	2
31	Arizona Cardinals	19.05%	8	34	0
32	Houston Texans	0.00%	0	10	0

Yes, that's a total of zero playoff appearances for the Cardinals.

I didn't increase the number of playoff spots for the strike-shortened 1982 season (which happened in real life).

MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN D1/D2

The longest lengths of time spent in division one (bold means a current streak):

	Years	First	Last
Pittsburgh Steelers	19	1993	2011
San Francisco 49ers	18	1982	1999
Dallas Cowboys	17	1970	1986
Oakland Raiders	17	1971	1987
Denver Broncos	14	1997	2010
Miami Dolphins	14	1991	2004
Buffalo Bills	13	1989	2001
Minnesota Vikings	13	1989	2001
Pittsburgh Steelers	13	1973	1985
Baltimore Ravens	11	2001	2011
Miami Dolphins	11	1978	1988
Philadelphia Eagles	11	2001	2011
Washington Redskins	11	1970	1980
Kansas City Chiefs	10	1991	2000
Minnesota Vikings	10	1970	1979
New England Patriots	10	2002	2011

The longest lengths of time spent in division two:

	Years	First	Last
Arizona Cardinals	20	1979	1998
Cincinnati Bengals	18	1992	2009
Washington Redskins	18	1994	2011
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	17	1981	1997
Detroit Lions	15	1997	2011
New York Giants	14	1972	1985
Seattle Seahawks	14	1992	2005
New Orleans Saints	13	1994	2006
Atlanta Falcons	12	1984	1995
Green Bay Packers	12	1974	1985
Kansas City Chiefs	12	1975	1986
New York Jets	12	1970	1981
Arizona Cardinals	10	2000	2009
Houston Texans	10	2002	2011

2011 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS

Here's how two divisions would look for 2011. The number represents the current consecutive number of years in the division.

NFL-1

Arizona	2
Atlanta	3
Baltimore	11
Chicago	1
Dallas	4
Green Bay	4
Indianapolis	9
Kansas City	1
Minnesota	2
New England	10
New Orleans	5
NY Giants	6
NY Jets	1
Philadelphia	11
Pittsburgh	19
San Diego	7

NFL-2

Buffalo	5
Carolina	1
Cincinnati	1
Cleveland	3
Denver	1
Detroit	15
Houston	10
Jacksonville	3
Miami	2
Oakland	8
San Francisco	7
Seattle	3
St. Louis	4
Tampa Bay	5
Tennessee	2
Washington	18

As you can see, in 2010 the promoted teams were Chicago, KC, and the Jets. Relegated were Carolina, Cincinnati, and Denver. The playoff teams were ATL-BAL-GB-NE-NO-PIT.

YEAR BY YEAR CHART

Orange = promoted
Blue = relegated
Green = playoffs

The number above the year is the number of playoff teams.

I know that teams from each conference play 75% of the games against one another, which makes it hard for this to work completely. But I still thought it was interesting to look at. Feel free to post or email any questions or comments.

CTL on MLSsoccer.com - Column #2

2011-03-16T16:04:00.002-05:00

Climbing the Ladder: Home-field advantage

Something I've discussed before in years past. For the person who left the comment about whether or not I'd be able to count shootouts as draws, here's your answer. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to just act like my records are official and the league's aren't. I'll use the official stats unless there's a reason not to, like with this kind of analysis.

For further reading, I recommend this article on the possible causes of HFA.

The Harvard study referenced, which involved the EPL and attendance, can be found here (well, a summary of it).