San Jose seemed to be able to score at will in the last 5-10 minutes of the game last year. Though I guess with 72 goals overall, they were scoring a lot at all times. Does MLS's website or the pressbox site archive the stats and standings sheet? I wonder how many goals San Jose scored last year in the last 15 minute interval. RSL leads this year with 19 (out of 57 total), with NYRB at 18 (out of 53).
Yes, it is totally possible to get the minute mark of every goal for games from 2011 through now. Earlier than that requires some extra research and judicious use of web.archive.org
The best W-L record ever should belong to the legendary L.A. side of 1998, at +16. Coincidentally, the figure is the same, based on both the official record (24W-8L) and the normalized record where shootouts = ties (22W-6L-4T). The other high water marks included: - +16 by D.C. 1998 (24W-8L, or +12 if go by 17W-5L-10T) - +14 by D.C. 1999 (23W-9L, or +11 if going by 17W-6L-9T) - +14 by S.J. 2005 (18W-4L-10T) - +11 by Seattle 2011 (18W-7L-9T) - +11 by Miami 2001 (16W-5L-5L) - +11 by RSL 2010 (15W-4L-11T) - +10 by N.E. 2005 (17W-7L-8T) - +10 by Columbus 2008 (17W-7L-6T) - +10 by Chicago 2001 (16W-6L-5T) and... - +10 by D.C. 1997 (21W-11L, or 17W-7L-8T) - +10 by K.C. 1997 (21W-11L too, but just +5 going by 14W-9L-9L) Given MLS' Parity, Portland's +9 should rank among the Top-20 all-time... No mean feat at all!!
I couldn't find last year's stuff on the press box website, but I did find this: http://www.sjearthquakes.com/news/2012/10/quakes-notes-oct-29-2012
If you take away those 22 last 15 minute goals, San Jose still would have finished 6th in the league in goals.
The End of The Regular Season Update Notes It looks to me like the Eastern Conference and Combined tables are upside down. You have failed me for the last time, Chivacago Fuego. That's all I'm saying about the damn Supporters Shield. To hell with this regular season. But it was hell. I might have a few more numerical tidbits in the coming days. But for now I'm off to sulk ...
My attempt at "New Records set in MLS 2013 Regular Season": 1. Most # of Blowout Combs (win by 4+goals) in a season (14) -Previous Record: 13 in 2001. 2. Smallest Gap from Team #1 to #16 in SS Standings (59-41= 18 points) -Previous Record: (66-35=) 31 in 2012. 3. Smallest Gap from Team #1-#12 in SS Standings (59-49 = 10 points) -Matched current record of 10 in 2009. 4. Smallest Gap between Playoffs Elimination & SS Winners (59-51 = 8 points) -Previous Record: (49-40=) 9 in 2009 (CLB@49 vs COL/DC@40) 5. Smallest Gap between Playoffs Elimination & Conference Winners (POR@57 - S.J.@51 = 6 points) - Previous Record: (48-40=) 8 in 2009 (L.A.@48 vs COL@40) 6. 1st time the SS Lead has switched hands 3x in the Final Week. (10/23 RSL, 10/26 KC, 10/27 NYRB) - Previous Record: 2x in 2004 (KC then CLB on 10/16). 7. 1st time the SS Race has involve 4 teams in the Final Week. - Previous Record: 3 teams in 2000 (KC 56 points, Chicago 54 points, NYRB 54 points heading into Final Day). 8. 1st time both Conference saw teams eliminated from playoffs by Tie Breakers (East: Chicago, West: S.J.). - Previous Record: Only 1 Conference in 2004 (N.E. eliminated Chicago), 09 (RSL eliminated Colorado). 9. 1st time 4 teams finished with the same points in the SS Standings (51 points by N.E., COL., Hou. & S.J.). - Previous Record: 3 teams in 2005 (45pts), 06 (39pts), 09 (40pts), 12(57pts). 10. Seattle were Winless in Final 7 games, but still made the playoffs. - Previous Record: RSL winless in final 6 of 2011. 11. S.J. were Unbeaten in Final 7 games, yet still missed the playoffs. - Previous Record: IIRC, 2 games by a number of teams, including Colorado 2012, Houston 2010, etc... 12. Seattle's record collapse as SS Leaders 5 rounds before the end (6th/19 overall & 4th/9 in conference). - Previous Record: S.J. of 2002, at least 2nd/10 overall and 2nd/5 in conference. 13. Dallas missed the playoffs despite being SS Leaders by Round 13 (new record). Montreal almost extended the record to Round 24. - Previous Record: Round 6 by K.C. in 2006. 14. D.C. United setting several new records for: Least Wins (3. Previous Record = 4 by 2001 Tampa Bay), Least Goals per Game (22/34=0.64. Previous Record = 21/30 = 0.7 by 2010 D.C.), Most Losses in Regular Time (24. Previous Record = 22 by RSL & Chivas in 2005) and Worst Goal Difference (-37, co-share with 2013 Chivas. Previous Record = -36 by 2001 Tampa Bay). 15. Anything more?
Not sure about being a record, but four teams that have 0.500 or more winning% have still missed the playoffs.
Perhaps the bottom 3 teams combining for 61 losses is a contributing factor? or at the very least the bottom 2 teams combining for 44 L's What's the historical precedent for that?
Well, going off of this: it seems 1999 and 2005 were very bad years for the worst-of-the-worst as well. 2005 had only one 0.500 team miss the playoffs (KCW) as 8/12 teams made the playoffs, and 1999 also had one (SJC) even though some below-0.500 teams made the playoffs from the East (counting shootouts as draws). Other 0.500+ misses: --2012 CLB (15W, 12L) --2011 CHI (9W, 9L) --2009 COL (10W, 10L)
Chiva's USA's 67 goals against is nearing historical records: All teams with 60+ goals against allowed by year. YearTeamGoals AgainstGPGPG Against1996Crew65322.031996Wizards65322.031996Rapids63321.971997San Jose65322.031997Mutnity62321.941997Rapids62321.941998Rapids71322.221998New England70322.191998Fusion68322.131998San Jose65322.031998MetroStars63321.971998Mutnity62321.941998Crew61321.911998Dallas61321.911999MetroStars69322.161999Fusion63321.971999New England60321.882000DC United63321.972001Mutnity68272.522002----2003Burn64302.132004----2005CUSA67322.092005RSL65322.032006----2007----2008LA Galaxy62302.072009----2010----2011----2012Toronto62341.822013CUSA67341.97 Goals against per game for teams allowing 60+ goals 2001Mutnity68272.521998Rapids71322.221998New England70322.191999MetroStars69322.162003Burn64302.131998Fusion68322.132005CUSA67322.092008LA Galaxy62302.071996Crew65322.031996Wizards65322.031997San Jose65322.031998San Jose65322.032005RSL65322.032013CUSA67341.971996Rapids63321.971998MetroStars63321.971999Fusion63321.972000DC United63321.971997Mutnity62321.941997Rapids62321.941998Mutnity62321.941998Crew61321.911998Dallas61321.911999New England60321.882012Toronto62341.82
4 casualties of 0.500+ in the same season is certainly a record, there were at most 1 such team in each of the past seasons applicable.
In most, if not all of its articles, MLSsoccer.com has defined ".500" as "Wins-Losses". A sample as below: http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/09/27/chivas-usa-vs-san-jose-earthquakes-mls-match-preview
Just to add to DCU's record breaking.. Has there been another team in MLS history where the lead goal scorer was Own Goal?
Which is wrong as the last time I looked at the standings, a tie was equal to 1/3 of a win, not 1/2 of a win. In a system where results determine the number of points available the average (or 0.500) level can only be determined after the fact. For the 2013 MLS Season, there were 887 points earned, or an average of 46.68 per team. 13 teams were above 0.500 and 6 teams were below 0.500 The imbalance is due to the fact that three teams were way below the line, feeding points to the other 16 teams. Real math is messy. Most people don't like to engage in real math, so you get non-sensical constructs like W=L meaning 0.500 in a league where a tie is not worth 1/2 of a win. An under 500 team going 16-18 is going to have more points than an over 500 team going 11-9-14. The bonus baby being the San Jose team that went 19-13 (I think) and missed the playoffs because 13 of the wins were shootout wins. In a closed system, if 0.500 is meant to approximate the "average" value, then you need to calculate the average value. The season that just ended, that value was 46.68 points for the season or 1.373 per game.
I calculate draws as 1/2 a win. If that's wrong ... it ain't. That's just how it's done. Has nothing to do with point conventions. Do we have to talk about this ... This discussion just gets worse and worse.
Haha, I hadn't noticed that before. I've been laughing for the last five minutes since I read this comment. Still laughing.