Code: 2012 HOME HOME HOME AWAY AWAY AWAY TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS 2012 WINS TIES LOSS WINS TIES LOSS G.A. G.S. G.D. TGP. PTS. GPG. PPG. GAPG GLFT EAST 1.00 4.00 1.00 4.00 2.00 6.00 28.0 21.0 -5.0 18.0 21.0 1.17 1.17 1.56 72.0 WEST 6.00 2.00 4.00 1.00 4.00 1.00 21.0 28.0 7.00 18.0 27.0 1.56 1.50 1.17 72.0 CHIC 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 4.00 3.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 0.50 1.50 7.00 CLBS 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 3.00 2.00 3.00 1.00 8.00 DCUD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9.00 HOUS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 -1.0 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.00 8.00 MONT 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 2.00 -3.0 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.50 7.00 NERV 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 0.50 7.00 NYRB 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 6.00 3.00 -3.0 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.67 2.00 6.00 PHIL 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 8.00 SPKC 1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 5.00 1.00 4.00 7.00 1.25 1.75 1.00 5.00 TORN 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 2.00 -2.0 2.00 3.00 1.00 1.50 2.00 7.00 CHVS 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 2.00 1.50 8.00 COLO 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 4.00 3.00 -1.0 2.00 1.00 1.50 0.50 2.00 8.00 FCDS 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 2.00 1.50 8.00 LAGA 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.0 PORT 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 8.00 RSLK 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 1.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 0.00 9.00 SEAT 0.00 0.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 4.00 4.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 1.33 1.00 1.33 7.00 SJEQ 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 3.00 2.00 -1.0 3.00 3.00 0.67 1.00 1.00 7.00 VANC 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.00 6.00 4.00 3.00 7.00 2.00 2.33 0.67 7.00 I'm a man of my word! While the East did catch up as Newtex said, the goal and points differential is quite large, especially since we have 18 games already in the bag. The stats that are interesting to me are the 7 points Vancouver and Kansas City have banked from inter-conference play. Those are going to come in handy down the stretch. The other interesting statistic is the number of home losses accrued this season. Five of eighteen games have resulted in a home loss, and four of those are in Western stadia. Newtex brought this up as well. Found my error of the day! A well-designed 2014 USMNT World Cup jersey to whomever finds it.
You mean the goal differentials? The East at -5 and the West at +7 doesn't add up. Chicago should be -1 instead of +1.
Yup! I fixed it last night after posting. I don't know why I have goals allowed before goals scored, but it messed me up with the first week. You win!
Week 5 results: HOU 1-4 FCD SKC 0-0 RSL The East had both home games but didn't get a win in either. The West still leads, 8-7-5 Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST SKC 2-2-1 NER 1-1-0 CLB 1-0-0 TFC 1-0-1 NYR 0-2-1 PHI 0-1-0 CHI 0-1-1 DCU 0-0-0 HOU 0-0-2 MON 0-0-2 WEST VAN 2-1-0 FCD 2-1-0 SEA 2-0-2 CHV 1-1-0 RSL 1-1-0 POR 0-2-0 COR 0-1-1 LAG 0-0-0 SJE 0-0-2 Week 6 fixtures: TFC v. COR PHI v. RSL SJE v. CLB
Code: 2012 HOME HOME HOME AWAY AWAY AWAY TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS 2012 WINS TIES LOSS WINS TIES LOSS G.A. G.S. G.D. TGP. PTS. GPG. PPG. GAPG GLFT EAST 1.00 5.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 6.00 32.0 22.0 -10. 20.0 22.0 1.10 1.10 1.60 70.0 WEST 6.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 5.00 1.00 22.0 32.0 10.0 20.0 28.0 1.60 1.40 1.10 70.0 CHIC 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 4.00 3.00 -1.0 2.00 1.00 1.50 0.50 2.00 7.00 CLBS 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 3.00 2.00 3.00 1.00 8.00 DCUD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9.00 HOUS 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 6.00 2.00 -4.0 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 7.00 MONT 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 2.00 -3.0 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.50 7.00 NERV 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 0.50 7.00 NYRB 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 6.00 3.00 -3.0 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.67 2.00 6.00 PHIL 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 8.00 SPKC 1.00 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 5.00 1.00 5.00 8.00 1.00 1.60 0.80 4.00 TORN 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 2.00 -2.0 2.00 3.00 1.00 1.50 2.00 7.00 CHVS 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 2.00 1.50 8.00 COLO 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 4.00 3.00 -1.0 2.00 1.00 1.50 0.50 2.00 8.00 FCDS 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 4.00 8.00 4.00 3.00 4.00 2.67 1.33 1.33 7.00 LAGA 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.0 PORT 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 8.00 RSLK 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 2.00 4.00 1.50 2.00 0.00 8.00 SEAT 0.00 0.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 4.00 4.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 1.33 1.00 1.33 7.00 SJEQ 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 3.00 2.00 -1.0 3.00 3.00 0.67 1.00 1.00 7.00 VANC 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.00 6.00 4.00 3.00 7.00 2.00 2.33 0.67 7.00 Let's talk next year for a minute. In all likelihood, the arrival of NYCFC and Orlando City are going to push either Kansas City or Houston to the Western conference. Otherwise, we'd have a conference of 12 and a conference of 9. That's not going to happen; more likely, a 11-10 split or even a 10-11 split. But which team deserves to be in the Western Conference, based on distance (transportation costs will undoubtedly be the deciding factor). When Houston went to the Eastern Conference, Orlando, NYCFC2, and Montreal did not exist. Let's also assume that Chivas USA will stay in Los Angeles. Which team will be "furthest away" from the 11 other Eastern Conference? SKC or Houston? I went to Google and asked "distance between Kansas City/Houston and X," where X was every other city with an MLS team in the Eastern Conference. Whichever team is closest to all of the Eastern Conference teams is the one that ought to stay. Kansas City: (0+742.3+1237.7+1053.7+509.7+656.5+1000.8+1329.5+1125.0+1191.8+1392.7)/11=930.88 miles away, on average. Houston: (0+742.3+963.5+1408.3+1082.6+1155.1+1542.9+1870.4+1547.8+1628.2+1829.1)/11=1251.64 miles away, on average. Unsurprisingly, Houston will return to the Western Conference (the reason being the same reason Don Garber wants Miami and Atlanta in the league; look at the massive hole south of DC and east of Kansas City and Houston). There might be some utility in seeing what would happen if a "Southern" Conference of Orlando, Houston, Dallas, Chivas, LA, Miami thereafter, and (Atlanta) formed to reduce distance, or a reformed Central Conference consisting of everyone west of Columbus and east of the Left Coast, but it's more safe to assume two conferences. If someone was interested in doing dyadic distance measurement analysis between every team to find the "optimal" distribution of teams into conferences, please go for it. As for this week, when two of last season's Eastern Conference playoff qualifiers drop points at home, it's not good. We're still four weeks in, but this season looks to be a repeat of last year.
It wouldn't surprise me if Houston and Kansas City both move next year. That would mean 11 in the West and 10 in the East for the moment but we are quickly going to have more than 21 teams and it looks like two of those three new teams will be in the East (Atlanta & Miami). So why not get the shift over with? Team 24 is more likely to be a central or western team so you are all set by putting that team into the West.
I would say "competitive balance" is a reason to not move both immediately. 11 established teams in the West versus 8 established, 2 expansion in the East is a pretty large gap. I have no doubt KC is going West eventually, but probably not before 2017.
To be honest, if this unbalanced schedule is here to stay then MLS should consider three conferences. There's a reason why the other major sports break down into so many divisions. That's why someone should do dyad distances between each city.
That is probably what will happen but it still wouldn't surprise me if they make the move in 2015. The way the regular season and playoffs are structured I don't think it makes that much difference if one conference is a lot stronger. We'll see what happens.
No, no, no to three conferences. There is no good reason for three conferences. Especially not travel. Airplane flights are priced by supply and demand, not distance. With the current type of schedule teams only make a few coast-to-coast flights during the season. Most other flights are pretty similar in total duration. Changing MLS to three conferences would not reduce travel very much, if at all, unless you avoid playing every team in the league at least once. There are no other U.S./Canadian major leagues that have three "conferences" the way that MLS is using them. They all have two conferences or leagues. Yes, they have divisions within those conferences or leagues. Once MLS gets bigger than 24 then maybe they could look at divisions but there is no need to do that now.
Before last week's MLS Cup rematch, SKC president Robb Heineman tweeted this: "A world of conference realignment I would live in is one in which we play #rsl multiple times a year." So I fully expect SKC to move with Houston to the Western Conference next year.
Base on the principle of LIFO (Last In First Out), Houston should be the first club to move back West (having moved East in 2011), followed by K.C. (moved East in 2005), and maybe even Chicago (moved East in 2003).
On 2nd thoughts, for the sake of spicing up Rivalry Cups, perhaps it may make more sense to move Houston (Texas Derby vs Dallas) and Chicago (Brimstone Cup vs Dallas as well) back to West: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_rivalry_cups
Week 6 results: TFC 0-1 COR PHI 2-2 RSL SJE 1-1 CLB The East had two more home games and didn't get a win. The West didn't win at home either but did get a road win. The West still leads, 9-9-5 Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST SKC 2-2-1 NER 1-1-0 CLB 1-1-0 TFC 1-0-2 NYR 0-2-1 PHI 0-2-0 CHI 0-1-1 DCU 0-0-0 HOU 0-0-2 MON 0-0-2 WEST VAN 2-1-0 FCD 2-1-0 SEA 2-0-2 RSL 1-2-0 CHV 1-1-0 COR 1-1-1 POR 0-2-0 SJE 0-1-2 LAG 0-0-0 Week 7 fixtures: FCD v. TFC
Code: 2012 HOME HOME HOME AWAY AWAY AWAY TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS TOTS 2012 WINS TIES LOSS WINS TIES LOSS G.A. G.S. G.D. TGP. PTS. GPG. PPG. GAPG GLFT EAST 1.00 6.00 3.00 4.00 3.00 6.00 36.0 25.0 -11. 23.0 24.0 1.09 1.04 1.57 67.0 WEST 6.00 3.00 4.00 3.00 6.00 1.00 25.0 36.0 11.0 23.0 33.0 1.57 1.43 1.09 67.0 CHIC 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 4.00 3.00 -1.0 2.00 1.00 1.50 0.50 2.00 7.00 CLBS 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 2.00 3.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 1.50 2.00 1.00 7.00 DCUD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9.00 HOUS 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 6.00 2.00 -4.0 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 7.00 MONT 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 2.00 -3.0 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.50 7.00 NERV 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 0.50 7.00 NYRB 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 6.00 3.00 -3.0 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.67 2.00 6.00 PHIL 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 1.50 1.00 1.50 7.00 SPKC 1.00 2.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 5.00 1.00 5.00 8.00 1.00 1.60 0.80 4.00 TORN 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 2.00 -3.0 3.00 3.00 0.67 1.00 1.67 6.00 CHVS 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 3.00 4.00 1.00 2.00 4.00 2.00 2.00 1.50 8.00 COLO 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 4.00 4.00 0.00 3.00 4.00 1.33 1.33 1.33 7.00 FCDS 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 4.00 8.00 4.00 3.00 4.00 2.67 1.33 1.33 7.00 LAGA 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.0 PORT 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 8.00 RSLK 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 2.00 5.00 3.00 3.00 5.00 1.67 1.67 0.67 7.00 SEAT 0.00 0.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 4.00 4.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 1.33 1.00 1.33 7.00 SJEQ 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 4.00 3.00 -1.0 4.00 4.00 0.75 1.00 1.00 6.00 VANC 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 2.00 6.00 4.00 3.00 7.00 2.00 2.33 0.67 7.00 A few takeaway points: 1) The East has garnered 30% of its possible home points and 38.46% if its possible away points. The West has obtained 53.85% of its possible home points and a whopping 50% of its possible away points. Hands down, the West is outperforming the East. That being said: 2) Only one Western team has yet to play at home (Los Angeles), whereas three Eastern teams have yet to play at home (Chicago, Columbus, and DCU). Chicago's not anything to write home over, but DCU has managed to cobble together some victories and Columbus leads the Eastern conference standings - I'd reckon that letting a team that isn't Kansas City (who have already played five games, three at home) play will help the East get some home wins. 3) Los Angeles and DCU haven't played anybody. This causes me a headache since OOCalc can't divide by zero and I have to hand-edit the warning message out. They should consider letting them play each other soon. As per our discussion last week, the addition of Atlanta means that we will now have three teams playing in the Southeast (four if you count Houston) by 2017. For a more comprehensive breakdown by region, I will compare team "density" within rather arbitrary categories (more than one way to split a donkey). Northeast: Boston, NYRB, (NYCFC), Montreal, Philadelphia, DCU Great Lakes: Toronto, Columbus, Chicago Southeast: (Atlanta), (Orlando), (Miami) Plains/Rockies:Kansas City, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake West Coast: Chivas USA, Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver From this map (ignore St Louis, Minneapolis, and San Antonio - only two of those are possible and St. Louis has been threatened longer than Rochester or Las Vegas), what appears obvious is that there are two good geographic clusters on the coasts, with a nearly-random smattering of teams in the middle. Thinking wholly as someone who wants two even divisions with 22 teams by 2017, it's easy to toss SKC and Houston back into the West. Thinking as someone who wants a balanced schedule, that would mean a 42-game season starting in January and ending with the playoffs in the forthcoming March . What would be easier would be playing every inter-conference opponent once (11 games) and each intra-conference opponent twice (20 games) for a 31-game season. What would your 30-40 game season with 22 teams in two 11-team conferences look like?
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-changing-landscape-ahead-major-league-soccer We're in the big leagues, now, boys!
I understand that the geographic layout of current and potential franchises might logically place a Twin Cities club in the western conference. But that would really, really suck. There is such a natural, long-standing rivalry between the Twin Cities and Chicago. It would be deeply unfortunate if those two clubs only played, for instance, once a year. I'm coming around to preferring a three conference set-up if the above scenario plays out.
I think it would make sense to have a balanced schedule with 24 teams, too, but we're not gonna get that. My thinking is that the Minnesota-Chicago rivalry will have to endure the way Dallas-Chicago has. Poor Chicago, really. Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, and Salt Lake...they don't have any close rivalries they can call home.
It will be no different from the current schedule--one game against each team in the other conference, and two or three games against each team in the same conference, for a total of 34 games. Unless Saint Louis gets its act together, SKC fans are looking forward to a regional rivalry with an expansion team in Minnesota.
Despite very much wanting my home state to get a team, I've always been very cool on the prospects for MLS in Minnesota. I'm fully aware of how stadium battles with the Twins, Vikings, etc have poisoned the water in the state regarding any potential new stadium for an MLS club. That said, the league's recent statements about the state of things in Minnesota give me reason to be optimistic. Certainly, in terms of market size and geographic representation, I'm sure MLS would love to be in the Twin Cities. It's a noticeably larger market than San Antonio. SA is growing faster, but the Twin Cities market is growing at a pretty healthy rate, as well, and an MSA population size that's more than a million larger than SA. Taking Garber's statements at face value, I think that if a Minnesota ownership group can get a stadium deal done, they're in. Not an insubstantial 'if,' I know.
San Antonio is a much smaller market and, right now, seems to lack a billionaire. That gives Minneapolis the edge at the moment.
My thinking was more along the lines of "they'd better have a roof." http://www.currentresults.com/Weath...nowfall-totals-snow-accumulation-averages.php
The only way Chicago gets a good regional rivalry, is if one of Indy 11/Milwaukee/St. Louis gets added in the next round of expansion. Every other major city is a 5+ hour trip. Chicago really is a bastion of culture in a sea of corn...