Top MFLS Week 1

[Mr Hanki's Throne]

TOP 3-4-3

GK
6 - Henry Ring (CHI) or Tony Meola (KCW)

D
3 - Chris Leitch (NYM) or Jay Heaps (NER)
3 - Tenywa Bonseu (NYM)
3 - Jeff Parke (NYM)

M
7 - Mark Lisi (NYM)
6 - Amado Guevara (NYM)
5 - Eddie Gaven (NYM) or Jovan Kirovski (LAG)
5 - Andreas Herzog (LAG)

F
8 - Jaime Moreno (DCU)
8 - Carlos Ruiz (LAG)
6 - John Wolyniec (NYM)

Highest score - 60 + 3 = 63 points in 5 games = 12.60 points per game
Top Team - Base of the Spine, Vava Trindadies, and Lords of the Pitch
with 33 points (52.4%)

BY TEAM (fractional points)
5.92 - NY/NJ Metrostars
2.33 - Los Angeles Galaxy
1.00 - DC United
0.75 - New England Revolution
0.50 - Chicago Fire
0.50 - Kansas City Wizards

OVERALL (1pt + fraction each week, max of 2.0, totalled for the year)

GK
1.50 - Meola T - Ring H

D
1.75 - Bonseu T - Heaps J - Leitch C - Parke J

M
2.00 - GuevaraA - Lisi M
1.67 - Gaven E - Herzog A - KirovskJ

F
2.00 - Moreno J - Ruiz C - WolynieJ

[Mr Hanki's Throne]

Just as an introduction to this product which I will post every week, I was interested some time ago on each week to know what would have been the best possible lineup in MFLS, and how I could be so stupid for not knowing it in advanced. I have learned that it is not as easy as it seems.

The top lineup is at the top. There are often times for positions in MFLS, so there are 4 defenders tied for 3 roster positions and 3 midfielders tied for the last 2 midfielder slots.

The highest score is the total of this theoretical lineup. It is usually impossible to acquire such a lineup; rarely for cost reasons, more usually because the best performing team usually dominates the lineup, especially defenders. A plus 3 is added usually to the highest score to add the coach contribution. If only ties occur in a week, only 1 point is added.

The top team for a given week usually scores about half the theoretical maximum in points.

To show how important it is to pick players from a well-performing team, I add up the points for each team over the course of the season. Since only one week has occured it is easily to demonstrate this computation, since it needs some explanation. The Metrostars get 5.92 points which is 3 defenders with 3/4 points each (3*0.75=2.25), 2 midfielders getting the max 1 point each and 1 with 2/3 point (2*1 + 0.67=2.67), and 1 forward getting max 1 point. 11 points get distributed among teams each week.

Last year:

BY TEAM (fractional points)
46.68 - Chicago Fire
43.19 - San Jose Earthquakes
38.68 - New England Revolution
38.18 - Columbus Crew
37.81 - Kansas City Wizards
30.88 - Los Angeles Galaxy
24.19 - Colorado Rapids
21.53 - DC United
17.85 - NY/NJ MetroStars
7.50 - Dallas Burn

the Crew missed the playoffs but had several point scoring opportunities on their team. This just shows the need to look beyond simple performance. The Crew scored well by having games on odd weeks when few other games were being played and having some players with singular performances every once in a while.

The overall lineup is much the same for individual players. The fraction plus one is used for each player. One is a reward for being near the top, a full two points is a full reward for seperating yourself from the rest of the pack. Jay Heaps gets 3/4 point as his fraction, plus one point to get 1.75 points.
Last year:

OVERALL (1pt + fraction each week, max of 2.0, totalled for the year)

GK
12.83 - ThorntoZ
9.00 - Busch J
8.83 - Onstad P
8.33 - HartmanK
6.00 - GarlickS
5.00 - RimandoN
4.00 - Meola T
3.50 - Brown A
2.00 - Grafer P
1.50 - Howard T
1.33 - Cassar J - PresthuT - Walker J

D
11.73 - DunivanT
11.18 - Perez O
9.68 - WhitfieE
9.60 - MyungBoH
8.90 - Agoos J
8.40 - Conrad J
7.68 - Curtin J
7.38 - Denton E
7.10 - Califf D
6.88 - Hejduk F
6.75 - BocanegC
6.73 - CorraleR
6.13 - Clark M - DunsethB
5.60 - Jolly S - Petke M
5.50 - Lalas A
5.38 - FranchiJ - Joseph S
5.33 - KotschaR
4.85 - PrideauB
4.00 - ZavagniK
3.50 - LlamosaC
3.38 - Pierce R
3.33 - FrasierR - RobinsoE
3.10 - Pause L
2.75 - Brown CJ
2.00 - Brunt C - Cullen L - Gbandi C - Joseph S - Pope E - TraegerJ
- Waibel C - Walker J - Ziadie C - ZotincaA
1.60 - HendricE
1.50 - Talley C - Torres D
1.40 - Dayak T
1.38 - HernandD
1.33 - Ivanov G

M
18.66 - Preki
12.00 - RalstonS
11.67 - Chung M
10.20 - Lagos M
10.00 - Klein C - Olsen B
9.33 - Kamler B
9.10 - Paule R
7.50 - Roner C
7.27 - Armas C
7.17 - GuevaraA
6.00 - EtcheveM - Mapp J - Jones C - Quill E
5.67 - MulroonR
5.60 - HendersC
5.50 - Davis B - Garcia F
5.34 - Gomez F
5.33 - WilliamA
5.27 - Gray K
5.10 - Duran JC
4.00 - Arnaud D - BeasleyD - Elliot S - VictoriS
3.67 - EkelundR
3.50 - MaisonnB - MartinoK
2.00 - BeckermK - CienfueM - Convey B - Heaps J - Marsch J
- MartineA - RussellI - TremblyS - Walsh D
1.67 - DeeringC - OBrien R
1.50 - GuevaraA
1.33 - Lisi M

F
13.25 - TwellmaT
11.50 - Razov A
10.50 - DonovanL
10.00 - Ralph D
9.50 - Ruiz C - SpencerJ
9.00 - McBrideB
8.00 - Mathis C - Mullen B - Noonan P
7.08 - SimutenI
6.00 - Brown C - Buddle E - West B
5.25 - AlbrighC - KovalenD - Moore JM
4.75 - CarrierC
4.00 - Ching B - QuintanE
3.25 - CunningJ - DeRosarD
3.08 - Magee M
2.00 - CerritoR - EskandaA - Jaqua N - JohnsonE - Moreno A - Nhleko N
- RobertsZ - Serna D
1.50 - Curtis A - Kreis J
1.33 - WolynieJ
1.25 - Noonan P


The emphasis on week-by-week performance, regardless of the number of games in that week, is meant to model the manager's experience: no matter how many games are in a week, the manager still has to make decisions.

[sljohn]

Great stuff! Thanks for doing this again this season.