Should D.C. United continue the "W-L-W-L-..." trend through the end of the 2008 regular season, their record will read 14-15-1. This will set a new record for the least number of ties for any team in a season since the end of shoot-outs era (The curent record holders are NE & NY in 2002 with 2 ties out of 28 games). On the other hand, NE's record in 2002 (12-14-2) had the smallest W-L difference (+-2) with the least number of ties. If D.C. United ended up with something like 14-15-1, 14-14-2 or 15-14-1, this record will be refreshed as well (within +-1). Curious to see if this is going to happen...
And DC's one tie was basically a tale of two halves. They dominated NE in half one (though that was more due to NE than to DC) and then got dominated in half two. DC could also end up with a GD of 0 despite numerous lopsided victories and losses. I wouldn't be that surprised if they won the SS. I also wouldn't be that surprised if they missed the playoffs. It's been a weird season. Most DC games you can tell pretty early on whether it will be a win or loss. The only surprises I remember were the first win over Chicago on the late Emilio goal and the recent demolition by RBNY after DC had scored first and looked fairly comfortable. Most other games DC either looks like the class of the league or a team with no hope.
A quick list of teams with fewest ties in a season: #- Year Team W-L-T Ties% W-L 1. 2002 NE 12-14-2 7.14% -2 2. 2002 NY 11-15-2 7.14% -4 3. 2001 TB 04-21-2 7.41% -17 4. 2001 DC 08-16-2 7.69% -8 Many more teams finished with 3 ties over the years.
While no teams have ever finished a regular season with zero ties (since the end of SOs era), some have done that either at home / away: Home: # Year Team W-L-T W-L 1. 2002 NER 7-7-0 0 (NB: If '96-99 SOs were considered ties, 2 more teams can be included as follows: 2.1997 TPB 12-4-0 +8 3.1998 CHI 13-3-0 +10) Away: # Year Team W-L-T W-L 1.2000 NYRB 8-8-0 0 2.2002 NYRB 7-7-0 0 3.2001 TPB 2-11-0 -9 4.2001 DCU 2-12-0 -10 In 2008, DCU & TFC are currently on course to match these "feats" should they maintain their home/away "forms" respectively.
DC, I suspect, will get more ties over their final 9 games. As the playoff race intensifies, things should tighten up in games. And with a new GK Crayton (who looks to be an improvement) I'd imagine they will likely play in lower scoring games (and therefore a better potential for ties one would suspect). Currently DC is second in scoring (with 36, second to LA's 40 goals for) but is second worst in goals against (with 34, only better than LA's 43). however, over the last 3 games, DC has only given up 2 goals. it's hard to know how this season will play out for DC, but I'd imagine there'll be at least two more ties in there for them. They do face 6 Western Conf opponents and only 3 Eastern Conf opponents over their final nine games, so I would suspect they'll finish better than 14-15-1 (and with more than 43 points).
Good point, just several permutations on their possible record: 1. Current W-L trend continues: 14-15-1 (43 pts) 2. Win out at Home / lose out Away: 14-15-1 (43 pts) 3. Win out vs West / lose out vs East: 16-13-1 (49 pts) 4. Remaining scores base on most recent reg. season meeting with each team: 14-14-2 (44 pts) 5. Remaining scores base on most recent reg. season meeting with each team on home/away basis: 15-11-4 (49 pts) Assuming a mixture of all these happen, the avarage should be around 46 pts, which means something like 5-4-0 in the last 9 games for 15 pts, with an eventual record of 15-14-1...
By the way, in case you haven't notice this excellent site yet, DCU's chance of making the playoffs is 83% after Week #22: http://www.sportsclubstats.com/USA/MLS/East/DCUnited.html
I certainly hope you are right, but seeing that DC has 16 games left (1 USOC, 9 league, 6 CL) between now and the end of the season, while the bulk of the rest of the league has 9 ....... well, I think the chances are certainly more likely that we end up under .500. Whether that is good enough for the playoffs is the question to me. I for one wouldn't feel all that terrible if this team could snatch 4 more wins in the regular season and squeak into the playoffs.
By the way, how did DCU win the 2008 Atlantic Cup, when the record was even (W1-L1-T1, F5-A5)? Was it because DCU were the title holders in 2007 and RBNY need to beat them in a season series to win, else DCU would retain it?
It's confirmed, DCU will not break the following 2 records in 2008, following their 3rd draw of the season on Sep-13: Least number of ties in a season (Jointly held by '01 TB & '02 NE: 2) Lowest % of ties for in a season (Currently held by '02 NE: 2/28=7.14%)