Wait. We have a new secret word? No one tells me these things! *makes second Long Island* Time to make someone talk...
No! We have an old secret word that people have only recently noticed. And if we did have a new secret word, I wouldn't tell any of you.
Notes MTL played VAN last night. MTL won. Nobody except @Allez RSL cares, and he's wrong to care. Please shame him.
Aren’t midweek one-offs usually DIY? Unless it’s like four games or a toast-worthy event I wouldn’t beg for that update. Thx, Jay!
There's something stinky going on with week 27 and 28 amongst the West Coast schedule, at the very least. A bunch of it doesn't line up in multiple teams. I blame @.........@Sounders78? Sure. Let's go with that.
I see it. Some of the games are out of alignment. I'll need to check by hand, which is a pain in the neck. It's always good to blame @Sounders78.
... The "First the SRFC fans rejoiced, but then they cried" update ... Notes Let's keep this quick since I've had a crappy few days, and then had to spend considerable time fixing the schedule. And it is fixed. (Maybe.) The games were all in the right order, but some were out of the correct weekly alignment. Shit happens. It's someone else's fault. First, the stuff I really don't care about. NYC and PHI have clinched playoff spots. Big whoop. Second, the good stuff. VAN and CIN have been eliminated. Granted, because they are Canadian, and because as per the tradition of this thread, nothing in Canada counts or is worth noticing, the fact that VAN has been eliminated is unworthy of our attention. But CIN ... fcuking CIN. The fact that CIN has been eliminated is of genuine interest to all of us bitter SRFC fans who wish nothing more than to see CIN fail on and off the field so that MLS will see the folly of their expansion decision. Now if you will pardon us, we SRFC fans need to get back to our usual doom and wailing. Third, more good stuff. ORL is toast. Orlandorks are second only to Crewligans when it comes to irrationally denying their toastedness. So give it your best shot, you damn Disney freaks. Go ahead. Tell me there's still hope for your team. After this weekend, I need a good laugh. Quick Hits LAX could clinch the #1 seed next weekend when they play ... oh, wait, let me look it up. ORL. Ahahaha! There's not doubt about it, LAX is the best CHV team ever. Try as I might, I'm finding it very hard to continue being disappointed in them. DCU won a game. It's been a while. MTL isn't toast. But I don't think MTL fans should have a lot of hope. The only thing that team has going for it is a relatively easy schedule. My hunch is they fade, and the EC playoff race is over sooner than later. If we're lucky the playoff race in the WC extends to the final game. It might.
Are draws less common this year than others? My eyes look at the tables and think so. Usually there are a few more teams with nearly identical W-D-L records.
I hope DCU play without Rooney and Acosta for the rest of the season. We aren't gonna have them next year, and our last two wins were the two games when those two weren't starting. Coincidence? Almost certainly. But dammit I'm running with it! If I've counted correctly, currently we have 73 out of 330 games ending as draws, or 22%. I think the average runs 22-25%, so by that measure we're on the low end, but not extremely so. We're actually ahead of last year, which saw 83/391 draws, 21%. 2017 had 24%. I think, with both this year and last year, is that we have enough teams in the league now that stratification - and particularly the gap between the top and bottom - is increasing, which causes a relative (not necessarily absolute) decrease in the amount of expected (and actual) draws.
I noticed that there was a low number of draws in the inter-conference standings this year so I did the math. 2018 wound up at 19% draws which was the lowest since 2002 (13%). The lowest all-time was 1998 at 12.5%. (Those early standings have been converted to count shootouts as draws which might have affected the outcomes.) The percentage had been as high as 30% as recently as 2016 so there is a lot of movement. 2019 is at 16.6% so far this year so it might beat 2018 but won't catch those very low numbers from early in the history of the league. . The average annual percentage of draws for the inter-conference schedule through 2018 is 24.2%.
FYI the current number of regular season MLS games that were either drawn or went to shootout is 1441 out of 5810 total. About 24.8%
Sacramento's time is now. | #MLS ⤵️ https://t.co/KDiR31OEki— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) September 9, 2019 Soon another team to prop up the WS column. Thx, Jay!
Notes I'm not gonna bullshit you. Nothing really happened table-wise this week. LAX didn't quite clinch the WC #1 seed (but they obviously will soon enough. The middle of the WC table jostled around a bit, which last week I said was likely. Quick Hits I'm never again falling for that SRFC to MLS bullshit. It's nothing but lies and false hope and delusional talk. Give me the certainty of despair. Oh, Doom, my old, ever-so-reliable friend ...
Fascinating that with 5-6 games left the Western Conference 2-8 teams fit between 3 and 4 in the Eastern Conference.
Also, Minnesota has the biggest chance to determine their destiny with 5 matches against playoff potential teams. LAG and FCD the least with only 1 match each.
If SKC had beaten Portland (they were leading 1-0 @ 65' and fell to 2 late goals), they would have been tied on points with Portland at 40. Massive win for Portland.
You expect us to take your point seriously, but your opening premise is so completely flawed as to make the whole post just ridiculous gibberish.