Montreal .64 points per game--holy cow i wonder if that sets some type of new MLS record for futility.
I wish. Unfortunately: VIA Dcunited.com 2013 Standings: D.C. United PTS: 16 GP: 34 PPG: 0.47 W: 3 L: 24 D: 7 GF: 22 GA: 59 GD: -37
Yes I forgot about that-- given the ppg it makes the fact that they won the USOC all the more remarkable--and this year, based on that win, DC is in CONCACAF. Let's hope they do well.
Was just about to post a similar thread. Thank goodness I noticed this one. I believe the "Wooden Spoon" idea is a start, but I personally want something more official. Being that there is no relegation and never will be, there needs to be a true incentive not to finish in the bottom of your conferences. At this point in time teams with poor records are rewarded with draft picks and allocation money. I understand why this is done, but I really believe there needs to be stronger motivating factors to avoid poor records. What are some ideas? Maybe lose a home game the following season (Drastic I know)? Maybe have to enter the USOC at a earlier round? Docked points to start following season (Again, drastic)?
MLS is a parity league--with some good management of the salary cap and player signings a team that sucks one year may find themselves in the midst of the title race the following year. So any "punishment" for winning the wooden spoon the year before must not be so harsh as to jeopardize the team's chances at redeeming itself--otherwise you create a vicious cycle of failure making it unable for a team to raise its head. MLS has an NFL/NHL type schedule where teams have a series of 3 games against a majority (but not all)of their conference opponents. Perhaps a suitable last place "penalty" would be have the 3 game series against their greatest opponent or rival to be a series with 2 away games and only 1 home game. For example if the Red Bulls came in last--the next year their three game series against DC would be having to play twice in DC and only once at home.
I love the idea of a "Spoon Scudetto"--it is elegant, simple, and yet acts as a scarlet letter --plus the "punishment" lasts for only one year. It's something that doesn't harm the team in any real way except in their pride--plus great fun for the fans.
Montreal Impact will need just 1 more point, from the remaining 12 games of the season, to avoid setting a new record here, easy job...
Well at the rate that they're losing games..... and i have to assume every game they lose affects the points per game stat--effectively lowering it further.
Following the 1-0 win over Chicago on Aug-16, Montreal have already amassed 17 points in 2014, 1 more than D.C. United did in the entire 2013 season. Thus, no new record for Lowest PPG will be set this term, the honors are D.C.'s to keep for now, until at least 2015...
Elimination Numbers from the Wooden Spoon as at Aug-17, with Montreal Impact trailing at 17 pts with 22 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=50, any team amassing 51 points will be eliminated from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) The rare victory over fellow strugglers Chicago would delay the inevitable a little while longer... #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1Kansas City9-3 2Real Salt Lake90 3Seattle100 4D.C. United11-3 5FC Dallas12-3 6L.A. Galaxy170 7Vancouver18-1 8Toronto190 9Portland20-1 10Colorado210 11Columbus21-3 12N.Y. Red Bulls230 13New England24-1 14Philadelphia240 15Houston26-3 16Chicago260 17San Jose270 17Chivas USA270
Elimination Numbers from the Wooden Spoon as at Aug-27, with Montreal Impact trailing at 17 pts with 24 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=47, any team amassing 48 points will be eliminated from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) L.A. Galaxy are the Biggest Winners for the past week with 12 points shaved! This could also be the Week of Reckoning, for the Official Mathematical Elimination from Supporters' Shield 2014. #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1Seattle3-7 ! 2D.C. United5-6 ! 3L.A. Galaxy5-12 !! 4FC Dallas6-6 ! 5Kansas City6-3 6Real Salt Lake6-3 7Toronto15-4 8Columbus15-6 ! 9Vancouver15-3 10N.Y. Red Bulls17-6 ! 11Portland17-3 12New England18-6 ! 13Colorado18-3 14Philadelphia18-6 ! 15Chicago22-4 16Houston23-3 17San Jose23-4 18Chivas USA24-3
Wooden Spoon Odds thru Aug-27: http://www.sportsclubstats.com/USA/MLS.html Top-6 for Wooden Spoon: Montreal - 82.9% Chivas - 9.3% Houston - 4.5% San Jose - 1.9% Chicago - 1.3% Colorado - 0.1% The rest - Almost 0.0%
If Montreal somehow managed to win 3 more games they might make the race for the wooden spoon more exciting, but as things stand right now at 17 pts they are running away with it......
Your wish may well be coming true... Through Aug-31, Montreal's WS odds was cut by some 13% vs last week (to 70.1%), after the big win over Columbus on Aug-30. Meanwhile, the WS odds for Chivas increased by some 14% within a week (to 23.7%). As it is, Montreal are still the favorites, but Chivas are not totally out of it yet. The "'Race" is still alive...
"Escape Numbers" from the Wooden Spoon as at Aug-31, with Montreal Impact trailing at 20 pts with 25 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=47, any team amassing 48 points will escape from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) Seattle became the first team to escape from the 2014 Wooden Spoon this week, congratulations! Meanwhile, Montreal's became the first team to be mathematically eliminated from 2014 Supporters' Shield this week too. The Escape Numbers for most other teams didn't change much, as Montreal won their game this week. #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1SeattleNAEscaped on Week #25 (Aug-30). Congrats!! 2D.C. United2-3 3L.A. Galaxy2-3 4Real Salt Lake5-1 5FC Dallas60 6Kansas City60 7Portland14-3 8New England15-3 9Toronto150 10Columbus150 11Vancouver150 12N.Y. Red Bulls170 13Colorado180 14Philadelphia180 15Chicago19-3 16Houston20-3 17San Jose22-1 18Chivas USA240
"Escape Numbers" from the Wooden Spoon as at Sep-7, with Montreal Impact trailing at 20 pts with 26 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=44, any team amassing 45 points or more will escape from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) LA, DC & RSL have escaped from the Wooden Spoon this week, congratulations! The Biggest Winners of the week are NE Revs & Phily, both shaved 9 points off their Escape Numbers. Latest Escape Numbers: #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1 SeattleNAEscaped on Week #25 (Aug-30). 2 L.A. GalaxyNAEscaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). Congrats!! 3 D.C. UnitedNAEscaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). Congrats!! 4 Real Salt LakeNAEscaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). Congrats!! 5 FC Dallas3-3 6 Kansas City3-3 7 New England6-9 !! 8 Columbus9-6 9 Philadelphia9-9 !! 10 Portland10-4 11 N.Y. Red Bulls11-6 12 Vancouver11-4 13 Toronto12-3 14 Houston14-6 15 Colorado15-3 16 Chicago16-3 17 San Jose18-4 18 Chivas USA21-3
"Escape Numbers" from the Wooden Spoon as at Sep-14, with Montreal Impact trailing at 21 pts with 28 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=39, any team amassing 40 points or more will escape from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) FCD, SKC & NER have escaped from the Wooden Spoon this week, congratulations! The Biggest Winners of the week are NYRB, which shaved 9 points off their Escape Numbers. Latest Escape Numbers: #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1 Seattle NA Escaped on Week #25 (Aug-30). 2 L.A. Galaxy NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 3 D.C. United NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 4 Real Salt Lake NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 5 FC Dallas NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). Congrats!! 6 Kansas City NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). Congrats!! 7 New England NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). Congrats!! 8 N.Y. Red Bulls 2 -9!! 9 Philadelphia 3 -6 10 Columbus 3 -6 11 Vancouver 3 -8 12 Portland 4 -6 13 Toronto 6 -8 14 Houston 8 -6 15 Colorado 9 -6 16 Chicago 10 -6 17 San Jose 12 -6 18 Chivas USA 16 -5
Finally, we have a new "Leaders" this week, with Montreal Impact catching up on 24 points too, but ahead of Chivas on Tiebreakers. The race for the 3rd draft pick in 2015 is getting really exciting... --------------------------------------------------------------- "Escape Numbers" from the Wooden Spoon as at Sep-21, with Chivas USA trailing at 24 pts with 29 games played: http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=39, any team amassing 40 points or more will escape from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) NYRB & CLB have escaped from the Wooden Spoon this week, congratulations! The Biggest Winners of the week are POR, TOR & MTL, which shaved 3 points off their Escape Numbers. Latest Escape Numbers: #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1 Seattle NA Escaped on Week #25 (Aug-30). 2 L.A. Galaxy NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 3 D.C. United NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 4 Real Salt Lake NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 5 FC Dallas NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). 6 Kansas City NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). 7 New England NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). Congrats!! 8 N.Y. Red Bulls NA Escaped on Week #28 (Sep-21). Congrats!! 9 Columbus NA Escaped on Week #28 (Sep-21). Congrats!! 10 Portland 1 -3 11 Philadelphia 2 -1 12 Toronto 3 -3 13 Vancouver 3 0 14 Houston 7 -1 15 Colorado 9 0 16 Chicago 9 -1 17 San Jose 11 -1 18 Montreal 16 -3
"Escape Numbers" from the Wooden Spoon as at Sep-28, with Chivas USA trailing at 24 pts with 30 games played (Montreal are on 24 points too, but ahead on Tiebreakers): http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield (As their Max Possible Points=36, any team amassing 37 points or more will escape from the "Race for the Wooden Spoon" in 2014.) Toronto, Vancouver, Portland & Philadelphia have escaped from the Wooden Spoon this week, congratulations! The Biggest Winners of the week are Houston, which shaved 6 points off their Escape Numbers. Latest Escape Numbers: #TeamsENChanges vs Last Week 1 Seattle NA Escaped on Week #25 (Aug-30). 2 L.A. Galaxy NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 3 D.C. United NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 4 Real Salt Lake NA Escaped on Week #26 (Sep-7). 5 FC Dallas NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). 6 New England NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). Congrats!! 7 Kansas City NA Escaped on Week #27 (Sep-14). 8 Columbus NA Escaped on Week #28 (Sep-21). 9 N.Y. Red Bulls NA Escaped on Week #28 (Sep-21). 10 Toronto NA Escaped on Week #29 (Sep-28). Congrats!! 11 Vancouver NA Escaped on Week #29 (Sep-28). Congrats!! 12 Portland NA Escaped on Week #29 (Sep-28). Congrats!! 13 Philadelphia NA Escaped on Week #29 (Sep-28). Congrats!! 14 Houston 1 -6 15 Colorado 5 -4 16 Chicago 6 -3 17 San Jose 8 -3 18 Montreal 13 -3