East v. West

let me know if I made an error anywhere...

http://uskickblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/2008-mls-standings_29.html


but the current playoff seedings would feature East #5 Kansas City (10 points) @ West #1 Colorado (9 points)

 

Colorado is actually 2-2-0 (Beat DC and NE, lost to KC and Chi)

 

Very surprised that Western teams haven't lived up to expectations.

I have no answer as to why they haven't.

 

When you look at MLS as single table it's even more pronounced.

The first Western team shows up at 7th position (COL), with FCD in 8th and LAG in 9th as the last Western playoff spot. 9th out of 14 teams gets you into the playoffs as of right now.

Houston is lucky that the West is so poor. That win to get them out of their funk Saturday puts them only two points out of the lead in the West! And Chivas USA and San Jose are only four and five points back, even at the bottom of the table.

 

It is pretty amazing so far isn't it?

If this continues all season, it'll seem rediculous that 3 western teams are guaranteed playoff spots. And I say that as a Galaxy fan that may benefit from this rule at the expense of the 6th place Eastern conference team.

 

When they announced the new playoff changes I thought that it was for the benefit of LA and it turns out it is really going to help the West. I wonder if the fact that both TFC and Columbus have improved so much and with the addition of San Jose to the West that it has caused such a difference in points.

 

I believe that the new play off format means that at least 3 teams from each conference will make the playoffs. As such, your current playoff scenario on your blog would have to be edited to include West #3 at the expense of East #6

 

Who're they going to get bounced by? Colorado? There'd probably be an all Eastern conference semi-final if they used last years rules.

 

It happens. At the moment, the East is the stronger division. It will change eventually, may be within this season. Couple of key injuries, national team callups, etc.

Look at the winners of the MLS Cup. Since 2000, it's been the West other than DC.

 

It's still extremely likely that the #3 team in the West will be in the top 8. The West vs. West matches have so far produced a high number of ties, and once that levels off, the top western teams are bound to rack up enough points.

 

I think it is terrific that you all have time to worry about playoff seedings after seven weeks of the season.

After week 21 I will be ready to have this discussion - and if we're in the same place, I'll bemoan it along with you (at least to some extent).

 

You've got the West with only 3 wins in the total, but then list COL w/ two and FCD and RSL with one each.

RSL dismantled DC, so that's one for sure, Dallas beat NYRB, Col beat DC and NE, so there should be four wins for the West.

Nice work overall.

 

This MLS single table (see bottom) is from the Stats Centre pages of The Guardian as of Tuesday, May 13, 2008.

Based on points per game, I would place New York (11/6) in 3rd place and Toronto (10/6) in fourth place pushing New England (13/8) down to fifth place.

This shows the continued strangeness of the MLS table this year. The three top teams in points from 2007 are the three worst teams in 2008 (excepting newcomer San Jose in the basement --- the meek shall inherit the cellar (Saint Durocher).) The first shall be last and the last shall be first --- at least in MLS. (St. Matthew 20:16)

What type of league displays this bizarre inversion of the table from one year to the next? Where is the stability this year?


The top six positions are held by teams in the Eastern Conference. Only DC United (last place in the East) fails to hold up its share of the load of dominating teams from the West.

The top three teams in each conference make the playoffs. The remaining two slots are fiilled by overall record. As of today, the playoffs would have five Eastern Conference teams plus Colorado and Dallas and LA Galaxy? (by a hair over Real Salt Lake) from the Western Conference. I think that it would be great if the fifth place team in the East (currently New England in my calculation) won the MLS Cup this year.

This would be parity at its finest in MLS. But we know that New England can't win MLS Cup.


======================================
Note: I am worried about the LA Galaxy --- again.

the LA Galaxy results are skewed by having played five games in seven at home to begin the season. It has already played one-third of its 15 home games. The team has 2 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw at home. It has a loss and a tie away from home.

The early schedule has favored the Galaxy.

Five of its next nine games are at home. Through 16 games, the team will have 10 home games and 6 away games. It will have played all but 5 of its 15 allotted home games through the first 16 games of the 30 game season.

It needs to make hay through the first 16 games. I don't think that it is making enough hay.

Then the team plays four straight games on the road. Those extended road trips are often disastrous for the LA Galaxy. If the team can't start to pick up its pedestrian pace at home, it will have again have trouble making the playoffs this year.

In the three Donovan years, the team at home was 10-3-3 in w-t-l (note order) in 2005, 6-4-6 in 2006, and 6-3-6 in 2007. The 2-1-2 results this year closely match the home futility of 2006 and 2007.

Will the team have a w-t-l record of just 4-2-4 through 10 home games for just 14 home points?

In the three Donovan years, the team away from home was 3-3-10 (12 points in 16 games), 5-2-9 (17 points in 16 games), and 3-4-8 (13 points in 15 games) to go along with its record of 0-1-1 (1 point in 2 games) this year. That is at best about a point per away game.

Check out the LA Galaxy record this coming early August after 16 games (10 at home).

If the team is something like 4-2-4 for 14 points in 10 home games and perhaps 0-3-3 for 3 points in 6 away games, it will have 17 points in 16 games. That rate is almost certainly not enough to qualify for the playoffs over a full season. Even if the team gets 6 points in 6 games on the road (it has just 43 points in its last 49 road games), the 20 points in 16 games still probably won't be enough to protect the team during its four game road trip in the next four games.

The new twist that awards playoff positions only to the top-three teams in each conference and then awards the remaining two positions based on points regardless of conference makes it harder for Los Angeles to make the playoffs. I think that had this system been in place in 2005, Kansas City might have made the playoffs over a ninth place overall LA Galaxy.

No playoffs in 2005 ---> no MLS Cup in 2005 for LA Galaxy.

Note: the only time LA made the playoffs in the previous three years, it benefited from having two expansion teams in its conference (this setup certainly screwed KC in 2005) and it benefited from a now-defunct rule that demanded/required equal number of playoff teams from both conferences --- 4 and 4.

If the Eastern Conference qualifies 5 out of 8 teams, then the current weak start by the LA Galaxy places the team in jeopardy once again of failing to make the playoffs.

By the end of this season, the putative flagship team in MLS may have a record of three straight failures to make the MLS Cup playoffs after squeaking into the last playoff slot in 2005 based upon a now-defunct playoff slot determination rule. Does "flagship" mean successful on the soccer field or does it mean profitable and newsworthy off the soccer field?

LA Galaxy is in danger of being successful primarily off the soccer field this year --- again.


=======================================

MLS 2008 Results through Monday, May 13, 2008

Code:

Pos Team                Pld  W  D  L  GF  GA Dif Pts
1  Columbus Crew          7  6  0  1  14   9   5  18  
 
2  Chicago Fire           7  5  1  1  13   3  10  16  
 
3  New England Revolution 8  4  1  3  10  11  -1  13  
 
4  New York Red Bulls     6  3  2  1   8   5   3  11  
 
5  Toronto FC             6  3  1  2   8   9  -1  10  
 
6  Kansas City Wizards    7  3  1  3   8   9  -1  10  
 
7  Colorado Rapids        7  3  0  4  11   9   2   9  
 
8  FC Dallas              7  2  3  2   9   7   2   9  
 
9  Los Angeles Galaxy     7  2  2  3  14  15  -1   8  
 
10  Real Salt Lake        7  2  2  3  11  12  -1   8  
 
11  Houston Dynamo        7  1  4  2   7  10  -3   7  
 
12  DC United             7  2  0  5   9  14  -5   6  
 
13  Chivas USA            7  1  2  4  10  15  -5   5  
 
14  San Jose Earthquakes  6  1  1  4   4   8  -4   4

 

thtas why we need sigel table just like britan

 

i mean engalnd

 

Btw has anyone noticed that TFC actually benefits from being in fourth not fifth, in that they would get to play COR instead of CLB?