2016 RPI Rankings [R]

aperfectring · Mar 11, 2016

RPI (Relative Power Index) is a statistical attempt to determine the relative power of teams akin to a Power Ranking, but not at all subjective. It attempts to account for differences in strength of schedule. It was initially created for baseball, is best suited for that sport, and has its detractors even there. However, it does a decent job of trying to assign a meaningful performance number (win % in baseball, PPG here for MLS) which accounts for strength of schedule so far.

Here's the thread from last year, which contains all of the historical tables as well.
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/mls-historical-and-2015-rpi-ratings-multiple-r.2020452/

I should be able to start posting these tables in a week or two. Before then, some of the metrics involved have absolutely no meaning.

henryo · Mar 12, 2016

aperfectring said: ↑

RPI (Relative Power Index) is a statistical attempt to determine the relative power of teams akin to a Power Ranking, but not at all subjective. It attempts to account for differences in strength of schedule.

It was initially created for baseball, is best suited for that sport, and has its detractors even there. However, it does a decent job of trying to assign a meaningful performance number (win % in baseball, PPG here for MLS) which accounts for strength of schedule so far.

Here's the thread from last year, which contains all of the historical tables as well.
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/mls-historical-and-2015-rpi-ratings-multiple-r.2020452/

I should be able to start posting these tables in a week or two. Before then, some of the metrics involved have absolutely no meaning.
Click to expand...

Welcome back!!

aperfectring · Mar 14, 2016

2016
As of 3/14/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

SJE 2.81 1 2

COL 2.31 2 10

HOU 1.94 3 4

NYC 1.81 4 6

TOR 1.75 5 5

DAL 1.63 6 12

POR 1.5 7 9

VAN 1.5 8 17

SKC 1.38 9 3

MTL 1.38 10 1

NER 1.31 11 13

NYR 1.19 12 20

RSL 1.19 13 7

ORL 1.19 14 14

CHI 1.06 15 15

LAG 1.06 16 8

SEA 1.06 17 19

DCU 0.63 18 16

PHI 0.63 19 11

CLB 0.19 20 18

Warning: These numbers are pretty much completely useless. Case in point: Vancouver somehow ended up at 8th in RPI rank when they haven't won a game yet.

henryo · Mar 14, 2016

aperfectring said: ↑

2016
As of 3/14/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

SJE 2.81 1 2

COL 2.31 2 10

HOU 1.94 3 4

NYC 1.81 4 6

TOR 1.75 5 5

DAL 1.63 6 12

POR 1.5 7 9

VAN 1.5 8 17

SKC 1.38 9 3

MTL 1.38 10 1

NER 1.31 11 13

NYR 1.19 12 20

RSL 1.19 13 7

ORL 1.19 14 14

CHI 1.06 15 15

LAG 1.06 16 8

SEA 1.06 17 19

DCU 0.63 18 16

PHI 0.63 19 11

CLB 0.19 20 18

Warning: These numbers are pretty much completely useless. Case in point: Vancouver somehow ended up at 8th in RPI rank when they haven't won a game yet.
Click to expand...

Vancouver are not only winless, they have zero points after 2 games.

This kind of demonstrated the power of remaining schedule strength: Through Week #2, the West has a lot more points (32) vs the East (23), which are then projected to the rest of the season to greater effects.

aperfectring · Mar 14, 2016

henryo said: ↑

Vancouver are not only winless, they have zero points after 2 games.

This kind of demonstrated the power of remaining schedule strength: Through Week #2, the West has a lot more points (32) vs the East (23), which are then projected to the rest of the season to greater effects.
Click to expand...

RPI doesn't account for remaining strength of schedule. It only accounts for strength of schedule so far.

EvanJ · Mar 15, 2016

aperfectring said: ↑

RPI doesn't account for remaining strength of schedule. It only accounts for strength of schedule so far.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing henryo knows that and is referring to the small sample size of games.

aperfectring · Mar 21, 2016

2016
As of 3/21/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

DAL 1.89 1 6

SJE 1.79 2 5

SKC 1.74 3 1

MTL 1.67 4 3

LAG 1.64 5 2

TOR 1.64 6 10

COL 1.54 7 13

ORL 1.43 8 8

PHI 1.35 9 4

RSL 1.35 10 7

VAN 1.33 11 14

POR 1.32 12 12

HOU 1.31 13 9

NYR 1.31 14 15

NYC 1.28 15 11

DCU 1.11 16 18

NER 1.03 17 17

SEA 0.99 18 20

CHI 0.88 19 16

CLB 0.76 20 19

Warning: These numbers are pretty much completely useless.

aperfectring · Mar 30, 2016

2016
As of 3/30/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

SKC 1.84 1 1

DAL 1.79 2 2

SJE 1.78 3 7

MTL 1.78 4 4

LAG 1.6 5 3

TOR 1.6 6 12

COL 1.53 7 14

VAN 1.48 8 6

PHI 1.39 9 5

ORL 1.37 10 9

RSL 1.37 11 8

POR 1.32 12 13

NYR 1.22 13 15

DCU 1.2 14 18

HOU 1.17 15 11

NYC 1.16 16 10

SEA 1.16 17 20

NER 1.01 18 16

CHI 0.88 19 17

CLB 0.78 20 19

aperfectring · Apr 8, 2016

2016
As of 4/7/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

RSL 1.81 1 4

ORL 1.71 2 3

SKC 1.68 3 2

LAG 1.54 4 5

SJE 1.5 5 8

COL 1.5 6 6

VAN 1.43 7 7

SEA 1.39 8 17

POR 1.38 9 16

DAL 1.36 10 1

NYC 1.35 11 12

CHI 1.32 12 13

DCU 1.3 13 19

TOR 1.27 14 15

MTL 1.25 15 9

PHI 1.24 16 10

HOU 1.12 17 14

NER 1.1 18 11

CLB 1.06 19 20

NYR 0.91 20 18

Still seeing some huge differences between the two ranks. Not sure if this reflects actual strength of schedule differences or not yet. I'm inclined to believe it is still a bit early to draw anything meaningful from these numbers.

Paul Berry · Apr 8, 2016

Win % has pretty much taken over from ppg as an indication of performance in the UK, for instance when comparing managerial records, probably because it's easier. I prefer ppg simply because of the number of draws in soccer compared to American sports.

aperfectring · May 2, 2016

2016
As of 5/1/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

COL 1.61 1 1

RSL 1.6 2 2

LAG 1.58 3 4

SJE 1.54 4 5

SKC 1.47 5 7

POR 1.45 6 9

DAL 1.4 7 3

MTL 1.35 8 6

SEA 1.35 9 12

PHI 1.34 10 8

TOR 1.33 11 10

DCU 1.31 12 14

VAN 1.3 13 11

ORL 1.27 14 13

NYR 1.24 15 17

NYC 1.19 16 15

CLB 1.18 17 18

CHI 1.16 18 19

NER 1.15 19 16

HOU 1.13 20 20

I'm back! All of the top 5, and indeed, the top 7 are from the west. Also 8 of the top 10 are from the west, while 4 of the bottom 5 are from the east. The trend from the end of last year seems to be holding. Dallas is the most overrated by the SS rank (+4 places), while Seattle and Portland are the most underrated (-3 places).

aperfectring · Jun 3, 2016

2016
As of 6/3/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

COL 1.58 1 1

RSL 1.46 2 3

LAG 1.46 3 6

PHI 1.43 4 4

DAL 1.42 5 2

SJE 1.41 6 7

MTL 1.39 7 9

SEA 1.36 8 13

SKC 1.36 9 11

POR 1.34 10 10

VAN 1.32 11 5

NYR 1.31 12 8

TOR 1.31 13 14

ORL 1.3 14 16

CLB 1.3 15 18

DCU 1.3 16 15

HOU 1.26 17 19

NYC 1.26 18 12

NER 1.25 19 17

CHI 1.17 20 20

I'm back! 4 of the top 5, and 8 of the top 10 are from the west. Though, since 4 of 5 and 7 of 10 are from the west in the supporters shield standings, I'm not sure this should be much of a surprise.

Seattle is the most underrated by SS (-5 places), and NYC the most overrated (+6 places).

henryo · Aug 22, 2016

Time for an update?

aperfectring · Aug 22, 2016

2016
As of 8/22/16

Team RPI RPI Rank SS Rank

COL 1.5 1 2

LAG 1.43 2 7

DAL 1.42 3 1

RSL 1.39 4 5

SKC 1.39 5 6

TOR 1.39 6 4

NYC 1.38 7 3

NYR 1.36 8 8

SJE 1.34 9 12

SEA 1.34 10 13

MTL 1.33 11 10

PHI 1.32 12 9

POR 1.32 13 11

VAN 1.3 14 14

DCU 1.29 15 15

ORL 1.28 16 16

CLB 1.26 17 19

HOU 1.24 18 18

CHI 1.23 19 20

NER 1.22 20 17

An update, what a novel idea! Strength of schedule means a whole hell of a lot to LA right now, with a 5 place swing (against them in SS standings) because of it. NYC is on the other side of that, with a 4 place swing (for them in SS standings) because of it. ALL of the top 5, and 7 of the top 10, are in the west, with only 1 western team in the bottom 5.