Nice job newtex! According to MLS, we just concluded Week 10. I think we had one week where there were only 3 games. I think somebody here referred to it as Week 4a! Anyway, it's no biggie. I've been tracking the attendance based on what MLS says the Week # is.
With four home games in hand, and remaining surprisingly buoyant on the road, I'm still bullish on the West winning. But it is getting closer, and the East is managing more home wins and road draws. There's also an element of feast or famine with the West this year: the mean PPG for each conference is 1.25 and 1.39, but the variance -- wow! The variance of PPG for Eastern conference teams is 0.349, but it is 0.737 for Western teams! Either we see reversion to the mean soon, or Western teams that are struggling start to pull down the conference PPG. Given that Seattle has had 1 game to play due to -- I assume -- CCL, and Colorado only 2 home games due to the threat of 10ft snow, I suspect we start to see mean-reversion.
Impressed by the East in these head to heads this year, not going to lie. In my head the West is a superior conference but that’s not being proven on the field.
If the Supporters Shield table means anything, the West is both the best and the worst in the entire league.
What VC said; the West is a very stratified conference, with a fairly clear definition between the haves and have-nots, while the East has far more parity (and year-to-year turnover of who's on top of the pile).
The West has pretty good turnover from last year at this point. That will probably change. MLS standings right now with where the team finished last year in parentheses: BLUE - moved up into playoff zone, RED - moved down EAST 1. PHI (2) 2. NYR (7) 3. MTL (10) 4. ORL (6) 5. CIN (14) 6. NYC (4) 7. ATL (5) ----------- 8. CLT (NA) 9. CLB (9) 10. DCU (8) 11. NER (1) 12. TOR (13) 13. MIA (11) 14. CHI (12) WEST 1. LAX (9) 2. AUS (12) 3. LAG (8) 4. FCD (11) 5. RSL (7) 6. NSH (E3) 7. MIN (5) ---------- 8. HOU (13) 9. COR (1) 10. POR (4) 11. SJE (10) 12. SKC (3) 13. SEA (2) 14. VAN (6)
haha yeah, this year is currently looking good for turnover in the west, and bad for the east, but it's early still! (Especially with the east as tight as it currently is)
Fifty games in! Nine points and two goals separate the two conferences. The East has played four more home matches (1.33 to 1.39 PPG) and is starting to scratch back some points. I still think the West has the upper hand but it's closer than I suspected. This took a bit longer because I stupidly included the Austin-Orlando match as the Atlanta-Orlando match, then deleted it, and now I'm realizing it was Austin-Orlando so I'll include that in next week's. Anyway, Austin-Orlando would make it 51 games and that would ruin the first sentence of this post.
Week 13 results: NSH 2-1 MTL CLB 0-2 LAX NSH 2-2 ATL MTL 1-2 RSL CLT 2-1 VAN AUS 2-2 ORL POR 0-2 PHI The West wins the week with 3 wins and 2 draws against 2 losses. The West is now 18-18-15 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST PHI 2-3-0 NYC 2-2-1 CHI 1-2-1 NYR 1-2-1 ORL 1-2-1 CLB 1-2-2 NER 1-1-1 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-1 DCU 1-0-1 MTL 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 MIA 1-0-3 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 4-1-0 AUS 3-1-0 NSH 2-2-0 MIN 2-1-1 LAG 2-1-1 RSL 2-1-1 COR 1-1-0 VAN 1-1-3 HOU 1-0-1 FCD 0-3-1 POR 0-3-1 SKC 0-2-2 SJE 0-1-3 SEA 0-0-1 Week 14 fixtures: ORL v. FCD MIA v. POR MIN v. NYC SEA v. CLT
Week 14 results: ORL 1-3 FCD MIA 2-1 POR MIN 0-1 NYC SEA 2-1 CLT The week was split with 2 wins each way. The West is now 20-18-17 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-2-1 PHI 2-3-0 MIA 2-0-3 CHI 1-2-1 NYR 1-2-1 ORL 1-2-2 CLB 1-2-2 NER 1-1-1 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-2 DCU 1-0-1 MTL 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 4-1-0 AUS 3-1-0 NSH 2-2-0 LAG 2-1-1 RSL 2-1-1 MIN 2-1-2 FCD 1-3-1 COR 1-1-0 VAN 1-1-3 HOU 1-0-1 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-2 SJE 0-1-3 SEA 1-0-1 Week 15 fixtures: None Week 16 fixtures: SKC v. NER
Week 16 results: SKC 1-2 NER The East wins the week. The West is now 20-18-18 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-2-1 PHI 2-3-0 NER 2-1-1 MIA 2-0-3 CHI 1-2-1 NYR 1-2-1 ORL 1-2-2 CLB 1-2-2 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-2 DCU 1-0-1 MTL 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 4-1-0 AUS 3-1-0 NSH 2-2-0 LAG 2-1-1 RSL 2-1-1 MIN 2-1-2 FCD 1-3-1 COR 1-1-0 VAN 1-1-3 HOU 1-0-1 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-3 SJE 0-1-3 SEA 1-0-1 Week 17 fixtures: MTL v. AUS ORL v. HOU NYC v. COR NER v. MIN
The West leads by 6 points and 2 goals. The East's Home PPG is 1.34, the West's Home PPG is 1.33. The East's Away PPG is 1.22. The West's Away PPG is 1.45. And that latter pair of statistics, I think, will be the deciding factor this season.
Week 17 results: MTL 0-1 AUS ORL 2-1 HOU NYC 1-1 COR NER 2-1 MIN The East wins the week with 2 wins and a draw against 1 loss. The West is now 21-19-20 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-3-1 NER 3-1-1 PHI 2-3-0 ORL 2-2-2 MIA 2-0-3 CHI 1-2-1 NYR 1-2-1 CLB 1-2-2 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-2 DCU 1-0-1 MTL 1-0-3 CIN 1-0-2 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 4-1-0 AUS 4-1-0 NSH 2-2-0 LAG 2-1-1 RSL 2-1-1 MIN 2-1-3 FCD 1-3-1 COR 1-2-0 VAN 1-1-3 SEA 1-0-1 HOU 1-0-2 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-3 SJE 0-1-3 Week 18 fixtures: DCU v. NSH MIA v. MIN HOU v. CHI RSL v. CLB LAX v. NYR VAN v. NER
Week 18 results: DCU 1-3 NSH MIA 2-1 MIN HOU 2-0 CHI RSL 0-0 CLB LAX 2-0 NYR VAN 0-0 NER The West wins the week with 3 wins and 2 draws against 1 loss. The West is now 21-19-20 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-3-1 NER 3-2-1 PHI 2-3-0 MIA 3-0-3 ORL 2-2-2 CLB 1-3-2 CHI 1-2-2 NYR 1-2-2 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-2 DCU 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 MTL 1-0-3 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 5-1-0 AUS 4-1-0 NSH 3-2-0 RSL 2-2-1 LAG 2-1-1 MIN 2-1-4 FCD 1-3-1 HOU 2-0-2 COR 1-2-0 VAN 1-2-3 SEA 1-0-1 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-3 SJE 0-1-3 Week 19 fixtures: SEA v. MTL CLT v. AUS TOR v. SEA SKC v. NYR HOU v. CLT SJE v. CHI FCD v. MIA LAG v. MTL
@newtex I think the West is now 24-21-21 overall, can you check to make sure that's correct with you? Apologies for having missed last week, completely slipped my mind. The West has 1.42 Home PPG and 1.40 Away PPG, while the East has 1.40 Home PPG and 1.13 Away PPG. This continues to be so important for understanding the West's 9-pt and 6-goal lead. Notably, there remains a standard deviation problem going on within the East and West PPG; the East has a mean of 1.27 and a standard deviation of 0.379, while the West has a mean of 1.41 and a standard deviation of 0.756! Austin, LAFC, and Nashville don't seem to know how to lose, while Portland, San Jose, and Kasas City are really struggling this season against interconference opponents. Meanwhile, the East's best EvW team -- New England -- would be fourth in the interconference rankings if it were magically in the West, and its worst -- Toronto -- would be fourth-worst. There doesn't appear to be any relationship between the number of games played and PPG (cor 0.0283), so if this trend continues it suggests to me that we'll end the season with a small lead for the West, just like now.
CORRECTION: Week 18 results: DCU 1-3 NSH MIA 2-1 MIN HOU 2-0 CHI RSL 0-0 CLB LAX 2-0 NYR VAN 0-0 NER The West wins the week with 3 wins and 2 draws against 1 loss. The West is now 24-21-21 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-3-1 NER 3-2-1 PHI 2-3-0 MIA 3-0-3 ORL 2-2-2 CLB 1-3-2 CHI 1-2-2 NYR 1-2-2 ATL 1-1-1 CLT 1-1-2 DCU 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 MTL 1-0-3 TOR 0-2-1 WEST LAX 5-1-0 AUS 4-1-0 NSH 3-2-0 RSL 2-2-1 LAG 2-1-1 MIN 2-1-4 FCD 1-3-1 HOU 2-0-2 COR 1-2-0 VAN 1-2-3 SEA 1-0-1 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-3 SJE 0-1-3 Week 19 fixtures: SEA v. MTL CLT v. AUS TOR v. SEA SKC v. NYR HOU v. CLT SJE v. CHI FCD v. MIA LAG v. MTL
Week 19 results: SEA 1-2 MTL CLT 0-1 AUS TOR 0-2 SEA SKC 0-1 NYR HOU 1-2 CLT SJE 2-1 CHI FCD 1-1 MIA LAG 4-0 MTL The West wins the week with 4 wins and 1 draw against 3 losses. The West is now 28-22-24 overall. Standings are W-T-L. Teams are ranked by Points Earned. EAST NYC 3-3-1 NER 3-2-1 MIA 3-1-3 PHI 2-3-0 ORL 2-2-2 NYR 2-2-2 CLT 2-1-3 MTL 2-0-4 CLB 1-3-2 CHI 1-2-3 ATL 1-1-1 DCU 1-0-2 CIN 1-0-2 TOR 0-2-2 WEST LAX 5-1-0 AUS 5-1-0 NSH 3-2-0 LAG 3-1-1 RSL 2-2-1 MIN 2-1-4 FCD 1-4-1 SEA 2-0-2 HOU 2-0-3 COR 1-2-0 VAN 1-2-3 SJE 1-1-3 POR 0-3-2 SKC 0-2-4 Week 20 fixtures: CLT v. NSH ATL v. AUS CIN v. NYR MTL v. SKC TOR v. SJE
My update as well. Let me reiterate: it's over. The West has won. The West has made its bread and butter in the Away PPG all season, and it still holds up here. But now, the two conferences have played an equal number of home games, so there's no reason to suspect that the East can claw their way back with a few more home wins or away draws. East: 1.32 Home PPG; 1.22 Away PPG West: 1.38 Home PPG; 1.49 Away PPG A 12-pt lead and an 11-goal lead. It's over.