Week 30: final effect of OT

The effect is significant, in my opinion. Here are the stats and scenarios.

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Standings with OT:

Team        GP   W  L  T  Pts  GF GA +/-
Chicago     30  15  7  8   53  53 43  10
New England 30  12  9  9   45  55 47   8
MetroStars  30  11 10  9   42  40 40   0
D.C. United 30  10 11  9   39  38 36   2
Columbus    30  10 12  8   38  44 44   0

Team        GP   W  L  T  Pts  GF GA +/-
San Jose    30  14  7  9   51  45 35  10
Kansas City 30  11 10  9   42  48 44   4
Colorado    30  11 12  7   40  40 45  -5
Los Angeles 30   9 12  9   36  35 35   0
Dallas      30   6 19  5   23  35 64 -29


Points from OT, per team:
 
Team        W-L Pts
Kansas City 3-0   6
Los Angeles 2-1   3
MetroStars  2-1   3
New England 2-1   3
Chicago     1-0   2
Colorado    1-0   2
San Jose    0-0   0
Dallas      0-1  -1
Columbus    1-3  -1
D.C. United 0-5  -5


Standings without OT:

Team        GP   W  L  T  Pts  GF GA +/-
Chicago     30  14  7  9   51  52 43   9
D.C. United 30  10  6 14   44  38 31   7
New England 30  10  8 12   42  53 46   7
Columbus    30   9  9 12   39  43 41   2
MetroStars  30   9  9 12   39  38 39  -1

Team        GP   W  L  T  Pts  GF GA +/-
San Jose    30  14  7  9   51  45 35  10
Colorado    30  10 12  8   38  39 45  -6
Kansas City 30   8 10 12   36  45 44   1
Los Angeles 30   7 11 12   33  33 34  -1
Dallas      30   6 18  6   23  35 63 -28

Outcomes without OT:

Supporter's Shield: San Jose and Chicago are tied on points, with San Jose having the better goal differential. However, the first tie-breaker is head-to-head, and Chicago won one game while tying the other two. Yes, they played an uneven 3 games head-to-head, but two of the games were in San Jose.

Eastern Playoffs: Columbus and MetroStars are tied on points, and they are tied head-to-head (remember, there is no OT). So Columbus advances on goal differential. Chicago gets the first seed, and D.C. United gets the second seed with the third best record in the league.

Western Playoffs: San Jose gets the first seed, and Colorado gets the second seed.

Overall: In a straight table, all Eastern teams have better records than all Western teams except for San Jose.

- Paul