Power Rankings Overview: RSL drop continues with poor MLS performances

Power Rankings Overview: RSL drop continues with poor MLS performances

It's that time again: Power rankings overviews from Kreg Asay. This one's a bit disheartening: RSL averaged a position of 7.38 this week, which is certainly the worst we've been ranked this season. Of course, it's also the worst we've been in actuality, so perhaps that's a bit of ... consolation? You know, the words escape me. It's too bad we can't be ranked on our good CCL performance, eh? Read on.

Power Ranking Averages for week 22.

The sites used are:
*Soccer America (socceramerica.com)
*Major League Soccer (MLSSoccer.com)
*Goal (Goal.com)
*Soccer by Ives (soccerbyives.net)
*ESPN (espn.go.com/sports/soccer)
*SB Nation (sbnation.com)
*NBC Sports (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com)
*Sports Illustrated (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
*Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com) - stopped after wk 11.

Weekly Average Power Ranking

W22 - W21  -  Team        - Ave   -High-Low
1  -  1   -  San Jose     - 1.38  -  1 -  2
2  -  2   -  Kansas City  - 2     -  1 -  4
3  -  4   -  New York     - 3     -  2 -  4
4  -  2   -  Houston      - 3.75  -  2 -  5
5  -  6   -  Chicago      - 5.75  -  5 -  7
5  -  7   -  Seattle      - 5.75  -  4 -  7
7  -  5   -  Salt Lake    - 7.38  -  6 -  9
8  -  9   -  LA Galaxy    - 7.88  -  6 - 10
9  -  8   -  DC United    - 8.88  -  5 - 12
10 -  10  -  Vancouver    - 10.75 -  9 - 13
11 -  12  -  Montreal     - 11.13 - 10 - 12
12 -  11  -  Columbus     - 11.5  -  8 - 13
13 -  13  -  Dallas       - 12    - 10 - 14
14 -  14  -  Chivas       - 14.5  - 14 - 15
15 -  15  -  Philadelphia - 15    - 13 - 17
16 -  17  -  Colorado     - 16.38 - 14 - 17
17 -  16  -  New England  - 16.63 - 14 - 19
18 -  18  -  Toronto      - 17.75 - 16 - 19
19 -  19  -  Portland     - 18.63 - 18 - 19

Eight teams remained static in the rankings; no teams received a unanimous ranking this week.  Chicago / Seattle tied at 5th place with an average of 5.75.  One team had a variance of 7 positions (DC United), two teams with 5 positions (Columbus, New England), and four teams with a variance of 4 (L.A., Vancouver, Dallas, Philadelphia) which seems to show a very wide interpretation of last week's results.  While some were forgiving of losses, others ranked harshly.

The most consistent rankings were MLS, Goal.com, Soccer by Ives and Sports Illustrated all with only 1 team moving 3 positions.  Hard to judge an inconsistent site this week; ESPN had 6 moving 2 positions which may be quite a few teams to move - but not by a large number of places.  In terms of the largest change NBC would be the most inconsistent with 1 team moving 4 positions, and a second team 3 positions.

Firsts and Lasts

SJE have now been ranked #1 for 11 weeks, with RSL at 6, and SKC for 5 weeks.

TFC was in 19th for a total of 10 weeks, Portland has now held it for 6 weeks, Montreal, Dallas and Philly held last for 2 weeks each, Chivas for 1 week.

Movers:

Jets: Seattle(7th to 5th)

Bricks: Houston, (2nd to 4th), RSL (5th to 7th)

Glaciers: SJ, K.C., Vancouver, Dallas, Chivas, Philadelphia, Toronto, Portland (no change)

Season Average Power Ranking

W22   -  W21   -  Team
2.78  -  2.56  -  Salt Lake
3.25  -  3.33  -  San Jose
3.46  -  3.53  -  Kansas City
5.48  -  5.47  -  Seattle
5.68  -  5.81  -  New York
6.24  -  6.36  -  Houston
7.16  -  7.07  -  DC United
7.68  -  7.54  -  Vancouver
8.82  -  8.97  -  Chicago
9.58  -  9.66  -  LA Galaxy
11.55 -  11.32 -  Colorado
12.5  -  12.55 -  Columbus
13.29 -  13.34 -  Dallas
14.16 -  14.05 -  New England
14.41 -  14.40 -  Chivas
14.9  -  15.08 -  Montreal
15.61 -  15.63 -  Philadelphia
15.81 -  15.67 -  Portland
17.6  -  17.59 -  Toronto

There were no position changes on the table this week.

Seattle, Chivas and Toronto moved the least at -.01 points each, with Philadelpha close behind moving a mere +.02 points.  For the 4th week in a row Colorado moved the most at -.23 points.  The smallest gap in the season average is .13 between S.J. and K.C.  Once again the widest gulf lies between KC and Seattle at 1.95 points, with the gap between Portland and Toronto a close second at 1.93; three other gaps of over 1 point also exist.

Firsts and Lasts:

RSL has held the top spot on the season table for a total of 20 weeks (with week 7 tied with SKC).  SKC held #1 for 3 weeks (again with W7 tied with RSL).

Toronto has been in 19th place for 15 weeks, with Montreal at 7 weeks.

Trends to watch:

With only .69 points separate RSL and San Jose, barring a complete turnaround from either team the Quakes seem likely to take over the top position before the end of the season.

Only .21 points separate Seattle and New York; given this week's rate of change the Bulls will take over 4th in two weeks.

The top 3 of RSL, San Jose and K.C. are pretty much set for the rest of the season.  There may still be position changes between the three, but they will remain in the top 3 since the 4th place team (Seattle) sits 1.95 points behind.

The top 10 teams are also set.  Colorado holds the "bubble" position of 11th; they are 1.89 points behind LA, and 1.18 points ahead of Columbus.  The Galaxy is trending up so they're certain not to catch up; both Columbus and Dallas are both rising, thus it seems certain that the Rapids will fall from their current spot.