Editor's Note: Once again, Kreg Asay is back with a Power Rankings overview. It's interesting to note that again our lowest ranking was again 7, our highest was 2 — not a bad measure, to be sure, especially considering our San Jose breakdown will still weigh heavily. Again, it's fascinating to see us retaining first spot overall; as tough as recent weeks have been, it's a nice reminder that we're not so bad off. Anyway, read on, young ones!
Week 18 on the Power Ranking Averages. 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/section/major-league-soccer)
*NBC Sports (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com)
*Sports Illustrated (sportsillustrated.cnn.com) - no ranking for weeks 12-13 due to FIFA break.
*Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com) - weeks 1-11 only, they ceased power rankings after that.
Weekly Average Power Ranking
W18 - W17 - Team - Average - High - Low
1 - 1 - San Jose - 1 - 1 - 1
2 - 5 - New York - 2.25 - 2 - 3
3 - 4 - Salt Lake - 3.63 - 2 - 7
4 - 2 - Kansas City - 4.25 - 2 - 6
5 - 7 - Houston - 5.88 - 4 - 10
6 - 3 - DC United - 6.25 - 3 - 9
7 - 9 - Vancouver - 7.38 - 5 - 10
8 - 9 - LA Galaxy - 7.5 - 4 - 10
9 - 6 - Chicago - 8.13 - 4 - 10
10 - 8 - Seattle - 8.75 - 7 - 10
11 - 12 - Columbus - 11.25 - 11 - 13
12 - 11 - New England - 12.88 - 12 - 15
13 - 12 - Philadelphia - 13 - 11 - 16
14 - 15 - Chivas - 13.88 - 13 - 16
15 - 17 - Montreal - 15.63 - 14 - 18
15 - 16 - Toronto - 15.63 - 12 - 18
17 - 14 - Colorado - 16.88 - 15 - 18
17 - 18 - Dallas - 16.88 - 15 - 18
19 - 19 - Portland - 18.5 - 19 - 19
Two teams remained static in the rankings: San Jose in 1st, and Portland at 19th, both were also the only teams to receive unanimous rankings. Two teams tied in the positions; Montreal / Toronto for 15th place with an average of 15.63, and Colorado / Dallas for 17th with an average of 16.88. Five teams had a variance of 6 positions (Houston, DC, LA, Chicago, Toronto), and three teams with a variance of 5 (RSL, Vancouver, Philadelphia). It would appear that the various people doing the rankings were of different minds this week.
The most consistent sites were Soccer by Ives, Sports Illustrated and ESPN which had only 1 team move 4 positions from the previous week. There were three inconsistent sites this week, MLS with 2 teams moving 5 places and 1 team 4, Goal.com with one team moving 7 places, and SoccerAmerica moving 5 teams 3 places. This again seems to indicate that the week was rather difficult for most of the rank-makers to decipher.
Firsts and Lasts
SJE have now been ranked #1 for 7 weeks, with RSL close behind at 6, and SKC for 5 weeks.
TFC has been 19th for a total of 10 weeks, Portland, Montreal, Dallas and Philly have held last place for 2 weeks each, Chivas was last for 1 week.
Movers
Jets: NY Red Bulls (5th to 2nd)
Bricks: D.C. United (3rd to 6th), Chicago (6th to 9th), Colorado (14th to 17th)
Glaciers: S.J. Quakes & Portland Timbers (no change)
Season Average Power Ranking
W18 - W17 - Team
2.4 - 2.33 - Salt Lake
3.28 - 3.23 - Kansas City
3.78 - 3.93 - San Jose
4.98 - 4.79 - Seattle
6.19 - 6.4 - New York
6.98 - 7.03 - Houston
7.22 - 7.2 - Vancouver
7.48 - 7.53 - DC United
9.35 - 9.4 - Chicago
9.81 - 9.95 - LA Galaxy
10.29 - 9.93 - Colorado
12.63 - 12.42 - Dallas
12.97 - 13.06 - Columbus
13.84 - 13.9 - New England
14.56 - 14.59 - Chivas
15.03 - 14.82 - Portland
15.47 - 15.46 - Montreal
15.95 - 16.1 - Philadelphia
17.73 - 17.84 - Toronto
Only one team moved up on the table this week - LA and Colorado changed places at 10th. Montreal moved the least at a mere -.01 points, while Colorado moved the most at -.34. The smallest gap in the season average is .24 between Houston and Vancouver, the widest is between DC and Chicago at 1.87 points.
The gap between Seattle and New York has shrunk from 1.61 to 1.21. The gap between Dallas and Columbus has fallen from .64 to .34 points. Due to San Jose's current run atop the weekly averages they're gaining on Sporting KC for 2nd, the gap now stands at .5 points. A real race for 6th-8th place is in progress with a mere .28 points separating Vancouver, Houston, and .26 between Vancouver and D.C.; any combination of good/bad results could change the season average standings for these three teams.
Firsts and Lasts
RSL has held the top spot on the season table for a total of 16 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 11 weeks, with Montreal at 7 weeks. TFC lost more headway against Philly for 19th place, the gap widened from 1.74 to 1.78 points due to the Union's continued run up the weekly table.
Trends to watch
The Seattle / New York gap shrunk rapidly and if the current rate the Bulls will pass the Sounders in week 20.
The Crew should also pass Dallas in week 20 based on current rate of change.
San Jose continues to gain ground on SKC. Progress took a jump with SKC dropping 2 points in the weekly standings, the change should also take place in week 20 at current rate.
The three-way race between Houston, Vancouver and D.C bears watching as major changes from these three on the weekly rankings over the next 2 weeks will result in position changes.
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