See some notes from Matchdate Six ratings to explain what goes into the numbers.
- Yes, I’m aware that the ratings don’t match what the MLS Standings say. If you’re curious about those, visit major league soccer soccer dot com.
- Game data comes from American Soccer Analysis‘s outstanding web app. You can see the full table here.
| ∆ | MD10 | Team | POWER XG | POWER G | HFA xG | Offense xG | Defense xG | “Luck” |
| ↔︎ | 1 | Los Angeles Football Club | 1.59 | 0.85 | 0.22 | 0.86 | -0.73 | -0.74 |
| ↑1 | 2 | Seattle Sounders | 0.61 | 0.72 | 1.24 | 0.30 | -0.31 | 0.11 |
| ↑1 | 3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 0.53 | 0.12 | -0.56 | 0.20 | -0.33 | -0.41 |
| ↑3 | 4 | New York Red Bulls | 0.47 | -0.72 | -0.48 | -0.04 | -0.51 | -1.19 |
| ↔︎ | 5 | Atlanta United FC | 0.46 | 0.46 | 1.07 | 0.40 | -0.07 | 0.00 |
| ↓4 | 6 | Chicago Fire | 0.46 | -0.11 | -1.90 | 0.30 | -0.15 | -0.57 |
| ↑2 | 7 | Minnesota United FC | 0.38 | 0.10 | -0.49 | 0.06 | -0.32 | -0.28 |
| ↑3 | 8 | Colorado Rapids | 0.34 | -0.35 | 0.24 | 0.06 | -0.28 | -0.69 |
| ↓3 | 9 | San Jose Earthquakes | 0.32 | 0.05 | 1.75 | 0.32 | 0.00 | -0.27 |
| ↓2 | 10 | Columbus Crew | 0.28 | 0.31 | 0.26 | -0.02 | -0.30 | 0.03 |
| ↓1 | 11 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 0.20 | -0.63 | 0.54 | 0.72 | 0.52 | -0.84 |
| ↑2 | 12 | Fußball Club Cincinnati | 0.15 | 0.26 | -0.60 | 0.22 | 0.07 | 0.11 |
| ↓1 | 13 | Philadelphia Union | 0.15 | -0.05 | 1.30 | 0.13 | -0.02 | -0.20 |
| ↑1 | 14 | Nashville SC | 0.02 | 0.45 | -0.52 | -0.34 | -0.36 | 0.43 |
| ↑2 | 15 | New England Revolution | -0.01 | 0.31 | -0.42 | 0.39 | 0.40 | 0.32 |
| ↓3 | 16 | New York City FC | -0.02 | 0.41 | 0.68 | -0.18 | -0.16 | 0.43 |
| ↑2 | 17 | Houston Dynamo | -0.09 | 0.11 | 0.22 | 0.36 | 0.46 | 0.20 |
| ↑3 | 18 | Toronto FC | -0.13 | 0.23 | 0.09 | -0.22 | -0.09 | 0.36 |
| ↓3 | 19 | St. Louis City SC | -0.24 | 0.54 | -0.72 | 0.19 | 0.42 | 0.78 |
| ↔︎ | 20 | FC Dallas | -0.26 | -0.05 | -1.39 | -0.11 | 0.15 | 0.21 |
| ↓3 | 21 | Sporting Kansas City | -0.31 | -1.02 | -0.09 | -0.53 | -0.22 | -0.71 |
| ↑6 | 22 | Austin FC | -0.31 | -0.66 | -0.56 | -0.31 | 0.00 | -0.35 |
| ↑2 | 23 | Orlando City SC | -0.42 | -0.01 | 0.24 | -0.03 | 0.39 | 0.41 |
| ↓1 | 24 | Portland Timbers FC | -0.46 | 0.37 | -0.62 | -0.38 | 0.08 | 0.83 |
| ↑1 | 25 | DC United | -0.49 | 0.13 | -0.81 | -0.35 | 0.15 | 0.62 |
| ↓4 | 26 | Real Salt Lake | -0.70 | -0.34 | -0.07 | -0.37 | 0.33 | 0.36 |
| ↔︎ | 27 | Inter Miami CF | -0.71 | -0.01 | -1.45 | -0.36 | 0.35 | 0.71 |
| ↑1 | 28 | Montreal Impact | -0.80 | -0.21 | 1.02 | -0.60 | 0.20 | 0.59 |
| ↓5 | 29 | Charlotte FC | -0.82 | -0.87 | 1.57 | -0.40 | 0.43 | -0.04 |
Some thoughts:
- LAFC remains far and away the Power Ratings leader in creation, and they’re making so much that their actual goals scored is rarely gonna catch up. They’re good enough to go flat-track on teams but not score when they’re already leading 2-0 or whatever.
- I’ve been calling Atlanta a paper tiger and I still believe that. The adjusted numbers (which call them pretty good even after adjusting for one of the easiest schedules out there) have not convinced me otherwise. Of course, they’re a good example of where creation versus conversion can be relevant: because they have awful goalkeeping and have struggled to make good on their xG at times, they’ve run up gaudy numbers in 1-0 wins (NYRB) and draws (NYC).
- Numbers still not kind to Nashville, which is somewhat a gamestate effect (they beat Atlanta 3-1 but barely edged the xG battle this weekend because goals 2 and 3 came on the counter while Atlanta wailed away with a number of low-xG chances). I would imagine it’ll equalize a bit over the course of the season.
- LA Galaxy is your Exciting Game Champion, with a near-elite offense and an utterly terrible defense. FC Cincinnati, move aside, simply being below-average on D won’t cut it anymore.
- Charlotte: welcome to the basement. Montreal thanks you for your service.
Club and Country 