Power Rankings
2023 MLS Power Rankings averages: Week 20
16 out of 17 sites published for Week 20, covering match days 23-24.
16 out of 17 sites published for Week 20, covering match days 23-24. Who Scored was the only holdout since they have ceased updating their Power Rankings due to cutbacks in staff. They’ll be removed officially from the weekly tracking after 6 weeks per my stated removal clause below. MLS published their rankings for last week late so totals and standings have been adjusted.
A reminder of what Power Rankings should be (not that every site does, of course):
"If two teams played tomorrow, given their current injury concerns, form, and other considerations, who is likely to win on a neutral field? All things being equal, who is the best team going forward, based on what we know now?"
— Richard Farley, NBC Sports ProSoccerTalk. March 11, 2014.
Sites Used
- Jeff Sagarin
- Five Thirty Eight (Proj. points) - No ranking wk 17-20
- Who Scored
- ESPN
- Massey
- Sonny Moore Rankings
- Versus Sports Simulator
- [Betting Odds] (multiple sites, see spreadsheet)
- MLS
- Simmons Ratings
- Reddit r/MLS
- Soccer America
- D-Ratings
- 3rd Degree
- MLS Network
- Broadway Sports
- Sports Club Stats - (average position)
You may notice the inclusion of 'analytic' sites; they serve to function as a 'control group' to others which are based on opinions. There are also sites included that some will argue are 'prediction rankings' - but that also is a form of Power Ranking (see the quote at the top) since it uses algorithms to calculate a team's likely final position.
Bias for or against certain teams are sometimes an unfortunate feature of power rankings. It can be based on their analytic formula, or the raters preference. In some cases the bias can become extreme - If you feel a site got the ratings wrong for your team I invite you to contact them regarding it. Bias ratings for every site are listed below.
I will typically only remove sites for two reasons.
- Duplicating / copying ratings from another source on the list.
- Failure to update for 6 consecutive weeks. Previous ratings will not be removed, but new ones may or may not be added. I will still periodically check them to see if they have resumed.
All the averages use the Olympic method (I.E. Truncated Mean value) of dropping the highest and lowest scores, and then averaging the rest to reduce bias.
The full spreadsheet is here.
- Highest Standard Deviation: CF Montreal 5.54
- Lowest Standard Deviation: FC Cincinnati 0.54
- Biggest Rise: Austin, New York (RB) up 6
- Biggest Fall: Dallas down 6
BIAS RATINGS No site can be perfectly on average all the time, every site will naturally have a bias for or against all teams.
