Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

12 out of 14 sites published for Week 31 covering match days 39. Results for the shortened Wk 30 are also included (only 9 sites published). Also below is the final bias rating for all sites.

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
• Who Scored
• ESPN
• Massey
• Sonny Moore Rankings
• [Betting Odds] (multiple sites, see spreadsheet)
• MLS
• Simmons Ratings
• Soccer America
• D-Ratings
• 3rd Degree
• [MLS Network](https://mlsnet.wordpress.com/ NER Discord)
• 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.

1. Duplicating / copying ratings from another source on the list.
2. 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 (season): Miami 11.22 (Wk 25)
• Lowest Standard Deviation (season): Los Angeles FC 0.00 (Wk 10)

Season Best / Worst by team

• Atlanta: best 2 (wk 4), worst 13 (wk 2)
• Austin: best 6 (wk 3), worst 27 (x4)
• Charlotte: best 16 (x2), worst 28 (wk 3)
• Chicago: best 14 (x2), worst 27 (x4)
• Cincinnati: best 1 (x16), worst 5 (x2)
• Colorado: best 20 (wk 11), worst 29 (x6)
• Columbus: best 3 (x4), worst 20 (wk 1)
• D.C.: best 12 (wk 13), worst 26 (x3)
• Dallas: best 8 (x4), worst 17 (x4)
• Houston: best 10 (x2), worst 29 (x3)
• Kansas City: best 16 (wk 26), worst 29 (x4)
• Los Angeles (FC): best 1 (x14), worst 8 (x2)
• Los Angeles (Gal): best 6 (wk 1), worst 29 (x2)
• Miami: best 7 (wk 2), worst 29 (x2)
• Minnesota: best 7 (wk 6), worst 23 (x2)
• Montreal: best 16 (wk 18), worst 29 (x2)
• Nashville: best 2 (x3), worst 11 (wk 31)
• New England: best 2 (x4), worst 11 (wk 3)
• New York (FC): best 7 (x2), worst 26 (x2)
• New York (RB): best 12 (wk 4), worst 26 (x2)
• Orlando: best 2 (x3), worst 19 (wk 7)
• Philadelphia: best 1 (wk 1), worst 17 (wk 8)
• Portland: best 11 (wk 1), worst 27 (wk 23)
• Salt Lake: best 9 (wk 21), worst 29 (wk 6)
• San Jose: best 8 (wk 11), worst 25 (wk 1)
• Seattle: best 2 (x3), worst 11 (x3)
• St. Louis: best 2 (x3), worst 21 (wk 1)
• Toronto: best 15 (wk 4), worst 29 (x9)
• Vancouver: best 9 (wk 26), worst 28 (x3)

BIAS RATINGS No site can be perfectly on average all the time, every site will naturally have a bias for or against all teams.

Site Bias: Most Bias by Teams (excluding those dropped)

• Jeff Sagarin - FOR: NYFC (6.71 higher), AGAINST: RSL (4.92 lower)
• Who Scored - FOR: DCU (8.35 higher), AGAINST: ORL (7.86 lower)
• ESPN - FOR: TFC (3.43 higher), AGAINST: NYFC (5.53 lower)
• Massey - FOR: MTL (6.95 higher), AGAINST: ATL (7.62 lower)
• Sonny Moore Rankings - FOR: RSL (5.21 higher), AGAINST: CIN (6.78 lower)
• Betting Odds (avg) - FOR: MIA (8.46 higher), AGAINST: CHI (4.90 lower)
• MLS - FOR: MIA (4.41 higher), AGAINST: CHI (2.43 lower)
• Simmons Ratings - FOR: NYFC (2.74 higher), AGAINST: AUS (2.63 lower)
• Soccer America - FOR: STL (1.88 higher), AGAINST: NYFC (2.61 lower)
• D-Ratings - FOR: NYRB (5.77 higher), AGAINST: SJE (5.69 lower)
• 3rd Degree - FOR: MIA (6.18 higher), AGAINST: VAN (3.30 lower)
• MLS Network - FOR: ORL (3.25 higher), AGAINST: MIN (3.1 lower)
• Broadway Sports - FOR: DCU (4.29 higher), AGAINST: MTL (3.72 lower)
• Sports Club Stats - FOR: HOU (5.45 higher), AGAINST: NYRB (5.36 lower)