Power Rankings
2024 MLS Power Rankings averages, match day two
11 sites published for week two. Miami's off to a flying start, but the Crew still lead.
11 sites published power rankings for week 2. Still waiting on a few others to start.
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 - No ranking wk 2.
- D-Ratings
- 3rd Degree
- [MLS Network](Revolution Discord channel)
- Sports Club Stats - based on average position
Sites that may start later
- Soccer America
- Versus Sports Simulator
- Broadway Sports
- Tom Bogert - Preseason, no wk 1-2.
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: Toronto 9.42
- Lowest Standard Deviation: San Jose 1.62
- Biggest Rise: RSL up 13
- Biggest Fall: FCD down 9
AVERAGE WEEKLY POSITION
BIAS RATINGS No site can be perfectly on average all the time, every site will naturally have a bias for or against all teams.