Continuing their upward climb
Another three weeks, another four points out of six for the Sounders. Another two teams at the top of the table turn green, while the percentages of the teams in the lower half of the final 8 continue to improve. It's time to take a look at where things stand two-thirds of the way through the season. As a reminder, here's how the color coding works.
Playoff Standings
MLS Predicted Finish as of August 22nd, 2010 (click to enlarge)
The Galaxy have continued their slow slide from their hot start. They're in a heated battle with Real Salt Lake for top seed in the West, and RSL now has the edge in projected goal differential and the points that should result from such a goal differential.
FC Dallas continues to impress, moving into the near certainty column with the Columbus Crew according to Sports Club Stats, while they are still yellow according to my projected goal differential and points methods.
New York's improvement by two spots has also resulted in a 27.4 point increase in their playoff chances, making them a virtual lock according to Sports Club Stats. Meanwhile, San Jose is on the verge of locking up their participation in the MLS playoffs and Colorado's chances dropped slightly as they moved down to the 7th position.
Things are very interesting in the 8th and final playoff spot. The Seattle Sounders have continued their unbeaten streak, while the Chicago Fire are unbeaten in their last four league matches. The teams are projected to finish within one point of each other, while the goal differential gap can be explained away by the Sounders 0-4 drubbing by LA. The teams play each other twice over the next month, and both face pretty brutal schedules throughout the last third of the season. The Sounders face Real Salt Lake, Columbus, Toronto, and Houston, while Chicago face LA, Toronto, Real Salt Lake, San Jose, Dallas, and Houston. What this really comes down to is which team - Seattle or Chicago - wins their two game series over the month. If they split the points, it's a toss up. A tie and a win for either is good, and two wins for either puts them in the driver seat for the eighth playoff spot. Throw in the fact that Seattle's original DP, Freddie Ljungberg, now plays for Chicago and you have some real drama.
Golden Boot Update
Golden Boot Standings for August 22, 2010 (click to enlarge)
All of the goal scorers are continuing to cool as the season goes on. Edson Buddle has now slipped to the top 10% of historical MLS goal scorers in terms of games per goal, while he was in the top 5% three weeks ago. Juan Pablo Angel is the only other player over the 50th percentile, while Alvaro Sobario's hot streak has ended and he has slipped to scoring a goal less frequently than every other match.
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