Sounders Centric Power Rankings - Beasts In The East

That loss to the San Jose Earthquakes ended the virtual deadlock that Sporting Kansas City and the Seattle Sounders held for so many weeks. In fact teams from the East are rapidly pushing up with the Chicago Fire nipping at Seattle's heels and a total of six Eastern teams ahead of the fourth from the West. Seattle ranges from second to seventh. Local voters split the Sounders between third and fourth.

Preseason challengers for the Western Conference Title are pushing up as well. Real Salt Lake took a small bump up in average, but not in position. The LA Galaxy pounding Toronto pushed them up more than a point on average and they are now ranked fifth overall with a range between third and ninth.

This weekend's Cascadia Cup opponent sits stable, but the playoff race is clear. The Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas have flipped positions. Most SB Nation MLS voters expect Dallas to make the push. Portland Timbers FC is now only seen as the third worst team. Which means that their great college coach won't get the best college player to join the team, which is kind of Timbery.

Dave's Rankings

1. Earthquakes - Just give them the Shield already
2. Sporks - The only team with a positive road goal differential. That bodes well for their Playoff run.
3. Dyanmo - Still prefer their combination of defense and wins against quality opponents.
4. Sounders - They have issues with types of teams, not quality of teams.
5. Fire - Their fans hate this low of a ranking, but they can be exploited by stout defenses.
6. Red Bulls - Benching a top 10 league goal scorer is a bad idea.
7. Galaxy - They're great at home, have veteran experience, but struggle with depth.
8. Crew - Still the best midseason rebuild.
9. RSL - Beating Portland while at home isn't special.
10. Toros - They get to watch Vancouver implode.
11. United - Injured MVP quality players tend to have negative impacts.
12. Impact - If there was an award for best PK taker they'd win it.
13. Whitecaps - From as high as third in the West, they now seem unlikely to be the best team in their country.
14. Union - A team without style or substance playing out the string.
15. Goats - More talent than performance, should be able to pick up points late to not be the worst in West.
16. Revs - Heaps isn't working miracles, except in the final minutes against New York.
17. Slats - You'll win on the road someday.
18. Rapids - Strong road result for a bad road team.
19. Mariner - If Paul was the answer, what was the question?