Crunchy Power Rankings: Week 7

As promised, an updated power rankings as we're well into month two of MLS play.

In the first rankings in Week 4, the Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City were sitting at the top with a large gap between them and the next pack of teams in the 50s. That hasn't changed much this week with those two teams still at the top, though the next pack has improved up into the 60s. Despite a run of three winless games earlier in the season, Sporting haven't conceded a goal in 4 matches and are dominating their games statistically. The Galaxy are the only MLS team without a loss, though their schedule has been pretty light. In two weeks the teams face each other in Carson in what should be a pretty entertaining match.

Here's the full table this week:

The largest absolute gain was by Dallas who gained 16 points to climb from 6th to 3rd. They haven't lost since the last update, though they've had a pretty cake schedule against Toronto and New England, two of the bottom three teams in the rankings. Their match this week against the Galaxy should be a better test. The biggest fall was by Colorado, who dropped 26 points. They picked up their first win of the season last week thanks to a penalty save by stand-in keeper Clint Irwin. They also have a rough schedule coming up at Chivas, versus Seattle, and at Houston.

The biggest deviation with the real standings is probably New York, who the CPR rate as the 4th best team but are currently out of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. The Red Bulls only have one win, but they also haven't lost by more than 1 goal all season and their schedule has been one of the more difficult in the league. That doesn't change over the next few weeks as they have two consecutive road games and then a home date with Sporting, so they should feel pretty good about treading water until May when the schedule lightens up.

In the other direction, the Seattle Sounders are at the bottom of the real standings but are rated as a mid-table team by the CPR. They're a decent team by most stats, but it shouldn't be a surprise that the one statistic that looks really bad for them is net shots in the box, where they're second to bottom in the league. The Sounders have been decent in possession and defense, but have really struggled to generate offensive chances after the loss of Fredy Montero.