Final SFPI 2017 MLS Power Rankings

AND there is the final whistle! the 2017 MLS Regular Season is done, dusted, and recorded, and the Portland Timbers have vanquished the demons of 2016 by not only qualifying for the playoffs but by locking down the #1 Seed in the Western Conference. As such they will avoid the Knockout stage and will host the second leg of the Conference Semi-Finals, and Finals should they advance that far. Unfortunately due to the fact that the East has been so much better than the West this year that they will only be able to host MLS Cup if New York Red Bulls surprise everyone and win the East. To the surprise of nobody, Toronto remains on top of the rankings after setting a new MLS Single Season Points record with 69. San Jose found a last-second winner to clinch the 6th and final Western Conference playoff spot.

The biggest winner of the week was New England climbing 4 spots with their first road win of the season. Four teams fell 4 spots on Decision day after disappointing results (Vancouver, Kansas City, Chicago, and Atlanta)

Reminder, that these rankings are not meant to mirror the Table, rather determine who is hitting their stride and in a good run of form hitting the playoffs.

Without further ado on to the final 2017 SFPI Power Rankings

COMPONENTS OF SFPI

PERFORMANCE SCORE: 100% determined by results on the field

PPG Score: Overall Points Per Game added to Points Per Game over last five matches with last five being given more weight. Single Largest Component of the SFPI

Goal Difference Per Game: Overall Goal Difference divided by total games played

Home/Away Bonus: Bonus Points awarded for earning results (W/D) on the road, points subtracted for dropping results (D/L) at home. Accrues over entire season.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Average Performance Score of all teams faced throughout the season, accounts for road games by adding a percentage of a teams Home PPG to their Performance Score for that match. Teams faced multiple times are counted multiple times. Weighted at Less than 100%

(* In Playoffs)

1 *TORONTO FC (69pts 20W-5L-9D) SCORE: 11.1613 (-0.4964) PREV: 1 (NC) H1/L10

CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT #1: 14 SCHEDULE: 18 (+2)

LAST WEEK: D 2-2 at Atlanta

2 *COLUMBUS CREW (54pts 16W-12L-6D) SCORE: 8.5602 (-0.5524) PREV: 2 (NC) H1/L16

SCHEDULE: 8 (NC) LAST WEEK: D 2-2 at New York City

3 *NEW YORK CITY FC (57pts 16W-9L-9D) SCORE: 8.3433 (-0.113) PREV: 5 (+2) H2/L12

SCHEDULE: 10 (+5) LAST WEEK: D 2-2 vs Columbus

4 *SEATTLE SOUNDERS (14W-9L-11D) SCORE: 8.2589 (+0.5822) PREV: 7 (+3) H3/L17

SCHEDULE: 19 (-5) LAST WEEK: W 3-0 vs Colorado

5 *PORTLAND TIMBERS (15W-11L-8D) SCORE: 8.1274 (+0.0742) PREV: 6 (+1) H1/L17

SCHEDULE: 16 (NC) LAST WEEK: W 2-1 vs Vancouver

6 *HOUSTON DYNAMO (50pts 13W-10L-11D) SCORE: 8.0179 (+0.7538) PREV: 9 (+3) H4/L17

SCHEDULE: 20 (+1) LAST WEEK: W 3-0 vs Chicago

7 *CHICAGO FIRE (55pts 16W-11L-7D) SCORE: 7.9239 (-1.147) PREV: 3 (-4) H1/L14

SCHEDULE: 9 (+2) LAST WEEK: L 3-0 at Houston

8 *ATLANTA UNITED (55pts 15W-9L-10D) SCORE: 7.8312 (-0.7375) PREV: 4 (-4) H2/L12

SCHEDULE: 21 (+1) LAST WEEK: D 2-2 vs Toronto

9 *NEW YORK RED BULLS (50pts 14W-12L-8D) SCORE: 7.5766 (+1.2451) PREV: 11 (+2) H6/L19

SCHEDULE: 11 (-5) LAST WEEK: W 2-1 at DC

10 FC DALLAS (46pts 11W-10L-13D) SCORE: 6.6659 (+0.9124) PREV: 12 (+2) H1/L16

SCHEDULE: 17 (-5) LAST WEEK: W 5-1 vs Los Angeles

11 NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (45pts 13W-15L-6D) SCORE: 6.5537 (+1.2411) PREV: 15 (+4) H5/L18

SCHEDULE: 4 (-3) LAST WEEK: W 3-2 at Montreal

12 *VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC (52pts 15W-12L-7D) SCORE: 6.4138 (-0.8951) PREV: 8 (-4) H3/L22

SCHEDULE: 12 (+6) LAST WEEK: L 2-1 at Portland

13 REAL SALT LAKE (45pts 13W-15L-6D) SCORE: 6.27 (+0.9161) PREV: 14 (+1) H9/L22

SCHEDULE: 22 (-3) LAST WEEK: W 2-1 vs Kansas City

14 *SPORTING KANSAS CITY (49pts 12W-9L-13D) SCORE: 5.5973 (-0.9338) PREV: 10 (-4) H2/L14

SCHEDULE: 15 (+2) LAST WEEK: L 2-1 at Salt Lake

15 PHILADELPHIA UNION (42pts 11W-14L-9D) SCORE: 5.5851 (+0.6302) PREV: 16 (+1) H6/L22

SCHEDULE: 13 (-4) LAST WEEK: W 6-1 vs Orlando

16 *SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (46pts 13W-14L-7D) SCORE: 5.4712 (+0.0141) PREV 13 (-3) H5/L17

SCHEDULE: 14 (-1) LAST WEEK: W 3-2 vs Minnesota

17 ORLANDO CITY SC (39pts 10W-15L-9D) SCORE: 3.6817 (-0.5853) PREV: 17 (NC) H2/L19

SCHEDULE: 3 (NC) LAST WEEK: L 6-1 at Philadelphia

18 COLORADO RAPIDS (33pts 9W-19L-6D) SCORE: 2.9785 (-0.0468) PREV: 21 (+3) H17/L22

SCHEDULE: 7 (+3) LAST WEEK: L 3-0 at Seattle

19 MINNESOTA UNITED (36pts 10W-18L-6D) SCORE: 2.6401 (-0.9523) PREV: 19 (NC) H17/L22

SCHEDULE: 5 (NC) LAST WEEK: L 3-2 at San Jose

20 LOS ANGELES GALAXY (32pts 8W-18L-8D) SCORE: 2.338 (-0.1077) PREV: 21 (+1) H3/L22

SCHEDULE: 6 (+1) LAST WEEK: L 5-1 at Dallas

21 MONTREAL IMPACT (39pts 11W-17L-6D) SCORE: 2.1799 (-1.5259) PREV: 18 (-3) H6/L21

SCHEDULE: 1 (+1) LAST WEEK: L 3-2 vs New England

22 DC UNITED (32pts 9W-20L-5D) SCORE: 1.6873 (-0.5572) PREV: 22 (NC) H8/L22

SCHEDULE: 2 (+2) LAST WEEK: L 2-1 vs New York RB

PREDICTIONS

Last Week the SFPI went 6-5 (54.5%) to bring the final season total to 139-181 (43.4%) a respectable rate in my humble opinion, and even better after I changed to my current formula (I don't feel like going back and finding the exact figure but I believe it was above 50%)

Just for Kicks and Giggles I will use the SFPI to attempt to predict the MLS Playoffs.

KNOCKOUT STAGE

New York RB at Chicago: CHICAGO

Columbus at Atlanta: ATLANTA

San Jose at Vancouver: VANCOUVER

Kansas City at Houston: HOUSTON

CONFERENCE SEMI FINALS

East Leg 1

New York City at Chicago: CHICAGO

Toronto at Atlanta: TORONTO

East Leg 2

Chicago at New York City: NEW YORK CITY (NYC Advances)

Atlanta at Toronto: TORONTO (Toronto Advances)

West Leg 1

Seattle at Vancouver: DRAW

Portland at Houston: HOUSTON

West Leg 2

Vancouver at Seattle: SEATTLE (Seattle advances)

Houston at Portland: PORTLAND (Portland Advances)

CONFERENCE FINALS

East Leg 1

Toronto at New York City: TORONTO

East Leg 2

New York City at Toronto: TORONTO (Toronto Advances)

West Leg 1

Portland at Seattle: SEATTLE

West Leg 2

Seattle at Portland: PORTLAND (Portland Advances on AGs)

MLS CUP

Portland at Toronto: TORONTO

To the surprise of exactly nobody I predict that Toronto will win MLS Cup. This has been far and away the best team all year, and one of the best ever, but like Oregon State Baseball last year, and the Golden State Warriors a couple years ago, to be considered "The Best Team Ever" you need to bring home a title. It doesn't matter how good your regular season was if you wash out in the conference Semis.

TIMBERS ROOTING INTEREST.

My own preferences for who to face and how to get to host MLS Cup is that New York RB win the East as they are the only Eastern Team that was fewer points than Portland, and as such are the only potential MLS Cup opponent that would allow the Timbers to host.

Beyond that I want Vancouver to beat San Jose and Houston to beat Kansas City because I don't want to play at the cow pasture that is Avaya Stadium and just Screw UnSporting.

Then I want Vancouver to beat Seattle as I believe we match up better against Vancouver than the Flounders as evidenced by the fact that we went 3-0 against Vancouver and 0-1-2 against Seattle.

Finally, thank you all again for humoring this little hobby of mine. And a special thank you to all the writers and editors here at Stumptown Footy for all the work they put in every day to make this one of the best SB Nation sites out there. My time doing this has given me just the tiniest of peeks behind the curtain to how much goes into putting out a consistent product week after week. So to all of you who make Stumptown Footy what it is, a heartfelt thank you from me, and I will see you all in the comments sections until the SFPI returns in 2018.