A Look at MLS Standings After Week 18: Parity Rules

By: Laurie | July 20th, 2009

We just finished week 18 in MLS, and the results show yet again that the MLS goal of league parity, as enforced by things like the salary cap and strict league rules on bringing in new players, is still going strong.

(Whether this is a good thing or not is still subject to debate. Feel free to weigh in in the comments.)

What we’ve got so far this season are no clear leaders, a big glut of teams in the middle, and a few luckless, hapless gents wallowing at the bottom.

The top team in the league, the Houston Dynamo, has 32 points out of a possible 54. Not exactly a runaway leader, with the #2 and #3 teams only four points behind, and each of them having a game in hand. After those three, there are nine(!!) teams between 20 and 27 points. And only three poor clubs — the New York Red Bulls, FC Dallas and San Jose Earthquakes – with less than 20.

Here’s how things look in table form, as shared by our good friends, Wikipedia:

Club		Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
Eastern Conference v • d • e
1	Chicago Fire	28	17	7	3	7	25	20	5
2	D.C. United	27	18	6	3	9	29	26	3
3	Columbus Crew	27	18	6	3	9	25	22	3
4	Toronto FC	26	18	7	6	5	25	27	−2
5	Kansas City Wizards	20	16	5	6	5	19	18	1
6	New England Revolution	20	15	5	5	5	17	21	−4
7	New York Red Bulls	10	20	2	14	4	16	33	−17


	2009 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2009 MLS Cup Playoffs (Wild Card)

Club		Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
Western Conference v • d • e
1	Houston Dynamo	32	18	9	4	5	23	13	10
2	Seattle Sounders FC	28	17	7	3	7	26	16	10
3	Los Angeles Galaxy	27	18	6	3	9	22	19	3
4	Chivas USA	27	17	8	6	3	19	15	4
5	Colorado Rapids	24	17	6	5	6	24	23	1
6	Real Salt Lake	20	17	5	7	5	24	21	3
7	FC Dallas	17	17	4	8	5	20	26	−6
8	San Jose Earthquakes	13	17	3	10	4	19	33	−14

Of course, conference and league standings aren’t everything in MLS. Or even much of anything, given that all finishing first gets you is a nifty little thing called the Supporter’s Shield. The real push is for the eight spots in the playoffs. This year the top two spots in each conference get automatic berths, and the next four spots are wildcard spots, available to the teams with the top points in either league. So you can’t just pay attention to your own conference, you need to keep an eye on who’s coming up strong on the other side, too.

(For a further discussion of the Conferences and how they affect the playoffs, check out this post.)

And yes, this does mean that teams from the Eastern Conference can become the Western Conference champions. Just ask the New York Red Bulls, who accomplished this feat in 2008.

A few things points about the season up to this point

This is going to be a very tight race this year for both the Supporters Shield and the playoffs.
Seattle is currently in second, both in the Western Conference and in our imaginary single table standings. They’re also tied for the top in goal differential with +10. Not bad for an expansion side!
After starting with several losses and approximately 5375 consecutive draws (okay, that’s an exaggeration — but not by much), the LA Galaxy are coming on strong. Bruce Arena is head and shoulders above the combo of Alexi Lalas and either Frank Yallop or Ruud Gullit when it comes to finding affordable talent to fill in around the stars. Galaxy look like they could be a threat this year.
Chivas started out strong, but then hit a slump that may have coincided with losing players like Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein to the Confederations Cup. Which is funny, because I’m not sure either contributed hugely to the early success.
The biggest question mark in my mind is New England, who have been battling injuries and still have three games in hand.