Sunday, September 4, 2016

'16 Crew - Worst Ever?

Is 2016 gearing up to have the worst performing Crew team in franchise history? Comparing historical teams in sports often ends up a fruitless endeavor. In MLS, with ever changing league size, unbalanced schedules, rule changes, games played, no draws (there weren't any until 2000), etc... even more so. But there is one measurement that this year's Columbus Crew team cannot escape - their regular season record.

By this measure, 2016 Columbus Crew SC are the worst performing team in franchise history.

Let us normalize things since a MLS regular season has ranged anywhere from 26 games to 34 games over the last 21 years. We'll keep it simple. Points per Game x 34 games = Normalized Points. That will give us point totals we can compare against (vs. using PPG averages). Here we go, Best regular season to worst:

Normalized Points : Crew Season
65 : 2008
64
63
62
61
60
59 : 2001
58
57 : 2010
56
55 : 2004, 2009
54
53 : 2015
52 : 2014, 2012
51
50
49
48 : 1998, 1999
47 : 2011
46 : 2002
45
44
43 : 2003
42 : 2007
41 : 1997, 2013
40 : 2000, 2005
39 : 1996
38
37
36
35 : 2006
34 : 2016 (8 games left)

What's interesting is how far down that 2015 team is as well as how close it is to the 2014 season. I've written about it often - That 2015 team was built for MLS playoffs and were not necessarily fun (or interesting to watch). That team ended up with 2 wins and 3 loses in the playoffs as well. You hate to say that team "gamed" they MLS system, but they did.

By contrast, that 2014 team (finished about the same as 2015) was so much more fun to watch. They outplayed the competition in the regular season. Particularly, the second half of the year.

I guess the above serves as an argument for success in the MLS regular season. Teams, the better ones in particular, sometimes coast but the regular season is what fans are watching most of the time. Something to think about. MLS would be better off to increase the importance of it.

-----------------------------

Since I've got this open, here are the top teams in MLS regular season history:

Normalized : Year Team
72 : 1998 LA Galaxy
71
70
69 : 2001 Miami Fusion
68 : 2005 San Jose
67 : 2010-11 LA, 2001 Chicago Fire
66 : 2012 San Jose
65 : 2008 Columbus Crew

....and the worst

21 : 1999 Kansas City, 2005 Salt Lake
20
19 : 2005 Chivas USA
18 : 2001 Tampa Bay
17
16 : 2013 DC United, 1999 NY Metrostars

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