A Ranking - For Hope!

Crew SC fans seem a little frustrated that the team is in last place (they should be!). It's an unusual place for the team to be at any point in the season - and with four games gone, it should be a concern. I've never seen Columbus in this position. Even in short five or ten game spans there always seems to be at least a team or two worse.

To help make sense of the local team finding themselves 20 out of 20, let us look towards the facts and figures of this season, so far. I watch a fair amount of MLS, but it's impossible to get a fair handle on how the season is going in the league top to bottom.

Below will be a ranking based on where the team is on the table (Points per Game - PPG) and ranked by Who Scored (WS) and Squawka (SQ). "Rank" is the average position of PPG, WS and SQ.

Rank!	Team	PPG	WS	SQ
2	FC Dallas	2	1	2
2	L.A. Galaxy	4	2	1
4	Colorado Rapids	4	3	4
5	Sporting Kansas City	1	8	6
6	Montreal Impact	8	6	5
8	Portland Timbers	11	4	8
8	Philadelphia Union	8	10	7
9	Real Salt Lake	2	12	14
9	New York City FC	12	7	9
10	San Jose Earthquakes	4	14	12
10	Orlando City	7	8	15
10	Houston Dynamo	15	4	11
11	Columbus Crew	20	11	3
13	Chicago Fire	12	12	16
14	New England Rev.	14	16	13
15	Vancouver Whitecaps	10	17	17
15	Seattle Sounders FC	17	18	10
16	Toronto FC	15	15	18
19	New York Red Bulls	17	20	20
19	DC United	19	19	19

Here are the figures extended out with some helpful key performance indicators on the right.

PPG	Team	WS Rating	Squawka Rating	P	GD	Pts	Poss%	Pass%	Shot A	Shot F
2.25	Sporting Kansas City	6.85	747	4	2	9	57	82	11	11
2.00	FC Dallas	6.97	825	5	2	10	50	75	9.8	15
2.00	Real Salt Lake	6.8	485	4	2	8	45	72	13.8	10.5
1.75	L.A. Galaxy	6.94	918	4	4	7	55	80	10.3	13.5
1.75	Colorado Rapids	6.92	769	4	1	7	54	78	11.5	15.8
1.75	San Jose Earthquakes	6.79	504	4	0	7	48	77	15.8	9
1.67	Orlando City	6.85	468	3	1	5	50	81	11	12.3
1.50	Montreal Impact	6.89	749	4	1	6	49	80	14.3	11
1.50	Philadelphia Union	6.84	709	4	1	6	47	74	13.8	13
1.40	Vancouver Whitecaps	6.71	408	5	0	7	44	73	15.2	11.2
1.33	Portland Timbers	6.91	612	3	0	4	50	80	11.3	20.7
1.25	New York City FC	6.87	562	4	0	5	58	79	12	17
1.25	Chicago Fire	6.8	415	4	0	5	45	74	15.5	10.3
1.20	New England Rev.	6.73	487	5	-2	6	50	74	14.2	12.2
1.00	Toronto FC	6.75	364	4	0	4	45	70	14	11.3
1.00	Houston Dynamo	6.91	507	4	3	4	49	72	15	13.8
0.75	New York Red Bulls	6.51	112	4	-5	3	55	72	13	14.8
0.75	Seattle Sounders FC	6.65	511	4	-2	3	51	82	12	11.3
0.60	DC United	6.62	138	5	-6	3	47	71	12.8	14
0.50	Columbus Crew	6.82	806	4	-2	2	55	82	13.3	14.5

Looks like Squawka loves the Crew so far this year and Who Scored is kinda = meh. I'm thinking the trajectory of this team is middle of the table.