SBNation's soccer bloggers are casting their votes to rank the MLS every week. For background, what Sounder at Heart said:
Here at SBN we decided to do our power rankings a little different. First, we got this network thing going on so we could take advantage of that. So we have the MLS bloggers, Steve Davis and Richard Farley all participating at this point. We've also invited our brethren EPL blogs to join in if they feel they follow the league enough.
Secondly, I suggested that we just put the teams into tiers, or groupings, rather than direct ranking. Writers were just asked to group the clubs as "Cup Contenders," "Likely Playoff Clubs," "Teams on Outside Looking In," and "Should be Relegated." Which in reality is a team that will compete for the #3 draft pick next year. It was thought, that this would be quicker for all of us, but also what's the difference between the third and fourth club? or the seventh and eighth?
This will sit on our sidebars, or within posts. Below is the first week's effort, and there was some serious debate on one club in particular - Kansas City. They were in the top 3 tiers, and their victim last week just got buried. Each team with an SBN blog will link you to that blog.
Team | Total vote count | First Tier votes | Last week's rank |
Tier 1 - Teams Contending For Cups | |||
Columbus Crew | 18 | 6 | - |
Real Salt Lake | 18 | 6 | - |
Seattle Sounders | 18 | 6 | - |
LA Galaxy | 14 | 2 | - |
Tier 2 - Teams Likely in the Playoffs | |||
Colorado Rapids | 14 | 2 | - |
KC Wizards | 13 | 2 | - |
Houston Dynamo | 11 | 0 | - |
NY Red Bulls | 10 | 0 | - |
Tier 3 - Teams On the Outside Looking In | |||
FC Dallas | 7 | 0 | - |
Chicago Fire | 7 | 0 | - |
NE Revolution | 6 | 0 | - |
Toronto FC | 4 | 0 | - |
Tier 4 - Teams That Should Be Relegated | |||
Chivas USA | 3 | 0 | - |
DC United | 1 | 0 | - |
Philadelphia Union | 0 | 0 | - |
SJ Earthquakes | 0 | 0 | - |
How did DC get that one vote?
What do you think?
Full disclosure: I watched the intense email thread but didn't cast my votes in time. Talk this up in the comments and influence my ballot next week.