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Rapids drop four places in the MLS Power Rankings
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Unconvincing. That seems to have been the conclusion of the Examiner's power ranking voters.
The Rapids dropped from third place to seventh in the power rankings. The third place spot was obtained on the strength of the Rapids home thumping of D.C. United.
The Rapids stay in the top three was short lived. A home draw against the struggling F.C. Dallas squad, and then a thumping in Seattle deservedly dropped the Rapids from the esteem that the win against D.C. had garnered.
The Tiers
The league has been divided into three tiers for most of the season. At the top was Chivas and Houston, maybe Chicago. After them was the pack. At the bottom was San Jose, Dallas, and New York.
The gaps between the teams comprising the middle have been pretty thin and difficult to judge who is better. I rely a lot on the numbers as a starting point for my ballot, and make some subjective adjustments.
In recent weeks the gaps between teams have grown wider. Houston is clearly the dominant team and Chivas has fallen off its stride. Seattle, Chicago, Colorado, D.C. United, and Columbus are five teams that could arguably be ranked anywhere form third to eighth. I bumped Seattle up for beating the Rapids on a week when Chivas had a bye, but I don't think Seattle will be consistently at the top of the ranks.
Kansas City, Real Salt Lake, Toronto F.C., and New England are four teams that could make a run, but have just struggled for various reasons.
The remaining four teams are clearly bottom of the heap, but will F.C. Dallas and the L.A. Galaxy stay there. Both teams look like they could move up the ranks, but are so far behind that the playoffs would require a run of success that defies the odds.
The question in New York is will they ever be able to catch San Jose?
My ballot:
After reviewing my ballot, it seems that I relied too heavily on the points-per-game scale. The only adjustment I made to this was to move Seattle up to second. The limitations of the scale are such that I failed to give L.A. and Real Salt Lake enough credit for their wins last week. Both teams probably deserve to be ranked higher. Colorado is fourth in points-per-game, I would have moved another team above them on my ballot if Chicago or D.C. had played and won last week. It's hard to promote a team for a bye week.
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