Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 28
The Week 28 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||
| Week 28 | Thru Week 28 | YTD | ||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 19,097 | 6 | 15,348 | 186 | ||
| 2007 | 19,419 | 1.68% | 6 | 16,636 | 8.39% | 187 |
| 2008 | 16,219 | -16.48% | 7 | 16,396 | -1.44% | 188 |
| 2009 | 13,381 | -17.50% | 8 | 15,656 | -4.51% | 198 |
| 2010 | 15,013 | 12.20% | 8 | 16,513 | 5.47% | 222 |
| Thru Week 28 | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,348 | 13,866 | 19.35% | 18.82% |
| 2007 | 16,636 | 15,059 | 8.56% | 28.34% |
| 2008 | 16,396 | 15,037 | 11.17% | 25.00% |
| 2009 | 15,656 | 14,479 | 16.16% | 18.69% |
| 2010 | 16,513 | 15,050 | 7.66% | 22.07% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 30,739 | 94.87% | 36,160 | 17.64% | 14 | 101.86% | 35,500 |
| LA Galaxy | 19,812 | 73.38% | 20,735 | 4.66% | 13 | 76.80% | 27,000 |
| Toronto | 20,324 | 92.47% | 20,622 | 1.47% | 14 | 93.83% | 21,978 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 19,301 | NA | 14 | 90.67% | 18,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 11,861 | 47.09% | 18,625 | 57.03% | 14 | 73.94% | 25,189 |
| Real Salt Lake | 16,211 | 79.94% | 16,870 | 4.07% | 14 | 87.23% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 16,160 | 71.82% | 16,833 | 4.16% | 14 | 74.81% | 22,500 |
| Chicago | 14,300 | 71.50% | 15,841 | 10.77% | 13 | 79.20% | 20,000 |
| ChivasUSA | 15,132 | 56.05% | 14,557 | -3.80% | 14 | 53.92% | 27,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 14,279 | 71.39% | 14,330 | 0.36% | 14 | 71.65% | 20,000 |
| D.C. United | 16,075 | 71.44% | 14,279 | -11.17% | 14 | 63.46% | 22,500 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,031 | 66.52% | 13,014 | 8.18% | 14 | 71.96% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 13,422 | 59.65% | 12,607 | -6.07% | 14 | 56.03% | 22,500 |
| FC Dallas | 12,441 | 58.70% | 10,815 | -13.07% | 15 | 51.03% | 21,193 |
| KC Wizards | 10,030 | 96.58% | 10,199 | 1.69% | 14 | 98.21% | 10,385 |
| San Jose | 14,782 | 92.33% | 9,589 | -35.13% | 13 | 93.10% | 10,300 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
For my calculations, I’ve taken the 3 teams playing in Amercan football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson and New England in Foxboro and assigned maximum capacities at 22,500. I took the 22,500 number from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use.
Observations
Philadelphia drew its biggest crowd of the year at PPL for the Gals visit. The Fire pulled in 15,100+ for a Friday night tilt. A good, but still disappointing 20,800+ in Harrison for a visit by RSL. In Dallas, well, it’s Dallas. Just over 10,100 saw FCD break the single season record for games without a loss. Mmmm, I know the 5th largest city in the country, with no pro soccer team at any level, would welcome a struggling team. A pretty good crowd in DC, considering the season they’re having, 14,800+. Kansas City drew standing room only, 11,500+. Chivas USA had 12,400+ for its meaningless match vs TFC. A terrific count of nearly 16,500 for a Sunday evening match in Houston, showing what a good soccer town it is.
Rookie Watch: No rookie scorers this week. Of the games I watched, only Tim Ream’s performance for RBNY stood out in my mind. Michael Stephens started out strong for LA but seemed to fade as the match vs Philadelphia wore on. Feel free to express your rookie observations in the comment section.
| Week 28 Games | |||
| Philadelphia | 0 | Philadelphia Union Talk | 18,779 |
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – Official Blog | |
| Chicago | 2 | Chicago Fire Confidential | 15,124 |
| Columbus | 0 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra | |
| RBNY | 0 | Red Bulls Reader | 20,829 |
| Real Salt Lake | 0 | RSL – Behind the Shield | |
| FC Dallas | 2 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick | 10,119 |
| Colorado | 2 | Undercurrent | |
| DC United | 0 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider | 14,822 |
| San Jose | 2 | San Jose Center Line Soccer | |
| Kansas City | 1 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road | 11,522 |
| Seattle | 2 | Seattle Times | |
| Chivas USA | 3 | Chicago Fire Confidential | 12,426 |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected | |
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz | 16,479 |
| New England | 2 | Revolution Soccer | |
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GFA | GAA | PPG | PTS | GD | |
| Los Angeles | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 41 | 22 | 1.46 | 0.79 | 2.00 | 56 | 19 |
| Real Salt Lake | 28 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 41 | 18 | 1.46 | 0.64 | 1.86 | 52 | 23 |
| Dallas | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 41 | 24 | 1.46 | 0.86 | 1.79 | 50 | 17 |
| NY Red Bull | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 27 | 1.25 | 0.96 | 1.71 | 48 | 8 |
| Columbus | 28 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 35 | 31 | 1.25 | 1.11 | 1.64 | 46 | 4 |
| Seattle | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 36 | 32 | 1.29 | 1.14 | 1.61 | 45 | 4 |
| San Jose | 27 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 28 | 1.11 | 1.04 | 1.59 | 43 | 2 |
| Colorado | 28 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 39 | 29 | 1.39 | 1.04 | 1.50 | 42 | 10 |
| Kansas City | 27 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 33 | 1.11 | 1.22 | 1.22 | 33 | -3 |
| Chicago | 27 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 33 | 35 | 1.22 | 1.30 | 1.19 | 32 | -2 |
| Toronto FC | 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 28 | 37 | 1.00 | 1.32 | 1.11 | 31 | -9 |
| New England | 28 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 31 | 48 | 1.11 | 1.71 | 1.04 | 29 | -17 |
| Chivas USA | 27 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 29 | 36 | 1.07 | 1.33 | 1.04 | 28 | -7 |
| Philadelphia | 28 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 32 | 45 | 1.14 | 1.61 | 1.00 | 28 | -13 |
| Houston | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 37 | 48 | 1.32 | 1.71 | 0.96 | 27 | -11 |
| DC United | 28 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 19 | 44 | 0.68 | 1.57 | 0.75 | 21 | -25 |
Columbus and RBNY were officially eliminated from the Supporters’ Shield chase this week. At the other end of the playoff table, KC is the only team with a mathematical chance of crashing the party. All that needs to happen is for them to win their remaining three matches(@CHI, @NE, SJ) and the Rapids to lose their last two games(@LA, RSL).
Streaking
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 24 regular season home games, an MLS record.
- Dallas are unbeaten in their last 19 games, a single season MLS record.
- Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 11 road games, an MLS record.
MLS Throw Ins
- There have been 55 draws compared to 69 in ’09 thru the first 222 matches.
- There have been 139 clean sheets in the first 222 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
- Through 222 games: goal scoring is down around 4.3% from 2009, 2.42 vs 2.53.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 44 home league matches.
- Houston lost only one home game in ’08 and in ’09. They’ve lost 6 at home this year.
- DC United have yielded 17 goals in the last 15 minutes of games.
- DC United set a MLS record, being shut out 16 times in one season.
- The Philadelphia Union are the best in not allowing late goals(as a percentage of total goals allowed). Interestingly, the are also the best at scoring late goals.
RSL are thru to the quarterfinals. Columbus controls its own destiny and a win at Joe Public will send them thru. Toronto and Seattle are eliminated. Seattle or Columbus could assure its place in next year’s CCL with a win in the US Open Cup final this week.
- Aug 17 — Toronto 2 Cruz Azul 1
- Aug 18 — Columbus 1 Municipal 0
- Aug 18 — Real Salt Lake 2 Arabe Unido 1
- Aug 19 — Marathón 2 Seattle 1
- Aug 24 – Arabe Unido 1 Toronto 0
- Aug 24 – Santos Laguna 1 Columbus 0
- Aug 25 – Cruz Azul 5 Real Salt Lake 4
- Aug 25 – Seattle 0 Monterrey 2
<!– - Aug 19 – Marathón v Seattle–>
- Sep 14 — Columbus 3 Joe Public 0
- Sep 14 — Saprissa 2 Seattle 0
- Sep 15 — Real Salt Lake 4 Toronto 1
- Sep 21 — Columbus 1 Santos Laguna 0
- Sep 21 — Cruz Azul 0 Toronto 0
- Sep 22 — Arabe Unido 2 Real Salt Lake 3
- Sep 22 — Monterrey 3 Seattle 2
- Sep 28 — Toronto 1 RSL 1
- Sep 29 — Municipal 2 Columbus 1
- Sep 29 — Seattle 2 Marathón 0
- Oct 19 — Toronto v Arabe Unido
- Oct 19 — RSL v Cruz Azul
- Oct 19 — Seattle v Saprissa
- Oct 21 — Joe Public v Columbus
| CONCACAF Champions League | |||||
| A | w | d | l | pts | gd |
| Cruz Azul(MEX) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 |
| RSL(USA) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| Toronto(CAN) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -4 |
| Arabe Unido(PAN) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | -9 |
| B | |||||
| Santos Laguna(MEX) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 |
| Columbus(USA) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 3 |
| Municipal(GUA) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Joe Public(T&T) | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | -11 |
| C | |||||
| Monterrey(MEX) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 6 |
| Saprissa(CRC) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| Marathon(HON) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | -5 |
| Seattle(USA) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | -4 |
| D | |||||
| Olimpia(HON) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 |
| Puerto Rico(CFU) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Toluca(MEX) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
| FAS(SLV) | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | -8 |
| CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase | ||||||
| Group A | Arabe Unido | RSL | Cruz Azul | Toronto | Home | |
| Arabe Unido(PAN) | X | 500 | 2,975 | 501 | 1,325 | |
| RSL(USA) | 10,626 | X | NP | 11,579 | 11,103 | |
| Cruz Azul(MEX) | 5,015 | 6,156 | X | 5,280 | 5,484 | |
| Toronto(CAN) | NP | 10,581 | 16,862 | X | 13,722 | |
| Away | 7,821 | 5,746 | 9,919 | 5,787 | ||
| Group B | Columbus | Municipal | Santos Laguna | Joe Public | Home | |
| Columbus(USA) | X | 5,745 | 6,298 | 5,445 | 5,829 | |
| Municipal(GUA) | 3,534 | X | 10,414 | 2,498 | 5,482 | |
| Santos Laguna(MEX) | 4,700 | NP | X | 7,000 | 5,850 | |
| Joe Public(T&T) | 900 | 500 | NP | X | 700 | |
| Away | 3,045 | 3,123 | 8,356 | 4,981 | ||
| Group C | Monterrey | Saprissa | Seattle | Marathon | Home | |
| Monterrey(MEX) | X | 12,042 | 19,697 | 9,628 | 13,789 | |
| Saprissa(CRC) | 1,635 | X | 3,000 | 2,899 | 2,511 | |
| Seattle(USA) | 22,513 | NP | X | 11,768 | 17,141 | |
| Marathon(HON) | NP | 1,820 | 1,990 | X | 1,905 | |
| Away | 12,074 | 6,931 | 8,229 | 8,098 | ||
| Group D | Toluca | Olimpia | Puerto Rico | FAS | Home | |
| Toluca(MEX) | X | NA | 5,165 | NP | 5,165 | |
| Olimpia(HON) | 4,654 | X | NP | 9,200 | 6,927 | |
| Puerto Rico(CFU) | 4,122 | 2,632 | X | 2,050 | 2,935 | |
| FAS(SLV) | 3,500 | 1,000 | 3,500 | X | 2,667 | |
| Away | 4,092 | 1,816 | 4,333 | 5,625 | ||
| No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match | ||||||
Seattle defends the Cup, defeating Columbus and securing a berth in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure
MLS Home/Away Attendance(reader request)
| 2010 | HOME GAMES | ROAD GAMES | ||||
| GP | TOTAL | AVG | GP | TOTAL | AVG | |
| Chicago Fire | 13 | 205,930 | 15,841 | 14 | 238,229 | 17,016 |
| Chivas USA | 14 | 203,804 | 14,557 | 13 | 188,254 | 14,481 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14 | 182,200 | 13,014 | 14 | 226,049 | 16,146 |
| Columbus Crew | 14 | 200,622 | 14,330 | 14 | 213,477 | 15,248 |
| D.C. United | 14 | 199,907 | 14,279 | 14 | 256,494 | 18,321 |
| FC Dallas | 15 | 162,229 | 10,815 | 13 | 205,027 | 15,771 |
| Houston Dynamo | 14 | 235,655 | 16,833 | 14 | 210,887 | 15,063 |
| Kansas City Wizards | 14 | 142,788 | 10,199 | 13 | 225,391 | 17,338 |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | 13 | 269,559 | 20,735 | 15 | 277,839 | 18,523 |
| New England Revolution | 14 | 176,504 | 12,607 | 14 | 231,058 | 16,504 |
| New York Red Bulls | 14 | 260,750 | 18,625 | 14 | 254,851 | 18,204 |
| Philadelphia Union | 14 | 270,207 | 19,301 | 14 | 209,132 | 14,938 |
| Real Salt Lake | 14 | 236,182 | 16,870 | 14 | 244,681 | 17,477 |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 13 | 124,656 | 9,589 | 14 | 245,032 | 17,502 |
| Seattle | 14 | 506,244 | 36,160 | 14 | 225,870 | 16,134 |
| Toronto FC | 14 | 288,711 | 20,622 | 14 | 213,677 | 15,263 |
15 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 28
DC United is the second biggest away draw ?!?! To be kind….they suck !
MLS if Seattle catches NY and Columbus for the 4th spot overall in regular season, not out of the questions when you look at the schedule, you will have the top 4 teams in one bracket with the 5th-8th in the other.
Are you kidding me ? Did NOONE consider this might happen when you set this up ?
And MLS is going to try to hang on one more year to appease the single table regular season guys while actually having a playoffs…adding 4 games to the schedule….please stop.
This is America…large country, many teams, divisions and playoffs. We are better of not knowing which division is better…but if you are going to hang on, just seed them 1v8, 2v7 etc.
I don’t want to go a season without seeing Red Bull or LA in Colorado because we played KC and RSL (our nearest neighbors) 3 times. I like the balanced schedule, then seed 1-8.
My hope is that Colorado finishes 7th and ends up hosting the Eastern Conference final to San Jose, while RSL finishes 2nd and goes away to LA in the Western Conference final. That’d be great.
Oh, I forgot. Dallas suck. Who cares about ties?
So you are for 20 teams and done ? Man as teams are turning profitable and new teams are starting that way….that leaves a LOT of money on the table and a lot of fans wanting top league soccer.
I HATE ties and would not have them if I was in charge.
But Dallas doesn’t lose ? How are they going to lose MLS Cup when…they don’t lose ?
ps. I actually am not picking Dallas to win it all either.
I’ll grant you that you can’t play eveyone twice if/when the league has more than 20 teams, but I don’t want to play some team three times before we play other teams twice.
I don’t mind ties, but I’m not impressed by a team that gets lot of them. I agree Dallas will be tough in the play-offs.
Well I do think The Don has vision ( future ) over and above others that post about this subject.
But MAN what a mess he and the league have made out of this years playoffs.
Sounders would be a million time better losing games now.
Columbus and NY versus playing Dallas, LA and SLC.
I could see both San Jose and Colorado coming out of the East.
I agree with you on wanting to see all teams. We are very lucky to have such a great league. What a bummer it would be to not see Landon or De Rosario, etc.
My week would not be complete without me talking up Dallas on this blog:
They have guarenteed a tie with the least losses in MLS. They do have a tough schedule left however.
They were picked by a computer model on Sounderatheart.com with the best chance to win it all.
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2010/10/11/1745082/moving-beyond-playoff-odds-to-championship-odds
Galaxy 0.1516
RSL 0.1529
FC Dallas 0.1545
Red Bulls 0.1491
Crew 0.0888
Earthquakes 0.1033
Sounders FC 0.1204
Rapids 0.0791
Wizards 3.0E-4
Interesting that the Crew are the second to worst odds. They must win their Supporters Shields “ManU style” consistantly winning against the worst teams in the league. I know they lost 3 out of 4 to Salt Lake last year, and have never beaten Seattle. Doubtful that they have beaten Dallas this year ( probably ties ).
Thanks for doing the away analysis. I realized after seeing them that it is hard to compare seattle since everyone else gets the bonus of playing at seattle and having that huge attendence help their away average. To even things out I took out the seattle game from everyones away average and came up with this…
Los Angeles Galaxy 17,263
D.C. United 16,949
New York Red Bulls 16,822
Seattle 16,134
San Jose Earthquakes 16,067
Real Salt Lake 16,040
Kansas City Wizards 15,769
Chicago Fire 15,544
New England Revolution 14,992
Colorado Rapids 14,607
FC Dallas 14,072
Toronto FC 13,655
Columbus Crew 13,640
Houston Dynamo 13,441
Philadelphia Union 13,306
Chivas USA 12,675
DC does suprise me too. Did they have a special game somewhere? San Jose kinda surprises me too.
DC played one of the two Philly home games at Lincoln Financial Field, drawing over 34,800.
SJ played at RBNY after the signings of Henry and Marquez when they drew just under 21,900.
I love this blog. It is a great re-cap of the weekends games. Keep up the great work Peter. The attendance figures are good considering we are in pro football, college football and baseball playoffs time. The league is moving forward, slow but very steady.
Hottest team in MLS !!! ( part XXXIII )
(http://www.sounderatheart.com/2010/10/4/1730332/why-sounders-should-recieve-1st-tier-votes)
Over the last 12 matches:
LA has earned 17
RSL has earned 21
FC Dallas has a earned whopping 24 points
NYRB has earned 21 points
San Jose has earned 17 points
Colorado has earned 18 points
SEATTLE HAS EARNED 27 POINTS OVER THAT SAME SPAN OF GAMES !!!
Charles:
For more on this, contact me on BS(SWSoccer) or via Twitter(SoccerTwit)
sorry I am old, I dont even know what BS(SWSoccer ) is and I don’t know how to Twitter.
OK, then send a note here – myjunkphc [at] yahoo [dot] com
sorry for the stupid email address, I’ll explain later.
That is great. You have the wrong site however.
You are looking for ChelseaGoalDiff_21-in-7games.com