El Luchador's Power Rankings

By El Chupa

Starting today, El Luchador is pleased to bring you his personal MLS 2009 Power Rankings. They will be on the right above the standings and will be updated weekly.

The rankings are based on a metric developed by El Luchador's oppressed worker El Chupacabra, in conjunction with the close empirical observation of El Lucha himself. The metric includes a proprietary combination of weighted statistical variables including: goals, wins, losses, draws, shots, shots on goal, shots on goal against, goals against and even corner kicks taken. As well, the metric takes into account goals, wins and draws at home versus goals, wins, and draws away. The raw number gives one a sense of the overall point production of the team across an entire season. The "per game" number gives one a sense of the average power or potential for point production a team brings to each match.

The metric is a work in progress and will be updated as El Chupa and El Lucha continue to wrestle with the murky and alchemical world of soccer statistics. Tune in regularly for updates and analysis, including game predictions and the handicapping of games as a service to those who enjoy responsible wagering on US and world soccer, wherever such wagering is legal.

The metric is designed to provide the fan and wager with a more in-depth understanding of the relative merits of each team. The standings tell us how well each team has fared relative to the others, but the metric, in conjunction with the statistics El Chupa maintains as part of his work at the Luchametric Institute, tell us more about WHY each team has fared as it has. The basic standings only allow us a broad, general grok of the true merits of each team. As we all know, the best team doesn't always win, or even draw. The metric, however, gives us more information, allowing us to draw concrete and quantifiable conclusions about what the points standings DON'T tell us about how good each teams is relative to the other. Look for handicapped previews of this weekend's games later in the week.