After several weeks of moving up the charts, Sporting Kansas City finally broke through, oddly enough during a week in which they did not win a game. They did, however, pull out yet another late tie when Aurilien Collin scored a stoppage-time equalizer against the 9-man Houston Dynamo on Saturday.
MLS Power Rankings, Week 18: Sporting Kansas City Breaks Into Tier 2
The Sporks now enter a stretch in which they’ll play just three of their remaining 15 matches on the road.
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Sporting are now on an 11-match unbeaten streak, currently the longest in MLS. The last three have been ties, but their home-road split is actually not that bad anymore. They also are getting ready for a run of matches that will see them play nine straight at home and force them onto the road just three more times all season.
| Playing For The Shield | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Los Angeles Galaxy |  100% (51 out of 51 points) |
 | Seattle Sounders | 98% (50 out of 51 points) |
 | FC Dallas | 96% (49 out of 51 points) |
 | Real Salt Lake | 96% (49 out of 51 points) |
Much was expected of the Seattle Sounders at the start of the year, and now we can see why. Even without two of their top offensive players, they are scoring at a rather impressive rate, 18 goals in their past nine MLS matches. Not so coincidentally, they also have not lost in that stretch and have now claimed 21 of 27 possible points.
| Enjoy The Playoffs | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Philadelphia Union | 78% (40 out of 51 points) |
 | New York Red Bulls | 66% (34 out of 51 points) |
 | Columbus Crew | 62% (32 out of 51 points) |
 | Colorado Rapids | 58% (30 out of 51 points) |
 | Sporting Kansas City | 54% (28 out of 51 points) |
Welcome to the party, Sporks. It’s been a rough ride, but they now sit in a position many expected to see them in before they opened the season with just one win in their first eight matches. Now they have relatively smooth sailing ahead.
| Still Something To Prove | ||
|---|---|---|
 | DC United | 47% (24 out of 51 points) |
 | San Jose Earthquakes | 41% (21 out of 51 points) |
 | Houston Dynamo | 33% (17 out of 51 points) |
 | Chivas USA | 27% (14 out of 51 points) |
 | Portland Timbers | 15% (8 out of 51 points) |
Not a lot of surprises here. Any one of these teams seems capable of putting together a solid run to put themselves in playoff position, but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who really expects that to happen. DC United seems like the best bet, though.
| At Least There's No Relegation | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Chicago Fire | 3% (2 out of 51 points) |
 | Toronto FC | 1% (1 out of 51 points) |
 | New England Revolution | 0% (0 out of 51 points) |
 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 0% (0 out of 51 points) |
The only real change here is that none of our voters consider the New England Revolution anymore than a bottom tier team. Hard to argue with that. They have some decent players, but everything seems to have gone sideways.
How It Works: Each of the 17 participants puts Major League Soccer’s clubs into one of the four tiers. Teams in the top tier get three points. Next tier, two points, then one, then zero. Voters can put as many teams into each tier as they see fit. Though the vote total orders the teams, the clubs are intended to be grouped, not sorted. Although some of the names may indicate otherwise, the point of this is to assess current form and our voters are instructed to place teams in tiers based how those teams will fair in coming weeks.
Who participated: Jeremiah Oshan (SB Nation, soccer); Kevin McCauley (SB Nation, soccer); Aaron Campeau (SB Nation, soccer); Ryan Rosenblatt (SB Nation, soccer); Drew Epperley (SB Nation, soccer); Phillip Quinn (SB Nation, soccer); Steve Davis (Daily Soccer Fix); Martin Shatzer (Black and Red United); Scott Kessler (Brotherly Game); Chris “UZ” White (Burgundy Wave); Zach Woosley (Dynamo Theory); Denzel Eslinger (RSL Soapbox); Robert Jonas (Quake, Rattle and Goal); Daniel Robertson (Big D Soccer); Dave Clark (Sounder at Heart); Geoff Gibson (Stumptown Footy), Duncan Fletcher (Waking the Red), Steve Stoehr (The Bent Musket); Tweed Thornton (Hot Time in Old Town), Ben Schneider (Once a Metro); Josie Bekcer (LAG Confidential) Alicia Ratterree (The Goat Parade).
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