A season has an obvious beginning and an obvious end. There’s no point in disputing that. It can be illustrative, though, to look at a team’s performance over a stretch of games that bridges two seasons. In this case, I decided to take a look at the last 34 regular-season games of a handful of teams I suspected would be the best during that timeframe.
Sounders, Sporting KC Have Been Spectacular Over Past 34 Games
A season has a start and end, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at the last 34 games as an illustrative tool.
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What I found was perhaps not hugely surprising, but was interesting nonetheless:
Sporting Kansas City are class
Based on the way they finished last season -- going 12-3-8 to close out the regular season -- and started this year, it should not come as a huge shock that they have a stellar 34-game record. Dating back to May 28, 2011, Sporting KC are 19-4-11. The’ve scored 51 goals and allowed just 25.
If they had managed that in one season, it would go down as one of the best seasons in MLS history. The 68 points would tie a MLS record and the +26 goal-difference would be the best since 1998.
It does come with a significant caveat, though. As you probably remember, Sporting KC’s schedule was heavily tilted toward home games at the end of last year. So, those 34 games actually include 21 at home.
The Seattle Sounders are even better
As good as Sporting KC have been over the past 34 games, the Sounders have been even better. Their strong finish last year (13-3-4 down the stretch) was somewhat overshadowed by their failure to, once again, advance in the MLS Cup playoffs. They're franchise-best 5-1-1 start to this season has also been somewhat overshadowed by the starts of Sporting KC and the San Jose Earthquakes.
But it's all added up to an almost shockingly good record over the past 34 games. How good? Well, 21-6-7, good. That would qualify as the second most wins in MLS history. It would also give them 70 points, which would technically be a new MLS record (the 1998 LA Galaxy currently hold the record with 68 points, but they would have earned 70 under the current no-shootout rule). If you just take their final 32 games -- the same that LA Galaxy team played -- they still end up with 67 points.
Their +26 goal-difference over that stretch is equally as good as Sporting’s mark in the same period and their 59 goals scored would be the highest total since 2000. The Sounders have scored 1.74 goals per match during that period, which is the best total since the LA Galaxy averaged 1.83 in 2008.
What makes this all more impressive is that even if you look at the Sounders’ last 17 at home and 17 away, the numbers don’t change much. In fact, the only thing that changes is their goal-difference and total, which would be +24 and 57, respectively.
It’s hard to make the argument that the Sounders have been the league’s best team over this period, as they have no league silverware to show for it, but it’s an impressive feat nonetheless.
RSL, LA Galaxy a bit behind
The Galaxy have a Supporters’ Shield and a MLS Cup in their trophy case, so there’s nothing to feel remotely ashamed of, but their 34-match performance just doesn’t quite stack up. Their 18-8-8 record and 62 points during that span is hardly bad, but it’s not really on the level of Sporting KC or the Sounders, either. It’s also buoyed by having 19 of those games being played at home and 20 of them at Home Depot Center, where they were undefeated last year.
Real Salt Lake, who we regularly rate as one of the top teams in the league, is considerably less impressive over that stretch. Their record is 15-12-7 (52 points) and they are just +5 in goal difference. It is worth noting that they played just 16 of those matches at home, though.
Conclusions
I didn’t bother to try to figure out the record for every team during this stretch, but I’m very confident that Sporting and the Sounders are in a class above everyone else. I’ll also admit that this was all hand-compiled, which does lend itself to errors. If you find any, I’d love to have them pointed out.
Anyway, I meant this more as an interesting exercise. Hope you found it so.
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