Best & Worst of MLS

Much like in 1998, this year has seen a bigger disparity between the top and bottom teams due to expansion. A number of teams are on pace to be among the best and worst in the league's history. Let's start out with the best teams, ranked by points per game: Best MLS Teams 1 1998 Los Angeles 24 8 0 68 2.13 2 2001 Miami 16 5 5 53 2.04 3 2001 Chicago 16 6 5 53 1.96 4 2002 Los Angeles 16 9 3 51 1.82 5 1998 DC United 24 8 0 58 1.81 6 1996 Tampa Bay 20 12 0 58 1.81 7 2001 Los Angeles 14 7 5 47 1.81 8 1999 DC United 23 9 0 57 1.78 9 2000 Kansas City 16 7 9 57 1.78 10 2000 Chicago 17 9 6 57 1.78 The 1996-99 teams are actually hurt by the shootout, or they would have a few more points. Only four of these teams actually won the MLS Cup. Now let's take a look at the leading teams from this season: ? 2005 New England 10 2 5 35 2.06 ? 2005 FC Dallas 10 3 4 34 2.00 ? 2005 Chicago 11 6 3 36 1.80 All of these teams would make the top ten at present. NE and DAL both are at 2 points per game, which has only been done twice before. It does appear unlikely that anybody will match the 1998 Galaxy pace, though. Worst MLS Teams 98 1999 Metrostars 7 25 0 15 0.47 97 2001 Tampa Bay 4 21 2 14 0.52 96 1999 Kansas City 8 24 0 20 0.63 95 2003 Dallas 6 19 5 23 0.77 94 1999 New England 12 20 0 26 0.81 93 2001 Colorado 5 13 8 23 0.88 92 1999 Miami 13 19 0 29 0.91 91 2000 San Jose 7 17 8 29 0.91 90 1996 Colorado 11 21 0 29 0.91 89 1998 New England 11 21 0 29 0.91 Some mighty tough teams to beat here, although Chivas USA is trying: ? 2005 Chivas USA 2 14 3 9 0.47 ? 2005 RSL 3 11 4 13 0.72 ? 2005 Columbus 4 10 3 15 0.88 Chivas is slightly better than the 1999 Metros, but they should finish better with the new players they're getting. In order to match it, they would have to only get 6 points from their final 13 games. The last few years have been full of parity, thanks to contraction and the dispersal draft. Out of the twenty top and bottom teams in MLS history, only two are from the last three years. Of course, some of that has to do with having 12 teams instead of 10. But it definitely makes the league more interesting and exciting to watch; just witness RSL's upset win over LA earlier this year.