The 2017 MLS East/West InterConference Play Thread

mgarbowski

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I'm keeping track again this year. With 22 teams the number of IC games has increased to 122, which is 11x11 plus Minnesota and Atlanta play each other twice.
We are three weeks in, there have been 13 IC games to date, and the East is doing well. Let's catch up. As always I use the MLS W-L-T format.

Week 1 - 5 Games
East Record 0-2-3
At Home 0-1-0
On Road 0-1-3
Goal Differential -2
East Points 3
West Points 9

Week 2 - 5 Games
East Record 3-1-1
At Home 2-0-1
On Road 1-1-0
Goal Differential +6
East Points 10
West Points 4

Week 3 - 3 Games
East Record 1-2-0
At Home 0-0-0
On Road 1-2-0
Goal Differential -1
East Points 3
West Points 6

Season To Date
East Record 4-5-4
At Home 2-0-2
On Road 2-5-2
Goal Differential +3
East Points 16
West Points 19

The West has one more win over 13 games but has played 9 at home compared to only 4 for the East. I think this is actually a quite good record for the East given that disparity. The East is also winning the GD stat, based largely on the Atlanta drubbing of Minnesota. If the Loons stay as terrible as everyone thinks they are, their 12 Interconference games alone could flip the IC play results considerably.
 
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Weird week with 3 games and all interconference, and all in the East.

Week 4- 3 Games
East Record 2-0-1
At Home 2-0-1
On Road 0-0-0
Goal Differential +4
East Points 7
West Points 1

Season To Date
East Record 6-5-5
At Home 4-0-3
On Road 2-5-2
Goal Differential +7
East Points 23
West Points 20

The East has a winning record even though the West still has a 2-game edge in games played at home. OTOH, the West has a winning record excluding Minnesota, and Minnesota has played a slightly disproportionate number of IC games overall.
 
The East looks so much stronger than the West thus far.

Seattle, Portland, Dallas seem like the only killer teams out West so far and Columbus just beat Portland. LA, Minnesota and RSL are all a mess. Colorado's glass slipper has fallen off. San Jose, SKC and Houston might be decent? Hard to tell thus far.

Meanwhile, in the East, NY, NJ, Atlanta, Orlando, Toronto and Montreal all appear to have it in gear. Columbus is getting hot. Chicago might be improved? NE had Dallas on the ropes in Dallas before a sudden collapse. They might get it together
 
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Week 5- 5 Games
East Record 1-1-3
At Home 1-0-1
On Road 0-1-2
Goal Differential -2
East Points 6
West Points 6

Week 6- 3 Games
East Record 1-2-0
At Home 1-1-0
On Road 0-1-0
Goal Differential -2
East Points 3
West Points 6

Season To Date
East Record 8-8-8
At Home 6-1-4
On Road 2-7-4
Goal Differential +3
East Points 32
West Points 32

Through 24 games the conferences have exactly evenly matched records, and the West has played 2 extra home games.

Last year through 7 weeks the East was 7 games under .500 at 4-12-15 on April 19, 2016. Since then, through 103 games finishing out 2016 and starting 2017, the East is 36-34-33. Two games better than the West. To be fair the East played 3 extra games at home over those 103, but this is a record of evenly matched conferences. The East has a +7 GD over those 103 games. At what point do you think a professional soccer analyst will notice?
 
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Few IC games the last 2 weeks:

Week 7 - 1 Game
East Record 1-0-0
At Home 1-0-0
On Road 0-0-0
Goal Differential +1
East Points 3
West Points 0

Week 8 - 2 Games
East Record 1-0-1
At Home 0-0-1
On Road 1-0-0
Goal Differential +2
East Points 4
West Points 1

Season To Date
East Record 10-8-9
At Home 7-1-5
On Road 3-7-4
Goal Differential +6
East Points 39
West Points 33

Atlanta has played 3 games against the West, all on the road, and their record is 2 Wins and 1 Draw. Their GD is +7.
 
Week 9 - 5 Games
East Record 2-1-2
At Home 2-1-0
On Road 0-0-2
Goal Differential +3
East Points 8
West Points 5

Season To Date
East Record 12-9-11
At Home 9-2-5
On Road 3-7-6
Goal Differential +9
East Points 47
West Points 38

Home and Away is even at 16 each way. East is 3 wins better than the West. West Conference fans commenting on mlsoccer.com will be the last to figure it out, and the hardest hit when they do.
 
Week 10 - 4 Games
East Record 1-2-1
At Home 0-0-0
On Road 1-2-1
Goal Differential -5
East Points 4
West Points 7

Season To Date
East Record 13-11-12
At Home 9-2-5 (16)
On Road 4-9-7 (20)
Goal Differential +4
East Points 51
West Points 45

Given there were 4 road games this week for the East, and none at home, this is a respectable showing. Orlando losing 0-4 killed the GA.
Overall the East has 2 more wins even though the West has played 4 more home games. And I have to eat my words. Someone else is keeping track and this was discussed in the comments of an MLSoccer.com article and everyone seemed to accept it. Some West supporters argued they are still better (and the teams are deeper) at the top, and I'll give them Dallas at least. But Portland is slipping and SKC has little depth. And the West supporters on this article acknowledged that the East is better than previously and overall is an even match for the West at least.
 
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This week has been the battle of the Conferences. I believe 7 inter-conference games.

The East smashed the West yesterday with Chicago crushing Seattle, NER crushing RSL, Toronto defeating Minnesota and Orlando drawing SKC.

Up today is New Jersey vs. LA, Portland vs Atlanta and, of course, Dallas vs. NYC.

Atlanta still dealing with injuries but I won't rule them out.
 
Week 11 - 7 Games
East Record 3-1-3
At Home 3-1-1
On Road 0-0-2
Goal Differential +6
East Points 12
West Points 6

Season To Date
East Record 16-12-15
At Home 12-3-6 (21)
On Road 4-9-9 (22)
Goal Differential +10
East Points 63
West Points 51

Big slate of 7 matches this week.
NYC played its second game against the West and has one Win and one Tie.
The East manages to get points on the road this year, getting a result in 13 games while losing 9. In contrast, the West on the road has gotten results in only 9 games while losing 12.
 
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Week 12 - 7 Games
East Record 5-1-1
At Home 5-0-0
On Road 0-1-1
Goal Differential +11
East Points 16
West Points 4

Season To Date
East Record 21-13-16
At Home 17-3-6 (26)
On Road 4-10-10 (24)
Goal Differential +21
East Points 79
West Points 55

The East is killing it, especially at home. Five wins in five tries this week. The overall home record is perhaps even more impressive. 17 wins against only 3 losses.
Even if the West wins the 2 extra home games it has coming, that leaves the East with a 79-61, 18 point advantage.
The West could only manage one win in its two home games this week. Unfortunately, it was against NYCFC. Last year NYC was much better against the West than the rest of the East was. I don't think we can count on that repeating this year. Even if NYC does very well by season's end, the rest of the East might very well keep pace.
 
The East is absolutely stacked.

Its the first time I can recall in any sport where everyone in the conference appears to be actual playoff contenders.

There's not a dud amongst them.

Chicago is second in the East! Chicago!

And Philadelphia has won like 4 in a row.
 
The East is absolutely stacked.

Its the first time I can recall in any sport where everyone in the conference appears to be actual playoff contenders.

There's not a dud amongst them.

Chicago is second in the East! Chicago!

And Philadelphia has won like 4 in a row.

Well, except DC.
 
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Week 13 - 4 Games
East Record 2-2-0
At Home 1-0-0
On Road 1-2-0
Goal Differential +0
East Points 6
West Points 6

Season To Date
East Record 23-15-16
At Home 18-3-6 (27)
On Road 5-12-10 (27)
Goal Differential +21
East Points 85
West Points 61

Another solid week for the East, splitting 4 games of which 3 were Away. Once again the East took care of business at Home as Chicago beat Dallas, but the West managed only 6 of a potential 9 points at home. That might not be bad except the East got 15 of 15 potential home points last week. The East has a 24 point advantage while sitting even on Home games played.
I admit I am surprised at how quickly the public consensus has changed about the relative strengths of the two conferences. Just about everyone agrees the East has shown itself to be stronger this year.
 
Week 14 - 4 Games
East Record 1-2-1
At Home 1-0-1
On Road 0-2-0
Goal Differential +0
East Points 4
West Points 7

Season To Date
East Record 24-17-17
At Home 19-3-7 (29)
On Road 5-14-10 (29)
Goal Differential +21
East Points 89
West Points 68

West clawed back a tiny, tiny bit. Things will be slow for a bit on this front as there are only 4 interconference games in the next 3 weeks.
 
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Weeks 15-16 - 2 Games Combined
East Record 1-0-1
At Home 1-0-0
On Road 0-0-1
Goal Differential +1
East Points 4
West Points 1

Season To Date
East Record 25-17-18
At Home 20-3-7 (30)
On Road 5-14-11 (30)
Goal Differential +22
East Points 93
West Points 69

There was one game last week and just one again this week. The East won at home (this week) and tied on the road (last week). NYC won the home game making its record against the West 2-1-1- for 1.75 PPG, slightly above its 1.67 PPG against the East. NYC has played 2H/2A against the West and 6H/6A against the East
 
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Week 17 - 2 Games
East Record 1-0-1
At Home 1-0-0
On Road 0-0-1
Goal Differential +1
East Points 4
West Points 1

Season To Date
East Record 26-17-19
At Home 21-3-7 (31)
On Road 5-14-12 (31)
Goal Differential +23
East Points 97
West Points 70

This week was a replay of the prior 2 combined, with 2 games, one hosted by each conference, and the East won at Home and tied Away. We've gone just past the halfway mark for the season as well. There are 122 interconference games total and they have played 62, with 60 to go.
 
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