1) I've updated the home/away records for each MLS team in each season through 2009:
Check them out here.
2) If Omar Gonzalez wins the Rookie of the Year award, he'll be the youngest winner ever. He was 20.72 years of age as of July 1st. The current record-holder is Carlos Bocanegra in 2000, at 21. Click to continue reading...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year again. The regular season is over, so now we can look at the official numbers for fouls committed and fouls suffered and put them in the context of "per 90 minutes" rather than just raw totals. Which players will lead in the eight categories below?
1. Click to continue reading...

I've made a couple of new ones. A great way to kill some free time!

• MLS Players Off The Pitch - How familiar are you with the off the field activities of past and present MLSers? Includes both well-known and obscure examples.

• First MLS Game - Name the players and more from the April 6, 1996 clash between San Jose and DC United.

Click to continue reading...

Taken from the game guide pdfs on MLSnet. They appear each week, and also in the playoffs. For the non-playoff teams who played each other last week (NY-TOR, KC-DC), I've added in the stats myself.
I'll say it again: MLS should really promote these stats as they are very detailed and interesting and just get buried in the game guides. Click to continue reading...

Previous Updates
#1 4/12 68 players remaining #2 5/25 34 players remaining #3 6/25 23 players remaining #4 7/19 11 players remaining #5
8/17
5 players remaining
OTFATT is short for "On the field, all the time." In these updates throughout the season, I've kept track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game (regular season only). Click to continue reading...

I won't put it on the main page because it's such a long post, so check it out here:
All Time Best & Worst MLS Teams (single season & multiple)
How do this year's teams stack up?

• Columbus lost three of their last four, which means that they ended up tied for the worst Supporters Shield winners ever with the 2004 Crew.

Click to continue reading...

This is my favorite time of the year to blog. Not because it's playoff time, but rather because the regular season is over and I can get into the business of comparing this year's teams historically. I'll have plenty of material in the coming weeks, so check back often.
However, there's still two more games to play today. Click to continue reading...

Voting for the 2009 MLS Year End Awards is underway. I've learned some interesting things about this season's voting process:
1) For the Best XI, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Landon Donovan are listed as midfielders this year, while Guillermo Barros Schelotto is listed as a forward. You may remember the unfortunate situation from two years ago, where Blanco was a finalist for the MVP award yet missing from the Best XI. Click to continue reading...

1) The 2010 seeding formula. Using the previous formula (from 2006), it appears that Portugal's resurgence may see them get seeded after all at the expense of France. They were always in good shape as long as they managed to qualify, and that looks very likely now. The same eight teams have been in the running ever since July 2006, so one good team is going to get let out no matter what. Click to continue reading...

The hexagonal or "hex" has been in its current form for four cycles: 1998/2002/2006/2010. The fourth edition has just been completed. The USA and Mexico are now tied with identical all time records of 22-8-10, though Mexico is ahead with a better goal differential.
What else is new statistically? Click to continue reading...

UPDATE: Down to 41. Next update in November, with only 9 more eliminations until the field is set.
Yes, we'll all know pretty soon who ends up qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. At that time and many years into the future, it will be easy to look at the qualifying standings to see how things turned out. Click to continue reading...

Once again, it's that time of the calendar. I expect the US to take care of business, so I'll be looking at how the other matches will affect us.
If you haven't heard, the big news is that Sepp Blatter announced a week ago that teams will be seeded in UEFA's World Cup qualifying playoffs. The eight playoff teams will be split into two pots based on their FIFA ranking. Click to continue reading...

A lot has been made this year over the home struggles of the Chicago Fire and the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Fire are doing much better away (1.64 PPG) than at home (1.29 PPG). The Galaxy were in that same boat, but they've won their last two home games and are now sporting equal marks (1.57 PPG) home and away. Click to continue reading...

1) Shalrie Joseph for MVP? It seems like all the forces are converging and settling on him after his player of the week performance. Today alone, there were three articles touting his candidacy from Ives Galarcep (Soccer By Ives), Ridge Mahoney (Soccer America), and Kyle McCarthy (Goal.com).
He has a lot of things going for him. Click to continue reading...

Jeff Cunningham scored two more goals for Dallas to tie Colorado's Conor Casey for the league lead with 15. Actually, he now leads in the race for the golden boot due to the first tiebreaker, assists. He has 7 to Casey's 1, so he'll win any tie between the two men. Not only that, he has an extra game remaining and FCD has been assaulting the nets recently. Click to continue reading...