World Cup Qualifying is completed is completed. I've updated the 2010 World Cup Eliminations Timeline, which tells you exactly which date each team was eliminated and in what order. That won't require another update until June.
But the real exciting news is that with all the qualifiers completed, we can now focus on the World Cup seeds and the draw. Click to continue reading...

UPDATE: The World Cup field is set. No more updates on this post until June.
Yes, we know now who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In the future, it will be easy to look at the qualifying standings to see how things turned out. However, one thing that can't easily be determined from a simple glance at the standings is exactly when each team fell out of contention. Click to continue reading...

Final Record: 11-7-12 (45 pts)
Goals:
10) Chris Rolfe
9) Marco Pappa
8) Cuauhtemoc Blanco
7) Chris Rolfe
6) Peter Lowry
5) Patrick Nyarko
4) Brian McBride
3) Peter Lowry
2) Chris Rolfe
1) Brian McBride
Note: Only goals scored in the 2009 regular season were considered. Click to continue reading...

For much more on this subject, see the original MLS team ages post. It includes the average age of every MLS team in league history.
Age Breakdown
First, I wanted to look at the leaguewide distribution of ages. The percentages here are based on the total number of minutes played in MLS history by every player, using on the age of players on July 1st of each season (the midway point). Click to continue reading...

(Now updated with this year's data)
How young and old were 2009's MLS teams? Rank refers to how the team did performance-wise this season.
Age Rank 1 LA 29.04 2 2 KC 28.58 13 3 CHV 28.22 6 4 HOU 28.13 3 5 SJ 28.10 14 6 CHI 27. Click to continue reading...

With only three games left in the entire season, it's time for another update. The draft order is nearly complete. Spots #1-12 are set in stone:
1 PHI 2 NY 3 SJ 4 KC 5 TOR 6 DAL 7 DC 8 COL 9 NE 10 CHV 11 SEA 12 CLB
The four first round playoff losers are ranked by regular season performance to determine the order. Click to continue reading...

This was brought to my attention in the play-by-play thread on Bigsoccer: Did you notice that MLS has changed its rules for playoff yellow card suspensions? I'm not sure if this was put into place this year or last year, but it definitely was not the case as of 2007. Two yellow cards in consecutive games mean a suspension. Click to continue reading...

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...