Team | Total vote count | First Tier votes | Last week's Tier |
Tier 1 - Teams Contending For Cups | |||
LA Galaxy | 21 | 7 | 1 |
NY Red Bulls | 18 | 4 | 2 |
Columbus Crew | 17 | 5 | 1 |
KC Wizards | 17 | 3 | 1 |
Tier 2 - Teams Likely in the Playoffs | |||
Houston Dynamo | 16 | 3 | 3 |
Seattle Sounders | 15 | 1 | 2 |
Colorado Rapids | 14 | 1 | 3 |
Real Salt Lake | 12 | 2 | 1 |
Tier 3 - Teams On the Outside Looking In | |||
SJ Earthquakes | 11 | 0 | 3 |
NE Revolution | 10 | 0 | 2 |
Chicago Fire | 7 | 0 | 4 |
FC Dallas | 5 | 0 | 3 |
Tier 4 - Teams Competing for #3 Draft Pick | |||
Philadelphia Union | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Chivas USA | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Toronto FC | 0 | 0 | 4 |
DC United | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Our week 4 voting saw a change in the top tier, and New York's first entry into that group, despite their unimpressive victory over lowly FC Dallas. The Galaxy expectedly remained at the top, while Columbus had to fight to remain in the upper tier. There was some debate among the bloggers that the Crew didn't really deserve to skate by on their one win and one draw, but most of us just didn't feel right dropping them due only to inactivity.
I would have predicted Houston to make their first leap into the top tier (they had my vote!) but instead we were shocked to find three out of four teams in the top tier coming from the East. Didn't see that coming before the season started!
The biggest drop though came for Real Salt Lake, who were just one point away from the third tier. The team continues to look skillful while playing against superior opponents, but their 1-2-1 record is no longer fooling this group of MLS bloggers.
The bottom tier seems to be settling in without much competition. Philadelphia's single goal home victory over DC isn't looking as impressive now is it?