D.C. United's Unbalanced Schedule in 2013: Comparing the Eastern Conference "Third Games"

In a post last week on the 2013 Major League Soccer schedule, Martin commented on one negative effect the unbalanced schedule would pose for D.C. United this season--something we called "third games" last year:

...I remember writing early last year that United would have a minor advantage over other Eastern Conference teams because the unbalanced schedule had dealt us only two matches against KC and Chicago, and three against all other EC teams. And if you think about, with the EC standings packed so tightly together, that honestly could have made a difference in our finish. Had we played three matches against KC and only two against Toronto, instead of vice versa, second place in the East would have been just a bit more difficult.

Well this year we have only two matches against Columbus and Montreal, and then three against every other Eastern team. That advantage from last year is gone

Martin is absolutely right that D.C. United faces a tough slate of "third games" this season, but let's break it down to see how United's "third games" compare to the other teams' "third games" in the Eastern Conference. Let's also not forget his other point, that the Eastern Conference was so close last year that even minor differences in schedule parity may have (we'll never really know) affected the final standings.

Here are the final 2012 Eastern Conference standings:

Team	Total Points
Sporting Kansas City	63
D.C. United	58
New York Red Bulls	57
Chicago Fire	57
Houston Dynamo	53
Columbus Crew	52
Montreal Impact	42
Philadelphia Union	36
New England Revolution	35
Toronto FC	23

As a reminder, every Eastern Conference team in MLS will play all nine teams in the Western Conference once (for nine games total), home and away series against the other nine teams in the Eastern Conference (18 games total), and a "third game" against seven of the Eastern Conference teams (7 games total). This comes to 34 games total for the 2013 regular season.

These "third games" are unbalanced in two ways. First, each team plays it's "third games" against a different group of seven teams, and, second, where teams play each "third game", whether at home or on the road, is different from where other teams may play their "third games."

So, here are the "third games" for Eastern Conference teams in 2013. The first table shows the "third games" against the 2012 playoff teams, while the second table shows the "third games" against the non-playoff teams. Home teams are listed on the left and away teams are listed across the top. For example, D.C. United's "third game" against Sporting Kansas City will be played away at Kansas City on Oct. 18. In some cases, the "third game" that is listed is not the final game of the series. For example, D.C. United plays at Chicago on Jun. 2 and Jul. 20, before playing the Fire at RFK Stadium on Oct. 4. Since it's the extra home game at Chicago that is of interest, the Jul. 20 game is listed.

Eastern Conference "third games" in 2013 against last year's playoff teams:

	Sporting Kansas City	D.C. United	New York Red Bulls	Chicago Fire	Houston Dynamo
Sporting Kansas City	-----	Home, 18 Oct	N/A	Away, 23 Aug	Away, 9 Oct
D.C. United	Away, 18 Oct	-----	Away, 31 Aug	Away, 20 Jul	Home, 27 Oct
New York Red Bulls	N/A	Home, 31 Aug	-----	N/A	Away, 20 Oct
Chicago Fire	Home, 23 Aug	Home, 20 Jul	N/A	-----	Away, 27 Jul
Houston Dynamo	Home, 9 Oct	Away, 27 Oct	Home, 20 Oct	Home, 27 Jul	-----
Columbus Crew	Away, 7 Sep	N/A	Home, 10 Aug	Home, 21 Sep	Home, 4 Sep
Montreal Impact	Away, 1 Jun	N/A	Away, 13 Jul	Away, 28 Sep	Home, 24 Aug
Philadelphia Union	Home, 26 Oct	Away, 12 Oct	Away, 17 Aug	Home, 3 Aug	N/A
New England Revolution	N/A	Home, 21 Sep	Away, 5 Oct	Away, 14 Sep	Home, 28 Sep
Toronto FC	Home, 21 Sep	Away, 24 Aug	Home, 20 Jul	N/A	N/A

Eastern Conference "third games" in 2013 against non-playoff teams from last year:

	Columbus Crew	Montreal Impact	Philadelphia Union	New England Revolution	Toronto FC
Sporting Kansas City	Home, 7 Sep	Home, 1 Jun	Away, 26 Oct	N/A	Away, 21 Sep
D.C. United	N/A	N/A	Home, 12 Oct	Away, 21 Sep	Home, 24 Aug
New York Red Bulls	Away, 10 Aug	Home, 13 Jul	Home, 17 Aug	Home, 5 Oct	Away, 20 Jul
Chicago Fire	Away, 21 Sep	Home, 28 Sep	Away, 3 Aug	Home, 14 Sep	N/A
Houston Dynamo	Away, 4 Sep	Away, 24 Aug	N/A	Away, 28 Sep	N/A
Columbus Crew	-----	Away, 14 Sep	N/A	Home, 27 Oct	Away, 27 Jul
Montreal Impact	Home, 14 Sep	-----	Home, 19 Oct	N/A	Away, 26 Oct
Philadelphia Union	N/A	Away, 19 Oct	-----	Away, 25 Aug	Home 5 Oct
New England Revolution	Away, 27 Oct	N/A	Home, 25 Aug	-----	Home, 4 Aug
Toronto FC	Home, 27 Jul	Home, 26 Oct	Away, 5 Oct	Away, 4 Aug	-----

Based on last year's standings, let's rank the "third game" schedules for the top five Eastern Conference teams entering this season, least difficult to most difficult:

5. New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls have the good fortune of being the only Eastern Conference team to only play "third games" against two of last year's playoff teams (home vs. D.C. United and away vs. Houston Dynamo). In addition, they get to play four of their seven "third games" at home this season.

Of course, this will all get blown up if/when a team like the Columbus Crew or the Montreal Impact gets hot and becomes a standout team this year, or if a team like Chicago unexpectedly fades from contention early in the season. But, as we enter the 2013 preseason, D.C. United appears to have a tougher intra-conference schedule than their fellow Eastern Conference competitors.

In the next few weeks, we'll also compare the unbalanced schedule for inter-conference games between the Eastern and Western Conferences.