Who’s the best MLS goal scorer?
By: Jared Kunze and Tyler Schatz
Jaime Moreno
D.C. United
All-Time Rank: 1
Brian McBride
Chicago Fire
All-Time Rank: 15
Clint Mathis
Real Salt Lake
All-Time Rank: 27
Taylor Twellman
N.E. Revolution
All-Time Rank: 5
Landon Donovan
L.A. Galaxy
All-Time Rank: 7
Carlos Ruiz
Toronto FC
All-Time Rank: 9
Ante Razov
Chivas USA
All-Time Rank: 2
Hypothesis
• Determining the best current goal scorer in
the MLS
• We will compare total goals, total shots, shots
on goal, goals per game, and goals per minute
• We are comparing 7 of the top current strikers
over their last 5 seasons in MLS
• Tyler’s Prediction: Taylor Twellman
• Jared’s Prediction: Landon Donovan
Player N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 Median Q3 Maximum
Donovan 5 0 11.60 2.40
5.37 6.00
7.00 12.00 16.00 20.00
Twellman 5 0 12.20 1.83
4.09 8.00
8.50 11.00 16.50 17.00
Player
N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1
Median Q3
Maximum
Donovan 5 0 0.00559 0.00113 0.00252 0.00297 0.00331 .00559 .00786 .00936
Twellman 5 0 0.00511 0.00133 0.00298 0.00044 0.00215 .00661 .00732 .00764
Player
N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 Median Q3 Maximum
Donovan 5 0 0.3953 0.0371
0.0830 0.2727 0.3239 0.4000 .4643
.5
Twellman 5 0 0.2961 0.0239
0.0534 0.2308 0.2463 0.2909 .3485 .3636
Player
N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 Median Q3 Maximum
Donovan 5 0 0.5581 0.0475 0.1063 0.4314 0.4430 0.6154 .6447 .6531
Twellman 5 0 0.5605 0.0254 0.0568 0.4884 0.5061 0.5571 .6165 .6220
Landon Donovan
Goals = - 4803 + 2.40 Season
Based on this model, we predict that Donovan will score about 19
goals next season if he stays healthy and gets substantial playing
time… if he comes back from Germany.
Taylor Twellman
Goals = 614 - 0.30 Season
Based on this model, we predict that Twellman will score about 11 goals
next season if he stays healthy and gets substantial playing time.
Conclusion
We have come to see that the two goal scorers are very
similar in their statistics, but Donovan does have the
slight edge and seems to still be on the rise. Galaxy fans
better pray he comes back from Germany in time for
the next season because we see that he’s such a major
contributor in goals.
Works Cited
mlsnet.com
Google images