US Soccer Combined Leagues 2018

UPDATE 12/8/18: Final standings of the 2018 season.

Just suppose that many years ago, the US Soccer Federation required all professional teams to play in the same league system. Just suppose that they decided that it would be best to always have two equal leagues, east and west, and then divide teams vertically into Division 1, Division 2, etc. Just suppose that, each year, they promoted the best teams from Division 2 and relegated the worst teams from Division 1.

And here's the big leap. Just suppose that we didn't have any more teams playing than what we actually have.

In 2018, the USSF has 56 professional teams. Nine teams folded/withdrew after the 2017 season (Edmonton, Jacksonville Armada, Miami, New York Cosmos, Orlando City B, Puerto Rico, Rochester Rhinos, San Francisco Deltas, and Vancouver Whitecaps 2). New teams added to Division 2 West are Fresno, Las Vegas Lights, and Los Angeles. In the East, the new teams in Division 2 are Atlanta United 2 and Nashville.

To balance the leagues, Saint Louis and Swope Park Rangers were moved from the West to the East.

Here is a map of the teams. Click the rectangle tab thing in the upper left to get to the list where you can deselect the separate divisions.

Here are the current standings:

Since a wonderful home-and-away round robin didn't actually happen in each league above, I have substituted that with ranking the teams by points-per-game, including each team's league and cup games played in 2018, only counting games against teams in its division (Division 1 or 2).

At least one team from each Division 1 league will be relegated and at least one team from each Division 2 league will be promoted. The final number is determined by the number of professional teams in 2019 and the resultant promotions without relegations to even out the divisions. Without adjustments to the number of teams, three would be relegated and three would be promoted. With a current net gain of 13 teams, four are promoted for each team relegated.

B teams in Division 2 are ineligible for promotion as B teams can't be in Division 1.