The Football Forge Power Rankings: Week 32
And so the 2023 regular season ends. There was relatively little change to the playoff picture, with only one team changing (Detroit City in lieu of The™ Miami FC) and San Antonio dropping below Orange County and San Diego Loyal in the Western seeding. Now the important stuff begins.
| Rank | Team | Previous | Change | Record | Forge Factor | Note |
| 1 | New Mexico United | 5 | 4 | 13-14-7 | 22.831 | New Mexico were all over Memphis 901, winning 4-1 to set a 3-game win streak and ice a playoff spot. They get Sacramento next but look very dangerous. |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 1 | -1 | 19-5-10 | 20.539 | The Riverhounds were probably taking it easy. Still, they got the only shot on goal in the dreary 0-0 draw with Detroit at rainy Keyworth. |
| 3 | Colorado Springs Switchbacks | 3 | 0 | 16-13-5 | 20.297 | The Switchbacks finished 5th in the West but a re a serious dark horse candidate. The comprehensive 2-0 win over Phoenix took them to 13 points in the last 5 games. |
| 4 | Orange County | 7 | 3 | 17-11-6 | 19.571 | Orange County survived early scares in the 1-0 win over Monterey to rise to 2nd in the West. But Kevin Partida getting two yellows after the 87th minute was incredibly dumb. |
| 5 | San Diego Loyal | 6 | 1 | 16-9-9 | 18.522 | The Loyal eased past Las Vegas Lights 2-0 and move up to 3rd in the West. An impressive 14 points in the last 6 games; how much longer will they exist? |
| 6 | The Miami FC | 2 | -4 | 11-15-8 | 18.076 | Getting just 1 point was always going to be a tough task in Sacramento, but just 1 shot on goal was not getting it done. They lose 0-1 and miss the playoffs on tiebreakers with Detroit. |
| 7 | Indy Eleven | 8 | 1 | 13-11-10 | 17.625 | Indy can point to Solomon Asante’s dumb second yellow card for their failure to beat San Antonio and get 5th place. The 3-3 draw was generally lacking in defense though. |
| 8 | Sacramento Republic | 11 | 3 | 18-6-10 | 16.456 | SacRep had nothing to prove but still dominated Miami in the 1-0 win. On to the playoffs. |
| 9 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 12 | 3 | 19-9-6 | 14.255 | JJ Williams scored in 27 seconds and added 2 assists as Tampa cruised over Louisville 3-2. It wasn’t that close; JJ missed a PK and Freddy Kleeman scored an own goal. |
| 10 | Birmingham Legion | 10 | 0 | 14-16-4 | 13.706 | The Legion had 1 official shot on goal, but made plenty of chances despite losing 0-12 in Charleston. Indy drew, so the result in this game ended up irrelevant for both sides. |
| 11 | FC Tulsa | 17 | 6 | 10-15-9 | 11.194 | Tulsa scored 3 times in just over 16 minutes and never looked back in the 5-2 win in Hartford. They looked unnecessarily happy to celebrate though. |
| 12 | San Antonio | 9 | -3 | 14-6-14 | 11.015 | San Antonio drew with Indy 3-3 but needed a late score against 10 men to do it. 1 win in the last 10 games is no way to prepare for the playoffs however. They drop from 2nd to 4th. |
| 13 | Memphis 901 | 4 | -9 | 14-10-10 | 10.762 | Memphis did not look like a team protecting a home playoff spot in the hapless 1-4 loss in Albuquerque. They kept that spot though thanks to Louisville also losing. |
| 14 | Detroit City | 18 | 4 | 11-15-8 | 9.993 | Detroit can thank Nate Steinwascher’s one save and Miami’s loss for sneaking back into the playoffs. They didn’t exactly earn it with no shots on goal in the 0-0 draw with the Hounds. |
| 15 | El Paso Locomotive | 15 | 0 | 13-13-8 | 9.684 | El Paso’s first goal was probably offside and Benny Diaz saved a PK in the 2-1 win over Oakland to ice a playoff spot in a very lucky manner. Underwhelming like all season. |
| 16 | Rio Grande Valley Toros | 13 | -3 | 10-11-13 | 9.635 | The Toros’ playoffs hopes were already dashed by New Mexico before kickoff. They fell behind early and barely ended up beating a 10-man Loudoun 2-1. |
| 17 | Charleston Battery | 16 | -1 | 17-9-8 | 7.750 | The Battery’s goal in the 1-0 win over the Legion was a little lucky but they had nothing to play for. Otherwise the game was pretty even. |
| 18 | Phoenix Rising | 14 | -4 | 12-10-12 | 4.272 | Phoenix were locked into 6th place but were not impressive losing 0-2 to Colorado Springs. 0-2-3 in the last 5 is not a way to enter the playoffs. |
| 19 | Louisville City | 19 | 0 | 14-12-8 | 3.225 | Lou City were kept in the game by an own goal and a skied PK, but couldn’t get it done. Their only shot on goal was in second half stoppage time as they lost 2-3 to Tampa. |
| 20 | Las Vegas Lights | 20 | 0 | 3-21-10 | 2.578 | The Lights’ season ended as it went all year, with a 0-2 loss to San Diego. Hartford kept them from the wooden spoon by a point. |
| 21 | Hartford Athletic | 22 | 1 | 4-24-6 | 2.000 | Hartford put up 24 shots and 10 on goal, yet still managed to get waxed 2-5 by Tulsa. A miserable end to a miserable season. |
| 22 | Oakland Roots | 21 | -1 | 11-14-9 | 1.005 | The Roots’ 1-2 loss could easily have been a win but they failed to make the plays they needed to and so doomed themselves to seeing the season end. |
| 23 | Loudoun United | 23 | 0 | 7-23-4 | -0.233 | Loudoun scored in under 2 minutes, went down to 10 men and still made it tough on RGV in the 1-2 loss. On to 2024. |
| 24 | Monterey Bay Union | 24 | 0 | 11-15-8 | -0.949 | The Union were already out of the playoffs but made life hard for Orange County. Still, they lost 0-1. 3 straight losses to end what could could have been a great season. |
