Sporting Kansas City's defense carrying them to top of West

Defense wins championships, as the old saying goes.

That adage is definitely true in MLS this year as Sporting Kansas City lifted the U.S. Open Cup last week after beating the New York Red Bulls 2-1 at Children's Mercy Park. Peter Vermes' team conceded just two goals in five games over the course of tournament, which isn't out of the ordinary for them in 2017.

They have conceded just 23 goals over the course of 29 games this season, with their 0.79 goals conceded per game by far the fewest in MLS. The fewest goals per game conceded in a season in MLS history belongs to 2010 Real Salt Lake, who conceded just 0.67 goals per game. SKC's 0.79 average would be tied for the third-fewest all-time if they were to finish with that figure.

This kind of dominance is backed up when using advanced stats. SKC have conceded just 27.28 expected goals this season, meaning they would be expected to conceded 27.28 goals on average based on the quality of chances they have conceded. You could point to them being a bit lucky or overperforming slightly in conceding only 23 goals, but you could also argue that the strong season of goalkeeper Tim Melia has accounted for that difference.

The bottom line isn't up for debate: This is not a team you want to face in the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs.

With that, we'll dive into the xG numbers from Week 29. A couple of important notes before looking at the numbers: Penalties have a value of 0.79, and own goals are not factored into the values.