Breaking down 2011 record versus East and West

Western vs Eastern Conference

Commerce City, Colo. - Major League Soccer on Sunday announced that teams will play an unbalanced schedule in 2012. That is, with 9 teams in the Western Conference, and 10 in the Eastern with the addition of Montreal, teams will not play the same number of games against each other as they did in 2011.

The new format calls for the nine Western teams to face each other three times (24 games) and play each of 10 East teams once for a total of 34 games. This also presents changes to the home and away schedule. West teams will play four of the West teams twice at home and once away, and the other four twice away and once at home. Only five Eastern Conference teams will visit Dick's Sporting Goods Park in 2012, with the Rapids traveling to play the other five away.

Here’s how the Colorado Rapids fared against each conference in 2011: