MLS Week 19 is spread over Thursday, Friday and Saturday from June 12-14 for a total of 13 games, with 1 Thursday, 1 Friday and 11 on Saturday. Let’s cover 5 of them for this weekend’s MLS predictions.
MLS Picks and Parlays #1
This is the early Saturday game at 4:30pm EST.
St. Louis vs LA Galaxy Prediction
The bottom two teams in the West meet here with 14th St. Louis hosting 15h LA. St. Louis though has 14 points compared to LA’s league—worst 7.
St. Louis got the new coach bump for 1 game, beating San Jose 2-1. It looked like they’d go undefeated in two games after the change sitting tied with Portland 1-1 last week until they let in a late goal and lost 2-1. It’s just 2 wins in 15 games and they’ve conceded in 7 straight and 9/10.
LA finally got a win! It happened as they beat RSL 2-0 at home. It’a their first win of the season and the only time they’ve kept a clean sheet.
Both teams only have 2 players listed away for international duty so the lineups should remain relatively intact. But LA were out Reus with a hamstring injury last game which could still be an issue.
St. Louis was conceding in every game when they were playing mostly defensive. With a new more offensive mindset, the conceding may continue. But LA’s defense isn’t any better.
St. Louis went to LA and won 3-0 back in March. Other games between them were 3-3 and 2-1 St. Louis last year and 1-1 and 2-2 the season before.
I see goals from both. That’s -188 at Bet365. How can we make this better?
Gabriel Pec has a shot on target in 3/4 games. In fact he’s got 4/2, 0/0, 4/2 and 3/2 in attempts/shots on target in his past 4 games. That bumps it to -125.
- MLS Picks Today: BTTS + Pec 1+ shot on target (-125)
MLS Picks and Parlays #2
Chicago vs Nashville Prediction
Chicago were without Brady, Cupps, Gladgow and Oregel Jr last week and leading scorer Cuypers missed out with an injury. But they went to DC and routed them 7-1, highlighted by a Barlow hat-trick.
Zinckernagel has been on fire too, scoring last, scoring in 5 straight and having a shot on target in 8 straight. He’s +220 to score again.
Nashville are out several players: Corcoran, Shaffelburg, Najar, Valdez, Yazbek and Zimmerman – Ds, Mids and a keeper. But the likes of Mukhtar and Surridge should be in the lineup.
This to me, looks like one of the more exciting games of the weekend. The Fire have scored the 2nd-most goals in the league, just 1 fewer than Inter Miami. But Nashville’s 30 goals scored are only 5 fewer than Chicago’s 35.
Chicago has now won back-to-back games, won 6/7 and outscored opponents 24-8, but have conceded in 6 straight. The 4.0 GPG in Fire matches, is the most in MLS.
They meet a Nashville team coming back back-to-back 2-2 draws, but who are undefeated in 10 at 5-5-0, who have scored multiple goals in 4/4 and 7/10 and conceded multiple goals in 3/4.
When we last saw these two meet, it was a 7-2 mauling by Nashville in April. You rarely see back-to-back scorelines like that and it’s unlikely anyone scores 2, but I’d still expect some goals.
Nashville’s stars could not have had better games in that match with Surridge scoring 4 and Mukhtar 2.
Recently, both have been playing well too:
Surridge has 5 goals in his last 3 games, to go with 12 shots and 6 on target, with 2 on target in all 3 games. He’s had 1+ shot on target 8/9 recent games.
Mukhtar hasn’t scored as much lately with 1 goal in 4, but he takes a pile of shots with 4 or 5 in 6 straight games. He’s had at least 1 shot on target in 13 straight games and 2+ in 10/11.
Some betting options include:
- Each to have 1+ shot on target at DraftKings is -130.
- BTTS -225
- BTTS & O2.5 -138
- MLS Picks Today: BTTS & Over 2.5 + Surridge 1+ shot on targrt (+115)
MLS Picks and Parlays #3
Here are three games include 1 parlay for Saturday’s MLS picks.
Philadelphia vs Charlotte Prediction
Most of Philly’s absentees are young players, but they are out 9 to international duty and a few regulars such as Blake, Harriel, Jean Jacques and Quinn Sullivan. That is some key defensive players missing.
While the Union could only draw 0-0 last game at home to Dallas, that extended their undefeated streak to 11 games in all competitions and it snapped 10 10-game straight where they scored, including a total of 9 goals in their previous 3.
While Charlotte is out Abada, Agyemang, Ream and Tuiloma, that is likely to put a huge dent in their offense as Agyemang and Abada lead the team in goals with 10 and 7, respectively.
Charlotte won 2-0 in Toronto last game and have won 2/3. But they’ve onyl won 2/7 and 3/10. Before shutting out a short-handed TFC team, they had allowed 4, 2, 4, 3 and 2 goals, plus had conceded in 8 straight. They’re also 2-1-6 away from home in MLS.
Charlotte is undefeated in 3 meetings a 1-2-0, last winning 2-0 in Philly last year.
- MLS Picks Today: Philadelphia double chance
Austin FC vs New York Prediction
Austin’s games see the fewest goals at 1.8 GPG, while New York’s are among the lower scoring as well at just 2.8.
While NYRB are 9-8 to Over 2.5 totals, Austin is a league-best to the Under at 14-4. Up that to 3.5 though and New York is 13-4 to the Under and Austin a near-perfect 17-1.
Austin’s games are all tight. They went into last week winless in 3 but then beat Colorado 2-0 at home. It’s only 2 wins in 8 but then also only 1 loss in 7 as they’ve been piling up the draws. Only once in 7 games has Austin given up more than 1 goal. Only twice in 8 games have they score more than 1.
The Red Bulls are heating up with 3 straight wins winning 2-0, 4-2 and 2-0 and they’re undefeated in 4, drawing once before those wins. Now … 3/4 were at home. On the road New York is 1-2-5 and have been outscored 11-5.
Austin is out Burton and Uzuni, Uzuni being the big one on offense. New York is out 7 players including keeper Coronel and defender Valencia, with most absentees being younger players.
- MLS Picks Today: Under 3.5
Houston vs Montreal Prediction
Houston has one of the smaller international call-up lists with only McGlynn and Raines from the midfield.
For Montreal, it’s not much bigger with just Graham-Roache, Saliba, Sealy and Waterman. But Saliba started last game and they’ll also be out forward Vrioni who took a red in their 3-0 loss to New England.
Houston has been all over the map. They started the season poor. Then had only 3 losses in 12, but now also have only 1 win in 4. Their last game was a 3-1 loss at SKC, but prior to that it was a 3-0 win and 3-3 draw. 1 or both teams have now scored 3 goals in each of their past 4 games. The Over 2.5 is 6-2 in their past 8.
Montreal still have 1 win on the year, has been outscored 32-12, are winless in 4, have allowed multiple goals in 4 straight (3, 4, 2, 6) and come in off 4-2 and 3-0 losses.
- MLS Picks Today: Houston to win
- Parlay Picks: Philly double chance / Austin vs NYRB U3.5 / Houston to win (+155)
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Ryan Métivier is a seasoned editor, writer and communications professional with years of experience in all fields. When it comes to covering sports, he’s written for numerous outlets and organizations including the OHL, CHL, SportsXpress, Sports Betting Dime, Cleveland.com, MassLive, FanSided and others.
While he’ll always cheer for his hometown Toronto teams, when it comes to betting, his only allegiance is his bankroll. Ryan specializes in global soccer, the NFL and the NHL, but if there is a bet to be made, he’ll make it. As the founder of Shred The Spread, Ryan focuses on combining storylines, trends, analytics and good bankroll management to creating simple bets that make sense.
When not making a case for why both teams will score in an MLS soccer match, he can be found focusing his efforts on fitness, attempting to learn Spanish, cooking or planning his travel adventure.
