We’ve reached MLS Week 32 coming out of the international break
There are 13 games on Sunday, highlighted by El Trafico, followed by 1 standalone Sunday game with Seattle hosting Kansas City.
Let’s get into it with picks and parlays and MLS predictions for this weekend’s MLS action.
MLS Picks and Parlays #1
FC Cincinnati vs Columbus Crew Prediction
It’s Hell is Real with 2nd Cincinnati hosting 3rd Columbus separated by just 2 points.
Cincy won 2-1 in Columbus back in May and it’s one of many meetings between them with goals. There’s been 3+ goals in 9/10 meetings and BTTS and Over 2.5 has hit in 7/9 as well.
FCC got back to winning ways in their last game blowing out Montreal out at home 4-1. But it’s only 3 regulation wins in 9 games in all comps for Cincy and they’ve given up 7 goals across their past 3 games, plus at least 1 in 16/18. Missing a ton of defenders doesn’t help.
It’s rare they don’t score though at home, doing so in 14/16.
The Crew got thumped last week losing 4-0 to Seattle, but were missing a ton of players, playing with the 3rd string keeper and, that player, Abraham Romero took a red card in 1st half stoppage time.
Wilfried Nancy will be expecting a big response this week against their rivals. The Crew had won 8 straight prior, and had scored in 17 straight. But then they’ve now conceded in 10/12 as well.
- MLS Predictions: Both Teams to Score
Inter Miami vs Philadelphia Union Prediction
1st Miami hosts 11th Philly here.
Miami won in Philly 2-1 in June this season. Last season in 3 meetings Miami won 2-0 and Philly 4-1 in MLS at home, and then Miami won 4-1 in Leagues Cup.
Miami routed Chicago 4-1 in their last game and have only 3 losses in 23 and have scored multiple goals in 12/14. But then the BTTS & Over 2.5 is 14-2 in their past 16, so that is always in play.
The Union are in better form winning 7/11 with only 2 regulation losses in that time, but then had lost 3 straight and conceded in 5 straight prior to winning 2-0 in New York over the Red Bulls last game.
- MLS Predictions: CIN vs CLB btts / MIA over 1.5 (+125)
MLS Picks and Parlays #2
St. Louis City SC vs Minnesota United Prediction
13th St. Louis hosts 9th Minnesota with an 8-point gap between them.
Last year’s games saw both get road wins, Minnesota 1-0 and St. Louis 2-1.
This season, both have seen their games average well over 3 GPG, at 3.3 each.
Just look at recent results and you can see why.
St. Louis has recent scores of 2-2, 2-1, 4-4, 4-2, 3-1, 1-1, 2-1 and 1-1. In that time they’ve lost just once in regulation.
Minnesota’s form is much worse with only 3 wins in 14, 2 over San Jose and 1 over Necaxa. There’s been 3+ goals in 7/12, and all but 1 (26/27) in MLS this season have seen 2+.
- MLS Predictions: Both Teams to Score
Colorado Rapids vs Portland Timbers Prediction
If St. Louis and Minnesota looks like a potential goal-fest, I don’t know what this looks like.
This top-8 matchup pits 4th Colorado hosting 8th Portland, with just 4 points between them.
We’ve 4 and 5 total goals in the 2 games between them this season. First, a 4-1 home Portland win in MLS back in February, and then much more recently, another big Timbers win, 4-0 at home in the Leagues Cup last month.
Only Miami’s games at 3.8 GPG avergae more than the 3.7 of Portland and 3.6 of Colorado.
They both lead the West in Over 2.5 totals at 21-6 (POR) and 20-7 (COL). 25/27 Colorado games and 24/27 Portland games have seen 2+ goals.
Both teams have seen 74% of their games hit the BTTS market this season in MLS.
Outside of a Leagues Cup loss to LAFC, Colorado has won 6/7, but 3 were in PKs. Still, they have just 4 losses in 17 in all comps.
But then the Timbers have only suffered 4 losses in their past 18 themselves.
- MLS Predictions: Both Teams to Score
- Parlay Picks: STL vs MIN btts / COL vs POR btts (+108)
MLS Picks and Parlays #3
LA Galaxy vs LAFC Prediction
Both LA teams are top-two in the West, the Galaxy 1st with 52 points and LAFC 2nd with 48.
The Galaxy lost 2-1 to St. Louis in their last game but have only 5 losses in 21 in all comps. The BTTS & Over 2.5 has gone 6-1 of late with them scoring multiple times in 5/7. They’re out Joseph Paintsil to suspension but are still loaded up top and recently welcomed Marco Reus to the mix.
LAFC are looking a little burned out after losing the Leagues Cup Final. They’re 1-1-1 since and have scored only 1 goal, in a 1-0 win, 2-0 loss and 0-0 draw. They were missing a ton of attacking players to the international break last weekend though, and prior to the last 2 games had scored in 31 straight.
LA Galaxy vs LAFC Head-to-Head
This season on April 6 was 2-1 LAFC at home. Then on July 4 it was again LAFC winning 2-1 away to the Galaxy.
In 23 all-time meetings:
- BTTS is 19-4
- Over 2.5 is 18-5
- BTTS and Over 2.5 is 17-6
- The past 4 scorelines have been 2-1, 2-1, 4-2 and 2-1.
Betting on anything other than goals in this matchup seems foolish.
Both have also recently added superstars in Marco Reus and Olivier Giroud.
The BTTS & Over 2.5 is -150. So let’s bet that, but add a simply selection from one more game.
Because I want this parlay to still be live for late Saturday night, I’ll make that second selection from the 1 game on Sunday.
- MLS Predictions: Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5
Seattle Sounders vs Sporting Kansas City Prediction
Seattle just routed a depleted Columbus team that also took a red card last week by a 4-0 score in Columbus. That brings them to 5th in the West with 43 points, just 1 point back of 4th. Now all 4 of those goals did come after the Crew were reduced to 10 men though, so that score could be a bit deceiving.
The Sounders in all comps, have only 7 losses in 28 games, 3 of those came vs LAFC, another did come vs this SKC team though, and 5 of those losses have come in their last 10 games.
Sporting won 2-1 in KC back in June. Last year both won on the road, SKC 2-1 and Seattle 4-1.
SKC are way down in 12th with just 28 points.
But they’ve not lost in 3 games, drawing last week 1-1 in New York vs the Red Bulls and winning 2-0 and 3-0 before that.
A BTTS bet in an SKC game is jsut par for the course.
SKC have scored in 25/28 and conceded in 25/28 MLS games. BTTS bets for SKC this season have gone 23-5 as well and it’s hit in 6 of their past 7.
Seattle hasn’t failed to score at home to SKC in 8 games, going back to 2016.
- MLS Predictions: Seattle to score
- Parlay Picks: LA vs LAFC btts & O2.5 / SEA to score (-115)
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.
