2021 MLS Betting Guide: Week 1

Your guide to betting MLS in Week 1

Disclaimer: Due to my relationship with Austin FC, I will not be discussing that team on this site.

We’re finally here! The season kicks off tonight and we’re ready to get betting. As you can see above I have started a betting podcast with Daniel Robertson, where we’ll be discussing the weekly slate in quick bites. We’re going to aim to get this wrapped in 20-25 minutes with this episode running a bit longer due to some discussion of MLS Cup and Golden Boot futures. Right now it is on Spotify only but it should be wherever you get your podcasts shortly.

Every week I will look to give you my 3-4 best bets of the week. These will be one unit bets unless otherwise noted and I’ll be keeping track of how well I do (for better or worse).

All the odds below come from BetMGM. While there are some opportunities to line shop, the lines are all pretty similar across all books.

Best Bets

New York Red Bulls (+120) to win vs. Sporting KC

The Red Bulls are 5-1-0 in their last six home openers. They will be facing a team that will be starting their fourth-string ‘keeper. Alan Pulido isn’t 90 minutes fit.

RBNY are coming off a down 2020 and will be looking to show they’re a new team under Gerhard Struber.

Vancouver Whitecaps (+340) to win vs. Portland Timbers

These odds are just simply too good to pass up. Portland have done a lot of traveling over the past couple of weeks and though the ‘Caps aren’t actually at home, they are playing in Utah for now, these odds seem out of whack.

The Timbers have had plenty of time to rest up after their Tuesday CCL game but they’re still banged up — with no Sebastian Blanco, Jeremy Ebobisse and Jaroslaw Niezgoda — and Gio Savarese could look to give his older players a break at the start of the season. He’s made it clear that CCL is the No. 1 priority right now.

The ‘Caps are dealing with some injuries along the backline, but it doesn’t scare me off when I’m getting +340 for a home team.

Houston-San Jose both to score (-190)

It’s true that you won’t be making too much money off this bet, but it almost seems like a given that this will be a goalfest. Both were in the bottom five in goals conceded in 2020 and the only significant addition for either side in that part of the field is Houston’s trade for Tim Parker.

Record: 0-0 | Units: Even

MLS Week 1

Do not bet every MLS game. I repeat, DON’T DO IT. Stick to the best bets. But sports and betting and supposed to be fun and I think it will be fun to track how I do both record-wise and how much money I would potentially win if I were to bet every game. To keep it fun I won’t be talking in units, instead we’ll pretend that I’m dropping $100 on every game.

• HOU (-115) | SJ (+270) | Draw (+275) | The Pick: SJ +270

• SEA (-135) | MIN (+300) | Draw (+290) | The Pick: DRAW +290

• MTL (+230) | TOR (+100) | Draw (+260) | The Pick: DRAW +260

• ORL (+100) | ATL (+250) | Draw (+240) | The Pick: ORL +100

• RBNY (+120) | SKC (+185) | Draw (+260) | The Pick: RBNY +120

• DC (+290) | NYC (-125) | Draw (+275) | The Pick: DC +290

• DAL (+110) | COL (+210) | Draw (+250) | The Pick: DAL +110

• CHI (+160) | NE (+155) | Draw (+230) | The Pick: CHI +160

• NSH (-145) | CIN (+350) | Draw (+270) | The Pick: NSH -145

• MIA (-115) | LA (+300) | Draw (+240) | The Pick: DRAW +240

• CLB (-110) | PHI (+260) | Draw (+260) | The Pick: PHI +260

• VAN (+340) | POR (-150) | Draw (+290) | The Pick: VAN +340

Record: 0-0 | $ Up/Down: $0

Line Moves

Since Monday. These could keep changing!

• MTL (+250 to +230) | TOR (-110 to +100) | DRAW (+270 to +260)

• DC (+260 to +290) | NYC (-115 to -125) | DRAW (+280 to +275)

• DAL (-105 to +110) | COL (+230 to +210) | DRAW (+275 to +250)

• NSH (-145 to -130) | CIN (+350 to +310) | DRAW (+270 to +260)

Like what you see? Leave a like! Don’t like what you see? Feel free to let me know in the comments.