Week 18 MLS Picks
After coming out of the World Cup break with a very efficient round of picks on a short slate we gave it all back in the midweek. Back on the horse for a full Saturday night slate this weekend.
The official league injury report for Saturday’s games came out Friday afternoon, let’s dive into the Week 18 picks.
Pick’Em Entry of the week
Each match week, we’ll have a pick’em entry for you to tail if your heart desires. This week we’re playing on Underdog Fantasy. If you want to play along with us at Underdog, you can sign up today using this link. Let’s get to the board and build a winner!
Underdog brought back MLS options for pick’em this weekend, although it’s a limited board compared to what we’re used to. Because of this, just a two-pick entry this time around. We’ll start with Evander, coming off a 4-3 home win in the midweek, Cincy heads to Columbus for the latest edition of the “Hell Is Real” Derby. Evander is averaging 4.05 shot attempts per 90 minutes this season and although we aren’t ignoring that this rate does dip to 3.55 per 90 across his four career MLS seasons, this is one of the better values on the board this Saturday at 0.99x. He was over this number in 27 of 35 league and playoff starts last year and has done so in 11 of 14 starts in 2026.
Then we go head to the late night window and back RSL’s DP winger. Guilavogui had a lackluster start from a goal scoring perspective in the spring, but one thing he wasn’t lacking was shot attempts. The 27-year-old Frenchman is posting 3.28 shot attempts per 90 across his 906 minutes in 2026. In the nine starts where he’s played more than a half, Guilavogui has recorded three or more shots six times. With Portland allowing the third most shot attempts per game, we’ll lock this in at a 0.82x multiplier.
Using the standard payout selection (and the 30% profit boost token dropped in users accounts on Friday) on Underdog, this 3-pick entry will payout a prize of 3.39x your entry fee if successful.
No additional plays this week with the limited board on Underdog.
Results
Last Week: -1.0 U
Season: +1.13 U
Week 18 Picks
FC Cincinnati
ML +265
The Knifey Lions did us proud in the midweek, coming out on top in a 4-3 shootout against Vancouver Whitecaps. We’re going right back to Cincy at a similar number in today’s “Hell Is Real” Derby. The Crew are certainly looking like a more formidable side in the second half of the season, adding three players who most recently played in La Liga over the summer. However, that trio is unlikely to be available for this match. With FC Cincinnati sporting a clean injury report, we’ll take them to nab all three points in this rivalry match at a great number in a game where they are likely to have the three or four of the most talented players on the field at the first whistle.
Nashville SC
ML +135
Look, Orlando City SC is probably going to be a much better team the rest of the way than what we saw from them in the spring after adding the likes of Antoine Griezmann and Daryl Dike to the attack. It was already on display on Wednesday, spanking the San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 in their own house. But Nashville is a different beast. Even without Cristian Espinoza, getting Nashville (who are still the Shield leaders) against almost any team at plus money feels pretty great. Add in that Martin Ojeda remains out with injury and Eduard Atuesta being suspended and we’ll back Nashville to take all three points on the road.
PHI/SEA O 2.5 + LAFC ML
Parlay -102
The Sounders injury report isn’t looking much better for Saturday’s match than it did taking on Austin FC extremely shorthanded on Wednesday. Yeimar and Ryan Sailor are questionable once again after DNP’ing in the midweek and now Jackson Ragen is suspended for two matches due to accumulation and a subsequent red card. Philadelphia on the other hand is still looking up at the other 29 MLS teams in the table, even after a 3-1 home win coming out of the break. Considering Seattle may be without their top four centerback options (at least in terms of being 90 minutes fit) and Philadelphia is without the services of Olwethu Makhanya (who is holding out), we expect a ton of goals here. The over on the 2.5 total is juiced all the way to -170.
Because of the extra juice, we’re going to pair that total with LAFC to beat the Western Conference’s last place team in Sporting KC at home tonight. The Black and Gold are humming out of the break, picking up six points from wins over LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake by a 6-1 aggregate scoreline in the last week. Now they host SKC, who has given up 40 goals in their 16 matches this season. LAFC haven’t lost to Sporting since August 2021 and they’re huge -400 favorites here. Pairing LAFC to win with the total above gives us a nice even money parlay.
Goal Scorers
Every week we’ll pick a few of our favorite goal scoring options in the betting market. Here are the Week 18 shouts.
Pep Biel +210
Benie Traore +220
Philip Zinckernagel +275
Cavan Sullivan +350
Jesus Ferreira +475
Antoine Griezmann +180
Hany Mukhtar +190
Josh Sargent +245
Paxten Aaronson +380
Mateusz Bogusz +250
Myrto Uzuni +360
Facundo Torres +475
Joseph Rosales +1200
Anders Dreyer +145
Kristoffer Velde +210
Morgan Guilavogui +255
Joseph Paintsil +215
To Score Or Assist
Joaquin Pereyra +180
Diego Luna +130
To Score Or Assist Two Or More Goals
Evander +400
To Score Two Or More Goals
Josh Sargent +1800 (0.5 U)
Myrto Uzuni +3000 (0.5 U)
Kristoffer Velde +1400 (0.5 U)
Results
Last Week: -5.65 U
2026 Season: +17.32 U
