Week 21 MLS Picks

Written By The North End Pod

Back to back profitable matchdays have us feeling confident. But with the schedule congestion caused by a double game week following Leagues Cup Phase 1, we have to be cautious heading into the likely rotation we’ll see from a number of teams on Wednesday night.

The official league injury report for Wednesday’s games came out Tuesday afternoon, let’s dive into the Week 21 picks.

Pick’Em Entry of the week

Unfortunately, Underdog Fantasy has decided to exit the MLS prop pick’em market at this time. So we’re going to pick things back up on PrizePicks for the time being. If you want to play along with us, you can sign up for PrizePicks through this link.

We’re going to stick to a two-pick entry this week on PrizePicks and begin in Colorado where the Rapids are hosting LAFC. Denis Bouanga has been limited by the Black and Gold’s recent string of opponents, going six straight league matches without exceeding three shot attempts. But Bouanga’s track record in MLS shows that he’ll bounce back in a big way over the long haul. Bouanga has averaged 4.55 shot attempts per 90 minutes across his more than 10,000 MLS minutes and has recorded six shot attempts in each of the last two games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Then we’ll pair Bouanga’s shot attempts with the fantasy score of Kristoffer Velde. The Timbers winger is leading the team in shots, shots on target and crosses. He’s been over this number in four of his last five outings and with Portland’s match against San Diego sporting a 3.5 total, we’ll take Velde to rack up the fantasy points again at home in the midweek.

Using the standard payout selection on PrizePicks, this two-pick entry will payout a prize of 3x your entry fee if successful.

Results

Last Week: -1.0 U

Season: +0.13 U

Week 21 Picks

Charlotte FC

ML +190

Charlotte FC is on the road in the midweek after dispatching the Columbus Crew at home over the weekend by a 3-1 scoreline. They’ll head north of the border to take on Toronto FC and the home team will be without Djordje Mihailovic due to his red card suspension from Saturday’s home win over New England. The DP midfielder missed nearly four months earlier this season due to a pelvic stress fracture and Toronto won just one of 11 league matches in his absence. We’ll take Charlotte to win on the road.

ORL/CHI O 2.5 + CIN/NYCFC O 2.5

Parlay +100

While the “Lion Bowl” let us down over the weekend with just two measly goals, we’re going to stick with both of those teams and their affinity for high scoring affairs in their respective midweek matchups. Orlando will host Chicago in a matchup that has seen at least three goals in five of seven meetings since 2023. Fire matches are averaging 3.22 goals in 2026 while Orlando City has seen 4.16 goals per game in their matches this year.

Similar story for FC Cincinnati, who are hosting NYCFC at TQL Stadium. Cincy games have averaged 4.79 goals per game this season while NYCFC matches are averaging a more modest 3.16 per game. The totals for both fixtures are set at 3.5, so we’re going to take both games down to 2.5 on the total and pair them together for a nice even money parlay. Let’s see some goals!

Austin FC

Double Chance +110

Even though any Austin FC picks usually come with the standard “bias warning” here in The North End, we like the odds for the Verde and Black in this spot on the double chance considering the state of the Sounders. Seattle is currently in the midst of a club record losing streak, dropping seven consecutive league games and losing nine of their last ten across all competitions. Their injury report is the most grim of the league’s 30 teams at the moment, while Austin lists just Owen Wolff on theirs. ATX has gotten a result at Lumen Field in three of five all-time games at that venue and given the shorthanded nature of Seattle’s roster, we’ll take the visitors to earn a result near even money.

Portland Timbers

ML +105

Similar to our reasoning above, this pick is a bit more focused on the opponent’s issues. Anders Dreyer was sent off in second half stoppage time in Saturday’s win against LAFC and will miss this match. While San Diego has made some significant moves in this window, like loaning Hirving Lozano to the Galaxy while bringing in winger Elias Achouri, no Dreyer spells trouble for the second-year club. To their credit, the Timbers have also been playing well, winning four of their last five home matches across all competitions (and playing to a draw in the fifth). We’ll take them to keep their strong home form against a San Diego team on short rest without their best player.

Goal Scorers

Every week we’ll pick a few of our favorite goal scoring options in the betting market. Here are the Week 21 shouts.

  • Hany Mukhtar +185

  • Antoine Greizmann +165

  • Nicolas Fernandez Mercau +205

  • Dor Turgeman +200

  • Pep Biel +215

  • Santiago Moreno +300

  • Brandon Vazquez +260

  • Facundo Torres +475

  • Przemyslaw Placheta +750

  • Heung-Min Son +180

  • Ryan Hollingshead +2200

  • Hirving Lozano +180

  • Timo Werner +220

  • Kristoffer Velde +170

To Score Two Or More Goals

  • Antoine Griezmann +1000 (0.5 U)

  • Allan Saint-Maximin +2800 (0.5 U)

To Score Or Assist

  • Cavan Sullivan +180

  • Elias Saad +185

  • Brais Mendez -105

  • Jack Harrison +195

  • Allan Saint-Maximin +185

To Score Or Assist Two Or More Goals

  • Hany Mukhtar +500

  • Brais Mendez +500

Results

Last Week: +1.7 U

2026 Season: +14.19 U

The North End Pod
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