Week 26 MLS Picks
Another great weekend for the picks led us into the All-Star break. Now we’ve got a split slate between Friday and Saturday before Leagues Cup begins on Wednesday, so the article is out a bit early for Week 26.
Before we get to the picks as normal, another reminder that we’ve got an addition to this weekly article in 2025. If you’ve been following along with the podcast during the offseason, you’ll know we’ve partnered with Underdog Fantasy. If you want to play along with us at Underdog, you can sign up today using this link and when you use promo code "NORTHEND" at sign up you'll get up to $1000 in bonus cash plus a free pick!
The official league injury report for Saturday’s games came out Friday afternoon, let’s dive into the Week 26 picks.
Underdog Fantasy Entry of the week
Each match week, we’ll have an Underdog Fantasy entry for you to tail if your heart desires. Let’s get to the board and build a winner!
One word of caution for our Underdog Fantasy picks this weekend, although we are using a number of players who played limited minutes in the All-Star game on Wednesday night in our entries, there is certainly a chance that those guys may come off the bench. We’ll start with one of those players and go back to Marco Pasalic. Orlando City SC is on the road to take on Columbus Crew on Friday night and while the Crew are one of the best teams in the league at limiting opponent shot attempts, we can’t pass up Pasalic at this number with a 1.04x multiplier. He’s averaging 3.47 shot attempts per 90 minutes this season and has three or more shot attempts in 15 of his 24 appearances. Pasalic has also gone over this number in six of the ten games he’s played fewer than 80 minutes.
Then we’ll attack the Galaxy defense, something we’ve done so often that we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve gone here in 2025. Novak Micovic is giving up 1.69 goals against per 90 minutes this season and has conceded two or more goals in eight of his 13 starts. The Galaxy are conceding exactly two goals per game in 2025 and have given up two or more in 15 of their 24 MLS matches this year. They’re also -140 at the books to concede twice on Friday night.
To close out this weekend’s entry, we go to the nation’s capital to target against the porous DC United defense. They have nobody to deal with Osman Bukari’s speed down the right flank (to be fair, not many teams do) and to be getting his shot on target prop essentially at a 1x multiplier feels great. The Ghanaian winger is averaging 0.88 shots on target per 90 this season and has recorded at least one shot on target in nine of his last 12 starts.
Using the standard payout selection on Underdog, this 3-pick entry will payout a prize of 6.05x your entry fee if successful.
We’ve added some additional plays that can be substituted in place of the props given above if you miss lock for one of those games or one of those options doesn’t start. The additional plays this week are listed in order of preference and we’re fine using these props in any entry.
Chicho O 3.5 shots attempted (1.11x)
Hany Mukhtar O 1.5 shots on target (1.21x)
Roman Celentano U 1.5 goals allowed (1.13x)
Results
Underdog Fantasy (Last Week): +4 U
Underdog Fantasy (Season): +19.98 U
Week 26 Picks
Nashville SC
+175
San Diego has been great this season and coming out of the All-Star break they’re still sitting in the top spot in the Western Conference. But they’ve been inconsistent of late, losing at home to both Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo in the month of July and also playing Vancouver Whitecaps to a draw at Snapdragon Stadium. Nashville is one of the strongest sides in the league, with an MLS best +17 goal differential. Since April 26, they’ve earned 34 points over 15 league matches. They can get it done anywhere, so we’ll take Nashville to win at plus money.
FC Cincinnati
ML +170
This one is fairly simple and you’ll want to jump on it quickly before it moves too much. Cincy destroyed Inter Miami at home just 10 days ago and while they’re on the road in this one, Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba are both (rightfully) suspended on Saturday evening. Knifey Lions to win.
Seattle Sounders
ML +155
Even with names like Jordan Morris (again), Paul Rothrock and Stefan Frei out this weekend, there’s no way that the Sounders odds to win should be this long. Seattle has been middle of the pack in terms of their offensive output this season, but Atlanta United has been straight up bad on both sides of the ball, scoring ten less goals and conceding ten more times than the Sounders. We’ll take Seattle to bring all three points back to the PNW.
Austin FC
ML +160
Like we talked about on Thursday’s episode, despite Austin FC being a mediocre MLS team to this point of 2025, they’re a better side than DC United. The home team has given up double the amount of goals at home than they’ve scored and have earned just 11 points from 12 home matches. ATX on the other hand has found their footing of late and are looking to continue taking advantage of a “soft” second half schedule, with ten of their final 12 games against teams below them in the Supporter’s Shield standings. We’ll back our favorite team (as per usual) to win in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
Minnesota United
ML +140
Another game on this slate where the road team is just flat out more talented than the host side. The Loons are currently third in the Western Conference, just two points back of San Diego for the top spot. They’ve also been one of the league’s best road squads in 2025, earning 20 points from their 12 games. Minnesota is a better team through and through compared to St. Louis City SC, who have just 18 points on the season and have lost 13 of their last 19 league games dating back to March 22. STL has been poor at home in 2025, with just 13 points from their 11 home matches. We’ll take the Loons to continue their success with a win and maybe jump into first place by the end of the weekend.
Goal Scorers
Every week we’ll pick a few of our favorite goal scoring options in the betting market. Here are the Week 26 shouts.
Leo Campana +150
Giacomo Vrioni +200
Gabriel Pec +260
Joseph Paintsil +270
Hany Mukhtar +215
Hirving Lozano +230
Evander +160
Luca Orellano +450
Djordje Mihailovic +280
Danny Musovski +210
Pedro De La Vega +450
Myrto Uzuni +225
Osman Bukari +340
Phillip Zinckernagel +210
Chicho +190
Dejan Joveljic +215
Results
Last Week: +3.85 U
Season: +48.9 U
