Major League Soccer Betting Tips from our Experts
MLS BETTING TIPS 2024
Betting on the MLS is always an exciting opportunity - between the regular season, the playoffs and the MLS Cup final, there's plenty of action due to take place over the course of the season.
Major League Soccer (MLS) sees teams from both America and Canada (mainly America) battling it out in two conferences and then the MLS Cup playoffs. The 2024 season will see 29 clubs taking part, 15 in the Eastern Conference and 14 in the Western Conference, with the top nine teams in each conference earning a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Starting in 2025, San Diego FC will join as a new expansion team, bringing the total to 30 teams and an even 15/15 split. The defending MLS Cup champions are the Columbus Crew who beat the 2022 champions LAFC 2-1 in the final.
Columbus finished the regular season as the highest scoring team in the league with 67 goals in 34 matches. They would ultimately finish third in the East standings but caught fire at the perfect time en route to a third MLS Cup title. They'll now attempt to become just the fourth team to successfully defend their crown and the first since the 2012 LA Galaxy.
One of the biggest stories of the 2023 season was the incredible performance from St. Louis City SC, who were playing their first ever season in the MLS. St. Louis City would go on to finish first in the Western Conference, cementing themselves as one of the best expansion teams in the history of the league. The MLS is unique from many European leagues as they do not implement a relegation system.
Once again, all eyes are on Inter Miami who are getting the old Barcelona band back together in an attempt to deliver the David Beckham owned team a first MLS Cup title. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have a chance for a special season should they all stay healthy. The bookmakers clearly think they have more than enough firepower with betting sites listing the Herons as the favorites for the title.
MLS: THE STATISTICS TO KNOW
Statistics can help you get wins when betting on the MLS. Here is a selection of the top stats for the previous 2023 MLS season:
- Home win percentage: 48%
- Draw percentage: 29%
- Away win percentage: 23%
- Average goals per match: 2.76
- Average goals scored by home team: 1.69
- Average goals scored by away team: 1.07
- Over 1.5 goals: 77%
- Over 2.5 goals: 55%
- Over 3.5 goals: 30%
- Both teams to score (BTTS): 56%
- Most common half time score: 0-0 (30.9%)
- Most common full time score: 1-1 (12.9%)
- Total goals scored in first half: 45%
- Total goals scored in second half: 55%
- Most frequent total goals number: 3 (24.8%)
- Half time over 0.5 goals: 69%
- Half time over 1.5 goals: 38%
MLS: Our free prediction for the 2024 Season
We are down to the last two. The MLS Cup Final is on December 7 and will see the champions of the west take on the champions of the east. The LA Galaxy finished second to their cross-city rivals in the regular season in the west but they have got to the finals courtesy of wins over the Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United and our tip for glory, the Seattle Sounders.
Things were more difficult for the Red Bulls, only finishing 7th in the standings on their side of the country but they have taken off in the postseason. They knocked off the defending champion Columbus Crew in the opening round before winning the battle of New York in the second. Orlando City were the final team to fall to the Red Bulls.
The Galaxy are very short odds to win the final but the Red Bulls have already pulled off a number of shocks to make it this far. This could be a classic final with the LA Galaxy our prediction to win.
Here are the latest odds for the final.
Latest Odds to win the MLS Cup
- LA Galaxy - 1.30
- New York Red Bulls - 3.40
Odds taken from Bet365 prices correct as of 03/12/2024
