Week 2 MLS Picks
What a great start to the season we had! Hopefully you tagged along for some of the Week 1 fun.
Before we get to the picks as normal, a 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 2 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. We hit on our Week 1 entry, so here’s what we’re rolling with in Week 2 in an attempt to go back-to-back.
Sam Surridge made 28 appearances for Nashville SC last season. It was a dismal year for Nashville offensively but Surridge was one of the few bright spots. Across his 28 appearances in 2024, he took two or more shots in 18 of those games. He also played 76 minutes or more in 26 of those 28 games and went the full 90 in 19 of them, highlighting how rare it is for Surridge to come off early. Nashville is on the road to take on New York Red Bulls on Saturday, but Surridge was also extremely solid in his 13 appearances away from home last year, attempting two or more shots in nine of the 12 road matches when playing 76 minutes or more. He took five shots at home against New England in the opener, so we’re locking in Surridge higher than 1.5 shots attempted on Saturday.
For the second straight week we’re going to an Austin FC prop. Last week Guilherme Biro came through for us with his shots prop, this week we’re going to a newcomer in Myrto Uzuni. We don’t expect Uzuni to play more than 25 minutes off the bench on Saturday night against Portland, making his lower than 1.5 shots attempted at a 1.27x multiplier very enticing. Uzuni has played 98 games for club and country over the last three seasons and only once did he attempt two or more shots when playing 25 minutes or less, when he took two shots in 18 minutes against Almería on 10/1/23. For what it’s worth, he did also take two shots in 27 minutes against Cádiz on 11/23/24. But across his 90 domestic league appearances for Granada in that sample, he averaged just 2.72 shot attempts per 90 minutes. Considering the multipliers, this feels like a line that is set for a much more full complement of minutes for Austin’s new designated player and we can’t get away from it given how little we expect Uzuni to play on Saturday night. Updated 12:32pm CT: Reading through Underdog’s rules on how they score soccer props, Uzuni would be voided if he comes off the bench as expected. So we’re pivoting to Osman Bukari higher than 1.5 shot attempts at a 1.07x multiplier. Bukari has exceeded 65 minutes in a match with Austin FC five times, including in last week’s opening match against Sporting KC, when the Ghanaian winger went the full 90 for the first time with the team. Of those five matches, he’s taken two or more shot attempts in four of them. Bukari will have an advantageous matchup no matter which wing he lines up on this Saturday as Portland is expected to start two young and inexperienced players on their back line due to injury.
Finally, we get to our favorite pick of this week’s entry. Ex-Austin FC man Andrew Tarbell is now the starting goalkeeper for Houston, who host Inter Miami on Sunday evening. After defeating Sporting Kansas City in their first round CONCACAF Champions Cup matchup in the midweek, Inter Miami head coach Javi Mascherano confirmed that Lionel Messi is training at 100% & will be available for selection this weekend. That spells trouble for Houston and Tarbell. We love that Underdog is giving us a plus-one multiplier here on higher than 1.5 goals allowed. Across the 39 appearances that Messi has made with Inter Miami that we have stats for, the team has scored two or more goals in 27 of those games. Now against a Houston team that sure seems like a shell of their former selves compared to the last two quality seasons, there’s no reason Messi and friends shouldn’t be able to put multiple goals past ol’ Tarbs.
Using the standard payout selection on Underdog, this 3-pick entry will payout a prize of 7.06x your entry fee if successful.
Results
Underdog Fantasy (Last Week): +9.96 U
Underdog Fantasy (Season): +9.96 U
Week 2 Picks
Seattle Sounders
ML +165
A trio of money line picks highlight our Week 2 offerings. We’ll start with the mid-afternoon match on Saturday, as Seattle visits Real Salt Lake. Both teams were in action in the midweek finishing up their first round CONCACAF matchups. Seattle cruised to victory over Antigua Guatemala by a 6-2 aggregate scoreline, while RSL was upset 2-1 by Club Sport Herediano out of Costa Rica. Salt Lake is nowhere near the team they were through the first half of last season and have lacked a consistent offensive bite through their three matches over the last two weeks. Seattle was able to take it relatively easy against Antigua and should be able to run out a full-strength lineup on the road Saturday. We’ll side with the more talented team even on the road in elevation and take Seattle to win.
Austin FC
ML +210
No way we’re missing out on this juicy line. Austin travels to Portland on Saturday night to take on a Timbers side that is missing nearly half of its starting unit. ATX on the other hand has an empty injury report. No need to deep dive this one, it’s way too good a value to pass up, even if we weren’t Verde homers.
Inter Miami
ML +140
Hard to see Houston being able to keep up with Inter Miami on Sunday night if Messi, Alba, Busquets and Suarez are all going to give it a go. We won’t see their official injury report until Saturday afternoon, but Lizzy Becherano reported on Friday that Messi will be available. Being able to get the goat at plus-money always feels good and it’s even better to take him against the Orange team. Miami to win.
Goal Scorers
Every week we’ll pick a few of our favorite goal scoring options in the betting market. Here are the Week 1 shouts.
Emmanuel Latte Lath +190
Pedro De La Vega +475
Jesus Ferreira +280
Kelvin Yeboah +100
Chicho Arango +200
Jonathan Bamba +230
Denis Bouanga +150
Osman Bukari +280
Gabriel Pec +185
To Score Or Give Assist
Miguel Almiron +200
Hirving Lozano +110
Results
Last Week: +0.9 U
Season: +0.9 U
