The 2019 Major League Soccer season begins Saturday. As we outlined in our, uh, let's call it preview, it’s gonna be an exciting campaign. But who are the favorites to reach the playoffs and win it all? Let’s take a look at the 2019 MLS odds.
Atlanta United won the 2019 MLS Cup with an exciting team led by record goal scorer Josef Martinez. But it was the New York Red Bulls who actually won the Supporters’ Shield, setting a league record for points in a season.
Not surprisingly, the Five Stripes and NYRB rank at the top of the list for the 2019 MLS odds.
2019 MLS Odds
The folks at fivethirtyeight.com have a brilliant breakdown of who is most likely to reach the playoffs, earn a first-round bye, win the Supporters’ Shield and win the MLS Cup. They ranked Atlanta United first followed by New York Red Bulls, Sporting KC, Seattle and NYCFC.
Last year, Atlanta beat NYRB and NYCFC on the way to the final, where it edged Portland 2-0. Portland came in at seventh most likely to win the Cup, just behind LAFC.
At the bottom of the 2019 MLS odds, according to fivethirtyeight, are the Colorado Rapids. Despite the fact they finished 10 points ahead of last-place San Jose last season and made some positive offseason moves (Kei Kamara, anyone?), the Rapids were given a 15 percent chance of reaching the playoffs and less than a one percent chance of winning it all.
Even league newbie FC Cincinnati has a better chance of reaching the postseason according to these 2019 MLS odds, with a one-in-four probability from fivethirtyeight.
The statistics-based website also ranked the clubs by offensive and defensive capabilities. Not surprisingly, Atlanta United was ranked as the best offense. The Five Stripes sold Miguel Almiron but bought Pity Martinez and will hope to not miss a beat under new coach Frank de Boer. Colorado’s offense was ranked the worst after scoring a league-low 36 goals last year, which won’t please Tim Howard in his final professional season.
Defensively, no one was ranked higher than the Red Bulls, who gave up a league-low 33 goals last season but will have to learn to cope without midfield dynamo Tyler Adams, now playing with sister club RB Leipzig in Germany. San Jose won a heated race for the worst defense, though Orlando City shipped three more goals last season.
Of course, these are all 2019 MLS odds — read: not set in stone and purely for fun. That’s the beauty of sport: watching to see what happens (and not wasting money to bet on what happens).
As for who will win the end-of-season awards, here are my personal predictions:
2019 MLS Award Predictions
- MVP — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
- Defender of the Year — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
- Goalkeeper of the Year — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
- Coach of the Year — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
- Rookie of the Year — Efrain Alvarez, LA Galaxy
- Newcomer of the Year — Pity Martinez, Atlanta United
- Golden Boot — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
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