MLS Week 20 Odds & Picks: Miami vs Chicago, Nashville vs Orlando & More

• MLS Week 20 takes place from August 17-18, 2021
• Can Nashville remain undefeated at home? Will Vancouver draw a sixth time in a row?
• Read on for the odds and our best bets from MLS Week 20

MLS Week 20 starts with two matches late Tuesday night with both the LA Galaxy hosting Colorado and San Jose hosting Minnesota at 10:30 pm EST. Wednesday night includes a jam-packed slate of 11 more matches.

Let’s look ahead to the odds and best bets from the MLS Week 20 schedule below. For those looking to place a bet on MLS in Maryland, you may be able to do so soon! Maryland sports betting is set to launch this fall.

MLS Week 20 Odds

Odds as of August 16 at DraftKings

Inter Miami vs Chicago Fire Prediction

It’s the just second all-time meeting between Miami and Chicago when they meet at 7:30 pm EST Wednesday in MLS Week 20.

Chicago held the MLS Cup champs Columbus Crew scoreless on Sunday in a 1-0 win. Luka Stojanovic’s 77′ goal was the loan marker, his third goal in two games.

It was their second-straight win and fourth-straight without a loss. In fact, the Fire have lost just once in their past six. Five of those six matches though have come at Soldier Field. On Wednesday they’ll be in Miami. And away from Soldier Field, they are one of four teams (Vancouver, Houston and Nashville) who are still winless. The Fire have actually been lucky to have only played six away matches so far—several teams have played into the double digits already.

There it is! 🔥

Luka Stojanovic finds the opening goal for @ChicagoFire! pic.twitter.com/rw2YOQBfsH

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 15, 2021

The last time Chicago won a road date? October 6, 2019, a whole 17 matches ago. What’s worst, is that in those following 17 matches, they’ve kept just one clean sheet. That came last year in a 0-0 draw with the offensively challenged FC Cincinnati.

Miami may have more goals (15) than only expansion Austin FC (13), but they had at least scored and gone undefeated in four straight, before Saturday’s 2-0 road loss to NYCFC. But expecting Miami to keep a clean sheet has also been a poor bet this season, as they’ve managed to do so just once.

Tough night on the road against a tough opponent, but we're ready to rebound with two matches at home this week at #DRVPNKStadium. pic.twitter.com/kSwBCxwuqX

— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) August 15, 2021

Backing a half-time draw (+125) could offer some value when you consider each team’s poor first-half records. Chicago is 3-10-6 (WDL) at the half, while Miami is a league-worst 2-7-8. Miami has also only scored three goals in the first halves of matches all season.

Pick: Both Teams to Score (-145)

Nashville SC vs Orlando City Prediction

It’s a top-four matchup in the East when third-place Nashville (31 points) hosts fourth-place Orlando (30 points) at 8:30 pm EST in MLS Week 20 action.

These teams met three times last season and each collected four points. Orlando won 3-1 at home in the first meeting, followed by a 1-1 draw in Nashville and a 3-2 Nashville win in Orlando in the final meeting.

It’s been a break-through year for Nashville only suffering two defeats through 19 games in this just their second season in MLS. One of those losses came two rounds ago, a 2-1 loss to Miami, but otherwise they are 5-5-1 (WDL) in their past 11. Their impressive run continued on Sunday when their offense exploded for five goals in a 5-2 home win over DC. CJ Sapong scored twice in the first half, and Alex Muyl added a brace of his own in the final ten minutes, which bracketed a Hany Mukhtar 37′ minute goal.

No team has collected more home points than Nashville has at Nissan Stadium. Neither of their two losses came at home and they’ve allowed just 12 goals in 12 games. They’ve scored the most home goals as well with 27 in 12 matches. Now, that number can be slightly skewed when you consider ten have come in two games. Five on the weekend, and another five in a July 17 5-1 win over Chicago. Regardless, they’ve only failed to score at home once all season and that was back in May. In their past four at Nissan Stadium they’ve found the back of the net 15 times.

Orlando City is coming off back-to-back 1-1 draws, but have only lost once in their past six. Orlando has scored 28 goals on the year and have actually only been held off the scoresheet on two occasions thus far. Away from Exploria Stadium, they’ve kept just one clean sheet though, in nine road matches.

Pick: Both Teams to Score (-130)

#NYCFC are hot, but #NERevs stay on top in the East pic.twitter.com/VOkYBsXZrz

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 16, 2021

Austin FC vs Vancouver Whitecaps Prediction

Wednesday night at 9:00 pm EST sees the first-ever meeting between Austin and Vancouver taking place in MLS Week 20. Both find themselves at the bottom of the Western standings, with Vancouver 12th at 17 points and Austin 13th at 16 points. The only team in MLS with fewer points is TFC in the East.

Vancouver has the advantage of extra rest having played on Friday in San Jose, in a scoreless draw. It was incredibly the fifth-straight draw for the Whitecaps and the seventh draw in their past nine matches.

In Vancouver’s last 13 matches the OVER has been the way to play at 10-3. On the season they are 11-7 to the OVER. However, the UNDER has hit in their past two draws, 0-0 and 1-1.

The Vancouver Whitecaps say striker Lucas Cavallini will miss the next several weeks with a knee injury.https://t.co/0IWryGqJ3l

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 11, 2021

They’ll face an Austin side that’s reeling with losses in six of seven. On the weekend they fell 1-0 on the road to RSL. It was the second-straight game the Verde and Black were held scoreless. Austin have just 13 goals scored on the season and their matches have been notoriously low-scoring. They’re 14-4 to the UNDER and at home are 5-2 to the UNDER.

These teams unsurprisingly rank near the bottom of the expected goals charts and also in shots. The Whitecaps have the fewest shots on target overall with just 53, while Austin ranks 23rd with 65. This could be another game to back the UNDER (-105) or another draw.

Pick: Draw (+280)