It’s been an opening season fans and players in the greater St. Louis region won’t forget as MLS expansion side St. Louis City SC has raced out of the gate to a 17-5-11 mark in their first season in the league.
With one regular-season match remaining against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, St. Louis City SC has wrapped up the regular-season Western Conference title and the conference's top playoff seed, with a five-point lead over LAFC and a single match to play for each team.
With the MLS playoffs slated to start later this month, BetMissouri.com – your source for Missouri sportsbooks - broke down where the state’s newest professional sports team stands, odds-wise, to claim this year’s Western Conference championship and MLS Cup.
There are no Missouri sports betting apps, but on various sportsbooks that are legal in neighboring states like Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Kentucky, St. Louis City SC is ranked among the league leaders to capture either trophy in 2023, though the exact odds range a bit, depending on the operator.
Our Hypothetical for St. Louis City SC
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St. Louis City SC Would Make History
No modern MLS expansion club ever has won the league’s title in their first season, with Atlanta United FC being the fastest to do so (in their second season of play in 2018). The Chicago Fire won MLS Cup as a first-year team in 1998 but the whole league was only in its third season.
St. Louis City SC has the best odds of any modern expansion club at achieving such a feat, with a clear path to the MLS Cup championship match as LAFC is on the other side of the West bracket.
So, BetMissouri.com – your source for Missouri online casinos should iGaming come to the state – sees hypothetical odds of +812 for the expansion side of winning the 2023 MLS Cup. That equals out to an 11% probability. We peg FC Cincinnati (the Eastern Conference top seed) at +355 (22%) and 2022 league champs LAFC at +600 (14.3%) on our MLS Cup odds board.
The MLS’ newest club has better Western Conference championship odds, with our metrics given them +275 odds (or 26.7%) of getting past the wild-card round winner (either FC Dallas or the San Jose Earthquakes going into Saturday), the 4/5 winner, currently the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake, and a likely conference championship showdown with LAFC after that.
That road to history begins later this month, when the MLS Cup Playoffs kick off with the league’s wild card matches on Oct. 25 and 26. The 2023 MLS Cup final is slated to take place on Dec. 9.
Stay close to BetMissouri.com for updates on sports wagering legislation as well as for Missouri sportsbook promos for when betting becomes legal.
