

Matt Severance
Severance Pays
Matt Severance is a well-connected writer and high-volume handicapper who has worked in the industry since 2005. After joining SportsLine, Matt quickly established himself as a top expert in multiple sports. Over the past five NBA seasons, Matt has returned $4,931 to $100 bettors. Over the past four MLB seasons, Matt is up $1,681. He also has returned $1,437 to $100 players over the past three NFL seasons. In the 2025 college football season, Matt finished 76-53 (plus $960). Matt believes in buying points in football to get off a push number like 3 or 7. He understands that oddsmakers don't do as much homework on lower-tier FBS games, creating betting opportunities. And he says homefield advantage is underrated in some markets and overrated in others. For Matt Severance media inquiries, contact SportsLine@CBSInteractive.com.
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Matt's Past Picks
The teams are adjacent in the Western Conference standings, but the injury report favors L.A. as the Sounders have a handful of guys out or iffy led by Jesús Ferreira and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi. One of the notable MLS results of the season was May 16 when L.A. won 2-0 in Seattle to snap the Sounders' 22-match home unbeaten streak. It was the Galaxy's first win up there since July 2016. Player news is pretty much all good for Los Angeles led by the return from injury of Designated Player forward João Klauss. He's tied for the team lead with five goals despite not having played since April. Seems a really fair DNB number at least in regard to MLS prices often being kinda wonky.
I looked at DNB for Houston yesterday and couldn't justify it priced around -250. But now this ... and love it so much I'm going fairly big because I believe the home side draws at worst. The Dynamo are eight spots higher and 11 points better in the West, so feel free to take the -110 ML but I like insurance. RSL has some major player availability concerns (led by Morgan Guilavogu) with a single road win. Houston has just two losses in 11 at home and has kept 11 clean sheets overall. This smells fishy, but I don't pretend to be a Wile E. Coyote MLS super-genius -- highly recommend the Coyote vs. Acme movie if you grew up watching as I did.
Tonight marks the ninth straight non-true home game in all competitions for FC Dallas. That has to be draining, and it seemed to show last time out in a 5-0 loss in Vancouver. St. Louis City FC, meanwhile, is beaten in 12 straight in all competitions (club record) and has set an MLS record with an 11-match unbeaten regular-season run. The sides drew 1-1 in April. City SC is unbeaten in four (two draws) at home in all competitions vs. Dallas. And it's Harry Potter Night at Energizer Park! I really can't segue to that cleverly having never seen or read a second of HP.
Today years old when I found out this is called the Rocky Mountain Clash. Sounds like monster trucks and mud to me but whatever. So how I bet soccer isn't rocket science. I skim all the leagues to see a decent home DNB price first and then go investigate. Certainly don't always play them, and some prices I think are just wrong. Which brings me here in MLS. Some of our books have this DNB in the -250 range, so that piqued my interest getting this "value" number even if high. The visitors have quite the laundry list of guys either out or questionable, although I won't say any of them are stars. The Rapids are 10-2-0 at home with seven clean sheets.
Faded New York FC on Wednesday because the side was ravaged by injury, and it lost 2-1 in Cincinnati -- a fourth straight defeat in all competitions. All those guys are out again led by Hannes Wolf and Maxi Moralez. The Revs have one of the best home records in the league at 8-2-1 and have scored 21 of their 32 total goals in Foxborough. Jack Harrison was recently acquired from Leeds United and has four assists in three games.
Played FC Cincinnati in its last game because it was home and healthy, while the visitors had a ton of guys listed out. That worked out well Wednesday with the Fighting Skyline Chilis beating NYFC, 2-1, to improve to 11-3-1 at home in all competitions and on a four-game winning streak there. Same situation here really. Seattle, near the bottom of the Western Conference, has a laundry list of guys ruled out and has lost eight straight in MLS action. It's the first time the Sounders have left the West Coast in weeks.
Teams are separated by a point in the Eastern Conference table but while FC Cincinnati isn't listing a single player on the availability report tonight, New York FC has eight guys out led by second-leading goalscorer Hannes "Teen" Wolf (5G, 2A), leading assister Maxi Moralez (6A, 1G) and top defender Thiago Martins. At least that's what ChatGPT told me; obviously I went and double-checked when it mentioned Pele, so it actually took more time. FC Cincinnati is 10-3-1 at home in all competitions this season and won the past three there in MLS action. These teams drew 4-4 in late April. Those three NY guys I mentioned all played.
Chicago is fourth in the East with 29 points and has a plus-9 goal differential while Portland is 10th in the West with 24 points and is even on differential. It's Portland's first visit to the Windy City in eight years and marks the MLS debut of new Portland head coach Martí Cifuentes. Second-leading scorer and top assister Kristoffer Velde (4G, 6A) is in doubt after leaving a Leagues Cup this week injured. The Timbers are 2-6-1 in road games. Led by new addition and European superstar Robert Lewandowski (2G in three games), Chicago is on a four-game winning streak in all competitions.
With my limited knowledge of MLS -- now that we have it, I dive in and sponge knowledge like I did in Europe a few years ago; I enjoy betting/learning new sports with cricket as my White Whale -- this seems a fair price Saturday. The Revs are unbeaten out of the World Cup break. Matt Turner is their keeper, and he was the backup for Team USA at the WC. Turner has among the highest save rates in the MLS (77.7%). New England has one regulation home loss with a +13 goal differential in Foxborough and is 7-2-1 in the past 10 meetings in this series overall. Houston has three road wins this year in eight tries and is -4 in goal differential away.
