The Stage is set! The Maryland Whipsnakes and Utah Archers are the final two teams standing in the Premier Lacrosse League’s 2024 season. The two teams will head to Subaru Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Sunday, September 15th’s PLL Cash App Championship game at 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN+. Let’s take a look at the PLL championship game picks, preview, and best bets.
The road to the championship game made a stop in Long Island, New York last week for the semi-finals round. The heavy championship favorites, and clearly the best team in the league throughout the season was the New York Atlas. They put up a high fight against the Whipsnakes in a thriller. The two teams battled it out into overtime. Seven minutes into overtime it was Levi Anderson playing hero and hitting the game-winner to pull off the upset and send the Whipsnakes to the title game.
The Utah Archers followed that game up by putting on a clinic over the Carolina Chaos. The Chaos pulled a huge upset in the quarterfinal round against the Boston Cannons but their luck dried up in the semifinals. Utah easily won this one with a 10-1 final score, the 2023 PLL champions’ dream of defending their title continues to live on as they’ll go for back-to-back titles this week.
PLL Cash App Championship Game Picks, Preview, and Best Bets
Championship Game Odds
Utah Archers -1.5 (+114)
Maryland Whipsnakes +1.5 (-145)
Game Total 23.5 (-115 either way)
Utah Archers Moneyline (-130)
Maryland Whipsnakes Moneyline (+100)
Utah Archers Moneyline (-130)
This should be a tough-fought battle, and likely a close game at the end of the day. With the Archers money line being at only -130, it makes saving yourself the hurt of Utah winning by a single point worth the little extra juice. Both of these teams have fought hard to get here and faced adversity along the way.
The teams did meet in Week 5 in Boston on Independence Day weekend. The Archers came away victorious with a final score of 16-11. Week 5 was a long time ago, and both teams have been through a lot since. The Archers were in this game last season and found their way to victory, I see them doing it again this year.
PLL Cash App Championship Game Picks, Preview, and Best Bets
Game Total Under 23.5 (-115)
Only the New York Atlas scored more than these two teams during the 2024 season. Last week in the semifinal round though both games showed us how serious these playoff games with big implications get, and they tend to shade towards the unders. New York and Maryland were the top two scoring teams in the league, it took them overtime to get to just 23 points, which would have still hit this under. Only 11 points were scored in the Utah-Carolina game. Both quarterfinal games went under this total as well with Carolina Boston hitting 12 points and Denver Maryland 22.
In the five PLL Championship games that have been held, the score has only gone over this total one time, last year’s Archers win where 29 points were scored. These teams did combine for 27 points in their Week 5 matchup, but combining playoff and championship game pressures, and the unders hitting four of five times, give me the under.
