Against the spread (ATS) explained for pick'em players
What "against the spread" means, how the point spread works, what a push is, and how to pick ATS in a pick'em pool without any betting jargon.
“Against the spread” is one of those phrases that sounds like it needs a finance degree and turns out to be dead simple. If you’ve seen “ATS” thrown around, or you’ve spotted the Spread mode in PickemSZN and weren’t sure what it was, here’s the whole idea without the jargon.
What does “against the spread” mean?
Against the spread (ATS) means picking a team to beat the point spread, not just to win the game. The point spread is the margin the favorite is expected to win by. To pick a team “against the spread,” you’re betting they’ll do better than that margin.
So there are two ways to be right:
- Back the favorite — they have to win by more than the spread.
- Back the underdog — they “cover” by keeping it close, losing by less than the spread, or winning outright.
The winner of the game and the winner against the spread are often different, and that’s the whole point. A team can win the game but fail to cover, and an underdog can lose the game but still be the correct ATS pick.
How the point spread works, with an example
Say the favorite is a -6.5 point favorite (the underdog is +6.5). The 6.5 is the margin.
- Pick the favorite ATS → they need to win by 7 or more.
- Pick the underdog ATS → they cover if they lose by 6 or fewer, or win the game.
So if the favorite wins 27–24 (a 3-point win), the team won but did not cover the 6.5. The underdog was the right ATS pick, even though they lost the game.
What is a push?
A push is when the final margin lands exactly on the spread. If the spread is a whole number, say -7, and the favorite wins by exactly 7, nobody covered. It’s a tie against the number.
In PickemSZN’s spread game, a push simply doesn’t count, no win, no loss, like the game never happened for scoring purposes.
How ATS picks are scored on PickemSZN
Spread picking is its own game mode, and the scoring is deliberately simple:
- Every correct spread pick is worth one point, flat. The odds don’t come into it.
- A push counts for nothing.
- Spread has its own separate leaderboard, independent from the odds-based game.
Because the two games are independent, you can pick the same matchup both ways, a straight-up winner in the odds game and a side against the spread, and each is scored on its own board. If you want the odds-based side of the app, I break it down in How pick’em scoring with betting odds works.
Why ATS is the great equalizer
Here’s why I love the spread game: it strips out the odds entirely, so a casual fan with a good read on a matchup has every bit as much chance as someone drowning in advanced stats. Beating the spread is about judgment, is this favorite going to cruise, or is the underdog going to hang around and make it ugly? One point either way, may the best gut win.
Flip the Odds / Spread switch at the top of the Picks page to try it, or read the full rules on the how to play page. It’s free either way, come pick a few sides at pickemszn.com.