Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Saturday, Oct. 29:
TOP PLAY
The play: College football, Kentucky +12.5 at Tennessee
The odds/bet: -105 ($31.50 to win $30)
The book: BetMGM
Time/TV: 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Our take: The hype train on the Volunteers is rolling rapidly down the tracks, and rightfully so — Tennessee went from unranked to top 5 in the matter of seven short weeks, making Hendon Hooker a Heisman candidate and enflaming a long-dormant fan base in the process.
But this spot is right for Kentucky. Tennessee has an enormous showdown coming with No. 1 Georgia next week, a game that will be the biggest for the once-proud program in more than 20 years.
Of course, they have to win this one first. And the Wildcats are not the team you want to play when focus might not be the easiest. They’re a smart, tough defensive team … that happens to have an NFL quarterback in Will Levis to help keep pace when Tennessee inevitably puts up some points.
We aren’t saying Kentucky wins this game (though the +350 money line is tempting), but it should be close throughout.
WORLD SERIES PART 2
The play: World Series Game 2, Astros to beat Phillies
The odds/bet: -138 ($13.80 to win $10)
The book: FanDuel
Our take: We came oh-so-close to a 3-0 on yesterday’s World Series best bets and instead crashed into a 1-2 with an unfortunate fifth inning. You’ve got to pay a little juice here, but the play in Game 2 is a little more straightforward: It’s the Astros to even up the series.
The Phillies do have Zack Wheeler, their best starter, lined up, but the Astros counter with Framber Valdez, who is much less known than Justin Verlander but has been Houston’s best starter in the playoffs. And if the game stays close late again, the Astros have the deeper bullpen and should have a sizable edge a day after both managers had to use all of their best arms.
Astros at slightly plus money to win the series isn’t a bad play, either, but we’ll stick with the single-game bet. Philly seems like a team of destiny, but they’ve also followed a pattern throughout the last two rounds: Steal Game 1 at home and then lose Game 2 in a bit of a letdown before returning home with a split.
HOW WE’VE FARED
World Series: Aaron Nola OVER 5.5 strikeouts (LOST $33)
World Series: Justin Verlander earns win (LOST $10)
World Series: No Runs First Inning (WON $10)
Friday’s profit/loss: -$33, (1-2)
Total for the week: -$177.40 (2-8)
Total for October: +$172.80 (30-21)
Total for 2022: -$31.90 (275-304)
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
