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 Friday, June 16:
TOP PLAY
The play: College baseball, Florida-Virginia UNDER 10½ runs
The odds: -132
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Our take: Life’s too short to bet the under in college baseball? Not in Omaha, where Charles Schwab Field is much more of a pitchers’ park than Rosenblatt Stadium ever was for the College World Series.
What’s more, we’ve got two teams with great starting pitching in this one. Florida hasn’t had a game go over 10½ runs in either the regional or super regional round and Virginia has held its postseason opponents to an average of fewer than 3 runs per game.
Add a couple of veteran coaches with national titles under their belt, and you should get a game that’s played close to the vest under the lights on the College World Series’ opening night.
Betting the under might not be glamorous, but life’s too short not to bet on winners when they’re staring you in the face.
MLB RUN LINE
The play: MLB, Pirates over Brewers
The odds: +102
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 8:10 p.m. (Apple TV+)
Our take: Jim picked on the Pirates for a Best Bets winner last night, so we’ll play the bounce-back angle here. These are the top two teams in the weak NL Central standings, and it’s actually the first time they’ve played all year long, so there should be some intensity from both sides despite mediocre records for so-called contenders.
Both have strong starting pitching for this one. The Pirates throw out Rich Hill, who has been surprisingly solid at his advanced age, especially on the road. Meanwhile, Milwaukee turns to Julio Teheran, who has good numbers in his three starts since returning from the injured list.
We’re going with the slight underdog here. Pittsburgh has a better lineup, and Milwaukee has been scuffling and is especially bad against left-handers (worst OPS in the majors vs. southpaws).
HOW WE’VE FARED
MLB: Braves/Astros parlay (LOST)
MLB: Cubs -1½ over Pirates (WON)
Thursday’s record: 1-1
Total for the week: 4-2, 2 pending
Total for June: 13-15, 2 pending
Total for 2023: 133-149, 2 pending
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).
