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 Sunday, June 25:
TOP PLAY
The play: CONCACAF Gold Cup, Qatar over Haiti
The odds: -110
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 6 p.m. (FS1)
Our take: Qatar moved into CONCACAF a few years ago for the Gold Cup, which it used to prepare for the 2022 World Cup. While the Maroons performed poorly on the world’s biggest stage, those results came against much tougher opponents than the ones they’ll face in this federation.
The Qatari team possesses some genuine talent. The last time that Qatar played in the Gold Cup, it had two wins and one draw in total against tough opposition. The Maroons scored 12 goals in four games — conceding five — against Panama (No. 58 in FIFA World Rankings), Grenada (No. 175), Honduras (No. 80) and El Salvador (No. 75).
Qatar also went toe-to-toe with the United States (No. 13) in the semifinal to cap off a wonderful tournament. All told it has racked up wins over Bulgaria (No. 76), Egypt (No. 35), Iraq (No. 67) and Jamaica (No. 63) over the last few international windows.
The Maroons (No. 61) should be able to comfortably dispatch one of CONCACAF’s middle-of-the-road representatives in Haiti (No. 87). This is also the most winnable game of the Gold Cup’s group stages for Qatar, who will also play Honduras and Mexico.
TAKING THE FAVORITE IN THE TRAVELERS
The play: Travelers Championship, Keegan Bradley to win
The odds: -125
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7:30-3 p.m. (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Our take: It’s a two-horse race heading into the final round at TPC in the Travelers Championship. Keegan Bradley (-21) and Chez Reavie (-20) lead the rest of the field by at least four strokes — Patrick Cantlay sits third at -16 — which means they will be playing for the purse by themselves.
While Reavie had a better second round than Bradley, we’re going to side with the man with a bit more experience. Bradley has five career wins on the PGA Tour to Reavie’s three, and 11 overall wins to the latter’s five. The former also has the more recent victory of the two, as he won the Zozo Championship in October 2022.
Bradley knows how to handle the pressure, which he has shown on numerous occasions. The Vermont native is ranked 80 places higher in the World Golf Rankings. Therefore, we’re willing to take the bait and make the safe play on Bradley to win at -125.
HOW WE’VE FARED
College World Series: LSU vs. Florida UNDER 10 runs (WON)
Gold Cup: USA -1 over Jamaica (LOST)
Saturday’s record: 1-1
Total for the week: 6-4
Total for June: 23-24
Total for 2023: 143-158
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).
