Sunday was a pretty laid-back day as I signed up some proxy clients for the contests at Circa and watched a bunch of baseball before finishing the night on VSiN’s “The Lookahead” show with Scott Siedenberg at 10:15 p.m. ET/7:15 p.m. PT or 15 minutes into the archived version.
We didn’t like many MLB underdogs on Sunday, but won our Best Bet on the Cardinals 1st 5 %plussign% 115 vs. the Yankees in a wild game with some controversial calls as they led 9-6 after the first five innings (and also went on to win 12-9). Unfortunately, I lost my second 1st 5 play on the Padres %plussign% 110 as Yu Darvish pitched well, but the Dodgers still led 2-0 after the first 5 innings as Tyler Anderson shut them down.
Let’s recap the rest of Sunday’s (full-game) betting results and look for more 1st 5 inning opportunities on Monday’s MLB card, plus an early NFL preseason game..
Sunday’s recaps
Top MLB Resources:
MLB: Faves went 9-6 on Sunday with the biggest upsets by the Reds (%plussign% 247 in a 4-2 win at the Brewers) and Pirates (%plussign% 163 in 8-1 rout at Orioles). Another key upset was the Cardinals (%plussign% 115 in 12-9 win vs. the Yankees for STL's 7th straight win and NYY's 5th straight loss). Home teams went 8-7. Overs 7-6-2 with pushes in the ATL-NYM (7) and PIT-BAL (9) games.
More MLB: Faves lead 963-641 SU (60 percent) on the season with 25 pick-'ems (faves usually win around 59 percent; still ahead of pace; gap had been narrowing but now back at 60 percent). Home teams lead just 857-772 (52.6 percent, but usually closer to 54 percent). Unders lead 798-748-78 (51.6 percent).
Monday’s Takes
Angels 1st 5 %plussign% 100 at the A’s: I don’t see many live dogs on Monday’s MLB card (though I found the Cardinals on Sunday’s card when faves went 9-6) and gave this out on “The Lookahead.” It basically came down to the fact that, while the Angels have underachieved all season, they’re still better than the A’s and I say the wrong team is favored. The Angels’ Jose Suarez isn’t that great, but he’s just as good as the A’s Cole Irvin; in fact, the Angels beat the A’s 3-1 (and also led 3-1 after 5 innings) when these two pitchers faced each other on my birthday (Aug. 2) just last week. I’m not really high on a second play, but while I was talking with Seidenberg, he made a case for fading the Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi and taking the Orioles 1st 5 %plussign% 120 vs. the Blue Jays, and that seems like as good of a second play as there is (I also considered the Mariners/Gilbert 1st 5 %plussign% 100 vs. the slumping Yankees, but that price seems too short).
Thursday: Patriots %plussign% 1.5 vs. the Giants: This game kicks off the NFL Preseason Week 1. We’ll add more picks during the week as we hear from more coaches on their QB rotations and how long starters might be playing (note: following my lead of shortening baseball games with 1st 5 wagers, I might be betting more 1st halves this preseason). We shall see. Anyway, Belichick is 49-36 ATS (57.6 percent) in preseason games so he knows how to prepare for these while the Giants’ Brian Daboll has his first head coaching job.
Good luck today (and every day!).
