Wednesday Betting Recaps
After dogs have been barking a lot lately, chalk bettors got a little payback on Wednesday, though it was a close call in the NHL playoffs as well as MLB with several games right around pick-’em.
Even though I’m on a family vacation in Hawaii, we still use the ViewFromVegas Consensus Closing Lines from the Don Best Sports odds screen to grade the daily betting action and the Florida Panthers were an average of -110 in their 4-3 home win that eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes. Some would say that’s pick-’em with the standard 20-cent line, but with some Vegas books offering lower juice, the Hurricanes average just over -105, so the Panthers were clear favorites, even if ever so slightly.
Let’s get to the specific details with our nightly betting recaps, and then update the spread and total records in each sport.
NHL: Panthers beat Hurricanes 4-3 to complete 4-0 sweep of Eastern Conference Finals and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Panthers closed as slight -110 home favorites (note: the Hurricanes averaged just above -105, so Panthers were clear faves). The game went Over the betting total of 5.5 goals. Home/fave/Over went 1-0 on the night. The "zig-zag" (aka "loser of the last") was 0-1 as the Hurricanes lost the previous game.
More NHL: Faves/dogs are back to .500 in this round at 3-3 with 1 game closing pick-’em, but dogs still lead 41-36 in the playoffs with 3 PKs. Home teams improved to 4-3 this round but road teams still lead 44-36 overall. Unders lead 5-2 this round, but Overs lead 40-39-1. The zig-zag is a woeful 0-5 this round, but still leads 37-29 overall.
MLB: Faves went 8-6 Wednesday with the Astros-Brewers game closing pick-’em. The biggest upsets were by the Reds (+138 vs. Cardinals), Nationals (+132 vs. Padres) and Orioles (+130 at Yankees). Home teams went 10-5. Overs led 8-7. Faves lead 429-306 on the season with 9 PKs. Home teams lead 398-344 with 2 neutral-site games. Overs lead 362-353-28 with 1 no-action.
NBA (ICYMI): With the Nuggets’ win at the Lakers on Tuesday night, dogs improved to 5-2 SU and a perfect 7-0 ATS in this round, though faves still lead 49-25 SU and 40-33-1 ATS (54.8%) overall in the playoffs with 1 game closing pick-’em. Road teams took a 4-3 SU lead in this round and improved to 6-1 ATS. Home teams still lead 47-28 SU and 41-33-1 ATS (55.4%). Overs dipped to 5-2 this round and still lead 39-34-2 (53.4%) overall. The zig-zag improved to 2-3 ATS this round and 32-28-1 ATS (53.3%).
