At least, there was some drama on the diamond. NFL? Not so much.
The Blue Jays earned a World Series berth against the Dodgers with a 4-3 victory over the Mariners. George Springer was the Game 7 hero with a three-run homer in the seventh inning.
LA is a -210 World Series favorite vs. Toronto’s +180 at DraftKings. Game 1 is Friday in Toronto.
Before he left for Kentucky, VSiN By The Books host Dave Ross put $3,000 on the Blue Jays to win the World Series at +2200. He gave up a little early on Monday night, but lives to see at least four more games.
One word, Dave: Hedge.
VSiN.com managing editor Adam Burke do his Series preview later this week, but gives Dave some glimmer of hope:
The Dodgers look pretty much unbeatable right now, but the team with the best chance in the AL is absolutely the Blue Jays. Their high contact rate with a league-best 17.8% K% in the regular season and postseason batting average near .300 at least gives them the hope of competing with the LA offense because they shouldn’t be overpowered by the Dodgers pitching staff. Plus, Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage having good splitters can help them against lefties, potentially keeping Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman at bay. Unfortunately, the righties (Mookie Betts, Teoscar and Enrique Hernandez mostly) have done a lot of the damage.
Toronto manager John Schneider didn’t really trust his relievers much as the ALCS wore on, using Gausman in relief and then getting the eighth inning from Chris Bassitt, who had only pitched 1.2 innings since September 18 in the high-leverage 8th inning of Game 7. Toronto is an awesome story and we know anything can happen in baseball, but the DraftKings series price of -210 implies about a 68% likelihood of LA winning. I’d say it’s a little higher than that.
MNF favorites roll
While you were sleeping (on the East Coast): The Seahawks (-3), despite four turnovers, beat the Texans 27-19 in the MNF nightcap. The Total went Over 41.5.
In the first game, the Lions (-4.5) dismissed the Bucs 24-9 and stayed Under 54.
QB Updates:
Ravens: Lamar Jackson (hamstring) didn’t practice as the team came back from its bye week. John Harbaugh said a decision would emerge later in the week.
Panthers: Bryce Young (high ankle sprain) will miss Sunday’s game vs. the Bills and maybe more. Andy Dalton is up next.
Commanders: Jayden Daniels (hamstring) avoided a serious injury, but his status for Sunday’s game vs. the Chiefs is TBD.
Dolphins: Tia Tagovailoa (poor performance) will remain the starter, according to Mike McDaniel, who will remain the coach.
>Everything we do on NFL Week 8 is posted here.
Your daily betting guide to the NBA
The NBA tips off tonight with a doubleheader on NBC:
Rockets (+7 at Circa) at Thunder, 7:30 ET
Warriors (-2) at Lakers, 10 ET
Let’s take this opportunity to go over what we offer daily on the NBA.
>Zach Cohen will produce two stories on the NBA on weekdays — one with his Best Bets and one looking at the Opta AI prop projections for value. And he will do a shorter piece on the weekends.
>Steve Makinen will do a daily NBA Analytics Report, which includes relevant trends, betting systems, schedule advantage scenarios and strength ratings interpretations. The report also has his betting splits systems.
You will find them mid-morning on our NBA page.
Steve has updated his NBA betting splits systems based on a fresh analysis of the data — and he actually finds some scenarios when you should follow the majority of DraftKings bettors.
Steve also shares his top schedule-based betting systems (three games in four days, etc.) for every team.
Other NBA resources
>Makinen’s daily power ratings
Get the DonBest NBA Rotation Guide (through Dec. 23), ready for download.
College Football Week 9 is here
Week 9 of the college football season kicks off with Kennesaw State (-3) at FIU (7 ET, ESPN2) and Western Kentucky (+3.5) at Louisiana Tech (7:30 ET, CBSSN).
Adam Burke, our resident Conference USA expert, offers his opinions on both games.
Everything we have on Week 9 will be here, including Tyler Shoemaker’s early Best Bets.
Get the DonBest Pro and College Football Rotation Guide (starting this week and through the postseason), ready for download now.
Quick Hits
Contest Corner: In Circa Survivor, there remain 4,214 live entries as 51 advanced on Seattle and 34 on Detroit.
NHL: VSiN hockey analyst Jonathan Davis will post his Best Bets around mid-day.
