Week of Monday October 5, 2020
It’s been a very long time since I’ve used this website as a form to vocalize my opinions. Fact, just before the world seemed to change, March 4th. Kind of creepy, no real idea what was in store. But here we are. 7 months later and sports is here like never before. The idea of writing again, is not to blog, but more to look at the week ahead. Take a look at the big games of the week, what is happening in the major sports and the spots I will be looking at to expose for gain.
Without further ado, the week of October 5, 2020. This is being written after the Astros won game 1, both the play and future play on the Astros was already posted.
NBA Championship, MLB Divisional Series, NFL Week 5 (but a week 4 Monday night double header first), NCAA Football, French Open, WNBA Championship, UFC Fight Night, PGA Shriners Hospital for Children Open, Euro 2020 Qualifying and probably much, much more I’m leaving out. Again, Has there every been a time in sports history as busy as it is now?
The week starts with the what in all likely hood will the conclusion of the NBA bubble. A very successful experiment if you ask me. The NBA and NHL pulled off what many thought didn’t have a chance. Jimmy Butler had the performance of his career last night and basically stole a game from the Lakers. I suspect this series will be a gentlemen sweep now and the Lakers take the next two games. An early look at game 4 shows the Lakers -7 1/2 favourite with a total of 218 1/2. The last two game have gone over the number and I will look for that streak to continue and will more than likely be on the over. If the Lakers win game 4, On Friday I will look to play the lakers at anything -8 and less. Up 3-1, the Heat will more than likely be out of gas and the LeBron Lakers will close out the series with an absolute beat down.
One of my favourite sport playoffs has to be baseball. I find it incredible hard not to find a side on every game. Even a total. Making a play on MLB playoffs seems to be the norm for myself. I took a little hit in the wild card round, the cubs continue to be unable to hit in the playoffs, Completely ruining two great performances by Hendricks and Darvish. Well on to the next round. Astros convincingly beat the A’s and that starts this round off right. The Astros (yes, the cheated, blah, blah) have the pitching experience in the post season that is unmatched by the A’s. In a quick neutral site five game series, I would not be surprised if the Astros sweep here. As much as the Padres offense seems to be a talking point, the Braves quietly have the best offense in all of Baseball. They are going up against a Marlins team with the 21st ranked pitching. This could be another quick one but the -300+ series price makes it incredible hard bet. I will look at single games and run lines as the series starts. The AL east series, Rays vs Yankees. So much of me wished this was the ALCS, but here we are. Cole vs Snell kicks off the series tonight in Petco Park, San Diego. We won’t see that hideous white dome or see balls fly out of right field in New York on a brisk autumn eve. This is my favourite series of this round. I like the Yankees to get it down in what will be most likely a 5 game series. This goes against the Rays recent domination of the yankees, 8-2 in the last 10. The difference here, the Yankees offense finally seems healthy. Stanton, Judge, LeMahieu, all in the line up. My stay away series, The Dodgers and Padres. Both great teams, Dodgers the most complete team in all baseball, the Padres up and coming in the West. I really don’t have much read on this series. I will wait for games after a night were a bullpen was used and abused and look at the total.
Week 5 of the NFL. As a colts fan, it will be interesting to see the defense stand up against the Cleveland Browns who just put up 49 and 34 in their last 2 games. They probably won’t even skip a beat with the Chubb injury, Hunt has been the #1 in his career before. What I call the best game of the week pits two undefeated AFC teams against each other. The 4-0 Buffalo Bills travel to Tennessee to take on the 4-0 Titans. As I write this Monday night, there is still no line. I suspect the Titans laying 3 maybe 3 1/2. I would be more interested in the total, which should be 46-48. After the injury report is reviewed, I will look at the over. The winless Texans will be debating a new coach Sunday, and that might be what they need. After a series of questionable moves in the off season by Bill O’Brien and then a 0-4 start, which finished with an embarrassing loss to the winless Viks at home 31-23, he was fired Monday afternoon. The Sunday night game appears to be a blow out at first glance. Minnesota visits Seattle, I don’t see a number where I wouldn’t bet the over.
College football seems to be one of the more unpredictable sports. Late released covid tests, players quarantining, teams not being able to practice. On past Saturdays you would see a dozen plus plays posted, this year, 6/7 seems to be the norm. The unknown leading up to the game as well as the numerous games being postponed make for an incredible difficult season to handicap. With empty stadiums or stadiums at 1/4 capacity, a lot of the home field advantages have disappeared in college. No more would I give the home team 3+ points in an evenly matched game. The week kicks off with Tulane at Houston, the total of 60 screams over at early glance. With a condensed college schedule, we will start to see marquee match ups every week. Oklahoma vs Texas, Florida vs Texas A&M, Tennessee vs Georgia, Florida vs Notre Dame. This will be at worst a great week to watch college football.
The French Open has been kicking my ass. I was looking to use a lot of the same numbers and forecasts as I did in the US Open to continue my winning ways in Tennis. Boy that has not been the case. Even looking at clay court ‘specialists’ hasn’t been enough. With the quarter finals approaching this week, the uncertainty and wild cards should be diminishing and I can pick some lucrative spots and get back some early loses.
Buckle Up!!! It’s going to be a busy week. You can count on Euro Cup qualifying picks on Thursday, UFC Fight Night plays on top of everything listed above. There will not be any PGA plays this week.