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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z


by - 8/8/2018

Odell Beckham Jr New York Giants

A. Andy Murray . Murray is winning some matches in his comeback to tennis while also playing it safe. The Scot made a run to last week's Washington, D.C. quarterfinals but pulled out of that tournament and also withdrew from this week's Rogers Cup in Toronto. Murray is +650 at XBet.ag to win the upcoming U.S. Open; Novak Djokovic is a +200 favorite.

B. Bridgestone Invitational . With Tiger Woods going backwards on Saturday and Sunday and Rory McIlroy stumbling in his final round, there ended up being little to challenge Thomas at the Bridgestone. The second-ranked American won by four shots at 15-under par, and he heads into this week's PGA Championship title defense with plenty of momentum. Thomas is +1400 at Bovada Sportsbook to win; Dustin Johnson is a +800 favorite.


C. Contract extension . Odell Beckham Jr. was hoping for one, but right now it isn't happening. Beckham's agent met with Giants management in New York last week and left without reaching a deal.

D. Darnold, Sam . There appears to be increasing sentiment around the Jets that Darnold could be their starter when the regular season begins. The No. 3 overall pick is battling with Teddy Bridgewater and Josh McCown for the job. MyBookie.ag has the Jets as +7 underdogs at Detroit in Week 1.

E. Elliott, Chase . Elliott picked up his first career NASCAR Monster Cup win last weekend at Watkins Glen. The 22-year-old took home the checkered flag ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch.

F. FedEx . Part of the Grizzlies' recent rebranding includes a FedEx patch that will be present on all game-worn uniforms. Unless this team gets a whole lot better in a hurry, slapping your name all over the arena, the court, and even the uniforms cannot be great advertising.

G. Geraint Thomas . Thomas won his first Tour de France late last month, topping the podium ahead of Tom Dumoulin and Sky teammate Chris Froome. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

H. Hall of Fame . Terrell Owens was conspicuously absent from the Hall of Fame induction ceremony last weekend in Canton, Ohio. It is probably just as well for him, because there's no way his speech would have been as good as that of Ray Lewis, Brian Dawkins, and probably not even that of Randy Moss.

I. Inciarte, Ender . The Braves' center fielder is now in a platoon role in center field after they acquired Adam Duvall from Cincinnati prior to the trade deadline. But Inciarte isn't sulking about getting benched against left-handed starters. He is 5-for-12 in his last three games and delivered a game-winning, two-run triple in the ninth inning against Washington on Tuesday. The Braves (Foltynewicz) are +105 underdogs at the Nationals (Milone) on Wednesday, per BookMaker.

J. Johnny Manziel . Channeling his inner Nathan Peterman, Manziel threw a ridiculous four first-half interceptions during his debut start in the Canadian Football League last weekend. He finished 11-of-20 for 104 yards with no TDs and four INTs before leaving in the fourth quarter of Montreal's 50-11 loss to Hamilton. "I felt I just made some uncharacteristic plays," Manziel commented. He must have an interesting definition of uncharacteristic.

K. Karlsson, William . Vegas has avoided arbitration with Karlsson by signing him to a one-year extension worth $5.25 million. The 25-year-old forward contributed 43 goals and 35 assists in all 82 regular-season games for the upstart expansion team in 2017-18.

L. LeBron James . LeBron is adding a Showtime documentary called-you guessed it-"Shut Up and Dribble" to his Hollywood portfolio. The three-part series will debut in October, right around the start of the 2018-19 NBA season.

M. Martinez, Josef . The Atlanta United star is scoring goals at a rate that would make any other soccer player in the world jealous. Martinez has found the back of the net an absurd 26 times, 11 more than any other player in Major League Soccer. Since July 1, he has 11 goals-at least more than the entire teams of Vancouver, the New York Red Bulls, Kansas City, D.C., Los Angeles FC, Colorado, Montreal, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New England, Portland, Columbus, and San Jose.

N. Nugent, Mike . The Sebastian Janikowski era is over in Oakland, so who's it gonna be? The Raiders cut Gorgio Tavecchio last weekend and signed Nugent, although latter is expected to be mostly a mentor to undrafted rookie Eddie Pineiro. Check out our breakdown of the Raiders' 2018 road schedule .

O. Ohtani, Shohei . Ohtani knocked two home runs and had four total hits in the Angels' 7-4 victory over Cleveland last Friday. He delivered his third multi-hit performance in the span of five games in an 11-5 win over Detroit on Tuesday, which included a three-run shot.

P. Premier League . The World Cup may have come and gone, but there is plenty more on the table to whet the appetite of soccer fans. Friday marks the beginning of the 2018-19 English Premier League season, beginning with Manchester United vs. Leicester City. Defending champion Manchester City is a -155 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook to win it all again.

Q. Quarterback situation . Jalen Hurts admitted last week that is he is unhappy with the way Alabama has handled the current QB competition between him and Tua Tagovailoa. Well, one thing's for sure: 'Bama is handling it a lot better than Hurts handled the first half of the National Championship against Georgia.

R. Red Sox . Not one, not two, not three, not four…. Not 77, not 78, not 79…. No, the Red Sox have already won a whopping 80 games this season. They are 80-34 after beating the Blue Jays 10-7 in 10 innings on Tuesday. Fresh off a four-game sweep of the Yankees, Boston owns a nine-game lead in the American League East, and it is at least 7.5 games ahead of every other team in Major League Baseball. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Boston (Johnson) as a -136 favorite at Toronto (Hauschild) on Thursday.

S. Serena Williams . Serena withdrew from this week's event in Montreal, citing personal reasons. She later shared her current struggles with postpartum depression. It remains to be seen if the 36-year-old will play the final major of 2018, as the U.S. Open begins in less than three weeks.

T. Therapy . A mental-health company in New York is offering Mets fans free therapy to cope with their struggles. You can't make this stuff up, folks. UMA health made the offer last week following the Mets'…wait for it…25-4 loss to Washington. Candidates for therapy simply have to fill out a form asking for their most difficult moments. That doesn't sound hard-except it may take multiple days to fill out said form.

U. Urban Meyer . Meyer's status is in serious question as the 2018 college football season approaches. Ohio State's head coach was put on administrative leave last Wednesday, when the school announced that it would be investigating claims that Meyer and others close to him knew of an alleged domestic violence incident involving former assistant coach Zach Smith and Smith's ex-wife. The Buckeyes are +163 favorites at BookMaker to win the Big Ten.

V. Vince Carter . The 41-year-old said that chasing rings is "just not for him" after he signed with the Hawks last week. When you sign with the Hawks, it goes without saying that you aren't chasing rings. There's no need for clarification!

W. Woods, Tiger . This time around, Tiger wasted no time evaporating on a weekend. The 14-time major champion, whose British Open contention did not end until the back nine on Sunday, went 73-73 in the final two rounds of the Bridgestone after shooting 66-68 for 6-under through Thursday and Friday. He plunged to T31 as Thomas coasted to victory.

X. Denotes clinched playoff berth . Seattle (23-7) was the first WNBA team to clinch a playoff spot before three others (Atlanta, Washington, and Los Angeles) followed suit earlier this week. Los Angeles, which sits in second place in the Western Conference, is a -8.5 road favorite over New York on Wednesday, according to Bovada Sportsbook.


Y. Yu Darvish . Darvish (triceps/elbow) threw a bullpen session this past weekend and is "very optimistic" about returning to the rotation at some point this season. The Cubs recently acquired Cole Hamels just in case, so their crop of starters could be especially formidable in the playoffs if Darvish comes back. GT Bets has Chicago at +800 to win the World Series.

Z. Ziegler, Brad . Ziegler became the first player on the home team to use the Diamondbacks' bullpen cart when he rode in for an appearance against San Francisco last Thursday. The reliever wasted no time using at after being dealt from Miami back to Arizona prior to the trade deadline. Who's lazier: Ziegler, or David Price for doing nothing but playing Fortnite during his free time?

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