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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z


by - 1/24/2019

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora

A. Alex Cora . The Red Sox manager is waffling on attending his team's White House visit to celebrate its 2018 World Series triumph. Perhaps he realized his team will be served McDonald's if it attends! The Red Sox and Yankees are +700 co-favorites at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the World Series this year.

B. Ball, Lonzo . Ball averaged 16.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, and 8.0 in a three-game span before going down with an ankle injury last Saturday against Houston. That will leave him sidelined for at least four weeks, joining LeBron James and Rajon Rondo in the Lakers' infirmary report. Fortunately for L.A., LeBron could return as early as Sunday.


C. Cousins, DeMarcus . Cousins went for 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal in his Golden State debut last Friday (a 112-94 victory over the Clippers). He then delivered eight points, nine rebounds, and five assists during Monday's 130-111 rout of the Lakers. That means in 36 total minutes of work, Boogie has 22 points, 15 boards, eight assists, one block, and one steal. Watch out! The Warriors are -10.5 favorites at Washington on Thursday, per MyBookie.ag.

D. Dillashaw, T.J. Dillashaw lasted only 32 seconds in the cage with Henry Cejudo last weekend. A Miley Cyrus song lasting only 32 seconds may be a good thing, but UFC fans certainly wanted more from this fight.

E. Enshrined . Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina are headed to the Hall of Fame. Well, it's kind of the Hall of Mediocre now. At least it continues to keep Roger Clemens out, thus coming close to its "Fame" status.

F. Fired . The only thing Cowboys fans have been able to celebrate over the past decade is certain coaches getting fired. Add offensive coordinator Scott Linehan to the list, as he got the boot following Dallas' divisional-round ouster by the Rams.

G. Gray, Sonny . The Gray sweepstakes are over, as the Yankees have expectedly shipped the right-hander to Cincinnati. Now, when will the much more important sweepstakes conclude (see: Harper, Bryce and Machado, Manny)?

H. Hole in one . Not even a hole in one could convince Larry Fitzgerald to hang up his cleats and just play golf all year long. Fitzgerald, who is coming back to the Cardinals for at least one more season, picked up an ace while playing with none other than President Barack Obama last week. Now that's a productive day on the course.

I. Index finger . Anthony Davis is out for at least one week with a sprained index finger. That's not exactly what the doctor ordered for a Pelicans team that is 22-26 and four games out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. YouWager.eu has New Orleans as a +12 underdog at Oklahoma City on Thursday.

J. Ja Morant . This kid is utterly ridiculous; worth the price of admission to any Murray State game, to be sure. Zion Williamson is going to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, but Morant is without question is the top-three discussion. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Murray State has a -5.5 home favorite over Belmont on Thursday.

K. Kanter, Enes . If you aren't tired of Kanter yet, well, you probably just haven't been following the NBA. The short story: he didn't travel with the Knicks to London due to security fears, Turkey is accusing him of being in a terrorist group, and he is demanding a trade after he was "DNP-coach's decision" on Wednesday despite head coach David Fizdale saying that Kanter would start against Houston. Make it stop!

L. Leafs . The Maple Leafs started the season 20-8-0, seemingly on par with Tampa Bay for the distinction of Stanley Cup favorite. They have since gone 10-9-2; that's 11 losses in their last 21 games for those counting. The Leafs are suddenly 14 points behind TB in the Atlantic Division, but they at least managed to hammer a slumping Washington team 6-3 on Wednesday. Bovada Sportsbook has Toronto is a +800 fourth choice to win the Stanley Cup; the Lightning are +260 favorites.

M. Mickelson, Phil . It was all right there for Mickelson to begin his season with a title at the Desert Classic in La Quinta, Calif last week. Instead, little-known Adam Long fired a final-round 7-under that included two chip-ins on the back nine and a 14-foot birdie putt on 18 to win it. Long finished at 26-under par, one stroke better than Mickelson.

N. New England Patriots . It's even better to be lucky than good, and the Patriots are both. If not for Dee Ford lining up in the neutral zone, Tom Brady and company would be on the golf course while the Chiefs would be heading to Atlanta. But Ford lined up in the neutral zone, Brady led a go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter, and the Pats eventually prevailed 37-31 in overtime. GT Bets has the over/under for the Super Bowl at 57.5.

O. Over/Unders . There are, of course, countless prop bets for the Super Bowl. Perhaps the most outlandish involve the National Anthem. The over/under for Gladys Knight's performance is one minute and 43 seconds. The over/under for the word "brave" is 4.5 seconds. The National Anthem is a -130 favorite to last longer than the fastest scoring drive of the game.

P. Pacquiao, Manny . Pacquiao disposed of Adrien Broner this past weekend to retain the WBA welterweight title. That was all well and good until he called out Floyd Mayweather following the bout, asking for a rematch. Please, God, no!

Q. QB turned coach . Former quarterback Jason Garrett is still the head coach of the Cowboys, for better or worse. Perhaps Dallas fans want another one of their own-Tony Romo-to lead the ship sooner rather than later. Romo's Nostradamus-like performance in the booth during the AFC Championship has people clamoring for him to drop the mic and take up coaching.

R. Roger Federer . There was no Federer vs. Rafael Nadal rivalry match on Thursday. Stefanos Tsitsipas stunned the two-time defending Australian Open champion in the fourth round and eventually faced Nadal in the semis. That's where the run ended for the 20-year-old Greek, who got blasted by a red-hot Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. The Spaniard awaits either Novak Djokovic or Lucas Pouille in Sunday's title match. BookMaker has Nadal as a -110 favorite to win the tournament.

S. Super Bowl . There's no way Super Bowl LIII can be any better-or more controversial-than the two conference championship games, can it? Maybe not, but it has all the makings of a good one with the Patriots going up against the Rams. New England is a 2.5 favorite over the Rams, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

T. Tiger Woods . Golf may not have an official preseason-except when Tiger takes a break. The 14-time major champion skipped the Hawaii swing earlier this month, but now the real thing is underway because Tiger is back this week at his old Torrey Pines stomping grounds. The 43-year-old is +250 at XBet.ag to win at least one major in 2019.

U. Undefeated . Michigan fell from the ranks of the unbeaten-the second-to-last team to do so-with a recent 64-54 setback against Minnesota. Oh well, it will take many more losses to that to change Michigan's current status from basketball school to football school.

V. Virginia . Following Michigan's loss, Virginia followed suit by going down at Duke 72-70 last Saturday. The Blue Devils were without Tre Jones, but home-court advantage inside Cameron Indoor Stadium proved to be enough for head coach Mike Krzyzewski's squad. And with that the Devils rebounded from their second setback of the 2018-19 campaign, a surprising 95-91 home defeat at Syracuse's hands earlier in the week. Syracuse is a -8 home favorite over Miami (FL) on Thursday, as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

W. Williams sisters . Serena and Venus Williams found themselves in the same quarter of the Australian Open draw, but a head-to-head showdown never happened because Venus lost to world No. 1 Simona Halep in the third round. Serena promptly beat Halep but then got upset by Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals after blowing a 5-1 lead and four match points in the fourth set. Petra Kvitova is a -130 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook to beat Naomi Osaka in Saturday's final.

X. X-Games . The X-Games begin today in Aspen, Colo. That means it's Chloe Kim time, ladies and gentlemen.

Y. Yadier Molina . It may be the offseason, but the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry never stops. Chicago third baseman Kris Bryant recently called St. Louis "boring," to which Molina responded by going on Instagram and essential calling Bryant "stupid" and a "loser." This 2019 campaign is gonna be run in the National League Central.

Z. Zuerlein, Greg . The Leg never should have gotten a chance to be the hero of the NFC Championship. But he did; and he was. Following the no-call to end all no-calls, Zuerlein booted a tying field goal at the end of regulation and then won it with a 57-yard launch in overtime. Thus, the Rams are heading to Atlanta while the Saints-in extremely controversial fashion-are staying at home. "This will be a tough one for these players; for the coaches," New Orleans head coach Sean Payton admitted. "We'll probably never get over it."

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