Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Saturday, June 24:
TOP PLAY
The play: College World Series, LSU vs. Florida UNDER 10 runs
The odds/bet: -125 ($37.50 to win $30)
The book: Caesars Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Our take: This one is too close to call on the money line; we’d recommend taking LSU +1½ runs — consider that Florida has played all one-run games — but the -170 juice makes that hard to stomach.
Instead, we’re going to what has been an old reliable in this tournament. Omaha is where college baseball unders come to thrive. Ten of the 13 games in this year’s event have had single-digit run totals; the other three were 10, 11 and 11 (and the two 11s came on the first day before the wind started blowing in and only with late-inning heroics from Oral Roberts and Florida).
Neither of these teams has scored more than six runs in a game in Omaha. LSU hasn’t played a single game here that has gone over nine runs. The Tigers won’t have Paul Skenes on the mound, but Ty Floyd has been solid all year and should be able to keep the Gators at bay. Meanwhile, Florida has its entire pitching staff ready to go to combat LSU’s powerful lineup, starting with ace Brandon Sproat.
Like just about every game this week, expect this one to be tight and low-scoring. Who wins is uncertain, but the under is yet again a good bet.
GOLD CUP
The play: Gold Cup, USA -1 over Jamaica
The odds/bet: +120 ($10 to win $12)
The book: DraftKings Sportsbook
Time/TV: 9:30 p.m. (FS1)
Our take: The United States rolled over Mexico and Canada, their stiffest regional competition, in the CONCACAF Nations League last week. Now it’s time for the more traditional continental competition, the Gold Cup.
This is a group stage game, and a fairly low-stakes one at that, given that the top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals, and the other teams in Group A (St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago) aren’t going to strike fear in anyone’s heart.
It’s also worth noting that most of the USA’s stars — Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest, etc. — who were so good in the Nations League aren’t on this squad, instead getting some time off before their European seasons begin again.
Still, the U.S. has looked will be keen to continue the momentum it showed in the Nations League under interim coach B.J. Callaghan, and the players who will take part in the Gold Cup have plenty to prove if they want to be included on the roster moving forward. They also happen to be mostly MLS stars who are in the middle of their season — and thus should have no problem with the Reggae Boyz. We’re going with the Asian Handicap of -1 here, meaning this bet is a push if the U.S. wins by exactly one goal.
HOW WE’VE FARED
Friday’s best bets
MLB: Rangers money line over Yankees (WON $20)
Friday’s profit/loss: +$20 (1-0)
Total for the week: +$18.50 (5-3)
Total for June: -$111.30 (22-23)
Total for 2023: -$445.60 (142-157)
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).