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Sports Betting Notes: World Series, Matvei Michkov, Penn State, and Monday Night Football
By Joe Tansey
Published:
Monday is the sports equinox, so what better way to honor it than to touch on a cornucopia of lines out there at your favorite sportsbooks?
The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS all play on Monday, college football is on from Tuesday through Saturday (although it would be awesome if we had a Monday late afternoon appetizer from the Sun Belt or something), and the big game of the week is Ohio State vs. Penn State. There are a lot of options out there for PA sports betting.
World Series
The Dodgers are up 2-0 on the Yankees and that puts the Yankees in close-to-must-win mode at home in Monday night’s Game 3.
The Yankees are a -155 money line favorite over the Dodgers, who are listed at +130. The Yankees haven’t hit much outside of Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton and you could make a strong case that the better starting pitcher is going for the Dodgers as Walker Buehler faces Clarke Schmidt.
I would suggest that if you like the Yankees in Game 3 to sprinkle on their series money line of +330. They will have the edge in Game 4 with Luis Gil going up against an opener for the Dodgers. LA’s bullpen will be taxed over the next three games, and there’s also Shohei Ohtani’s shoulder injury that could impact the series.
Freddie Freeman is an even-money favorite to win the Most Valuable Player. He’s probably going to win it if the Dodgers finish the deal because of his Game 1 walk-off grand slam. I’d look into Juan Soto or Giancarlo Stanton at around +1000 for MVP if the Yankees come back.
Michkov an even-money favorite to win Calder Trophy
Matvei Michkov has been one of the few Flyers bright spots this season.
He has four goals and five assists and is an even-money favorite to win the Calder Trophy for the NHL’s top rookie.
No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini is listed as week-to-week right now, so Michkov’s biggest competitor is Dallas’ Logan Stankoven, who also has nine points, but he only has one goal.
The Flyers don’t play Monday, but here’s an NHL bet for you: Take Steven Stamkos to score and record a point in his first game in Tampa Bay as a member of the Nashville Predators.
Penn State a four-point underdog at home against Ohio State
Penn State finally has a chance to shake its reputation under James Franklin that it can’t win the big game.
The oddsmakers certainly don’t have faith in the Nittany Lions since they’re a four-point underdog against an Ohio State team that is one spot behind them in the AP Top 25.
Penn State has all the makings of a title contender with a strong defense and a multi-faceted offense, but the health of quarterback Drew Allar is a big question mark. He left Saturday’s win over Wisconsin at halftime with an apparent knee injury and no specifics have been released yet.
Giants/Steelers on MNF
The Steelers are a six-point favorite over the Giants on Monday Night Football.
Pittsburgh is 5-2 against the spread, but has not been favored by more than four points at any point this season.
And if you’re online sports betting in NJ, Giants are 3-4 ATS with all three of their covers coming as an underdog of five or more points.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.