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Big Al's Daily Angle: MLB Previews and Odds - 06/06/2023

The Tuesday sports card features action in MLB. Major League Baseball has 15 games on its schedule. Three MLB games throw out the first pitch at 6:40 PM ET. The Tampa Bay Rays host the Minnesota Twins, with Zach Eflin taking the ball for the Rays to pitch against Louie Garland for the Twins. Tampa Bay is a -175 money-line favorite, with the total set at 8 (all odds from DraftKings). The Philadelphia Phillies play at home against the Detroit Tigers, with the Phillies turning to Taijuan Walker to battle against the Tigers’ Tyler Alexander. Philadelphia is a -200 money-line favorite with an over/under of 9.5. The Miami Marlins are at home against the Kansas City Royals, with Jesus Luzardo pitching for the Marlins against Zack Greinke for the Royals. Miami is a -150 money-line favorite with a total of 8. Three MLB games start at 7:05 PM ET. The Arizona Diamondbacks travel to Washington to play the Nationals, with the Diamondbacks tapping Tommy Henry to go against the Nationals’ Jake Irvin. Arizona is a -150 money-line road favorite with an over/under of 9.5. The Pittsburgh Pirates host the Oakland A’s, with Mitch Keller taking the ball for the Pirates against James Kaprielian for the A’s. Pittsburgh is a -240 money-line favorite with a total of 8.5. The New York Yankees play at home against the Chicago White Sox, with the Yankees tapping Clarke Schmidt to duel against the White Sox’s Lucas Giolito. New York is a -170 money-line favorite with an over/under of 8.5.The Toronto Blue Jays are at home against the Houston Astros at 7:07 PM ET. Kevin Gausman gets the start for the Blue Jays to face Hunter Brown for the Astros. Toronto is a -130 money-line favorite with a total of 8. Two more MLB games begin at 7:10 PM ET. The Cleveland Guardians host the Boston Red Sox, with the Guardians sending Shane Bieber to the mound to pitch against the Red Sox’s James Paxton. Cleveland is a -120 money-line favorite with an over/under of 8. The Los Angeles Dodgers visit the Cincinnati Reds, with Tony Gonsolin pitching for the Dodgers to go against Luke Weaver for the Reds. Los Angeles is a -195 money-line road favorite with a total of 10.5. The Atlanta Braves play at home against the New York Mets on TBS at 7:20 PM ET. Bryce Elder pitches for the Braves to battle against Carlos Carrasco for the Mets. Atlanta is a -165 money-line favorite with an over/under of 9.5. The Milwaukee Brewers are at home against the Baltimore Orioles at 7:40 PM ET. The Brewers turn to Freddy Peralta to duel against the Orioles’ Kyle Gibson. Milwaukee is a -130 money-line favorite with a total of 8.5. The Texas Rangers host the St. Louis Cardinals at 8:05 PM ET. Dane Dunning takes his turn in the starting rotation for the Rangers to face Matthew Liberatore for the Cardinals. Texas is a -145 money-line favorite with an over/under of 9.5. The San Francisco Giants play in Colorado against the Rockies at 8:40 PM ET. The Giants tap John Brebbia as their opener to pitch against the Rockies’ Dinelson Lamet. San Francisco is a -140 money-line road favorite with a total of 12. The Los Angeles Angels are at home against the Chicago Cubs at 9:38 PM ET. Tyler Anderson takes the hill for the Angels to go against Hayden Wesneski for the Cubs. Los Angeles is a -130 money-line favorite with an over/under of 9.5. The San Diego Padres host the Seattle Mariners at 9:40 PM ET. The Padres turn to Joe Musgrove to battle against the Mariners’ Logan Gilbert. San Diego is a -135 money-line favorite with a total of 7.5. 

Vegas Writer's Daily Recap - June 5, 2023

We have ourselves a series in the NBA Finals.I suppose we'll find out if we have one in the Stanley Cup Final, as Game 2 is scheduled for tonight.I delivered a 2-0 Sweep in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, with Vegas and the Over. Tonight I have STANLEY CUP POWER PLAY # 2 IN A ROW, with BOTH the SIDE and TOTAL. I am on a 93-82-2 this season for $14,430 net profit, including $4,030 in the playoffs. Again, I swept Game 1 and tonight I have BOTH the SIDE and TOTAL for STANLEY CUP POWER PLAY # 2 IN A ROW.My NHL Notes:Road teams are 46-38 in the postseason. Underdogs are 40-42 in the postseason, with a $100 wager on the pups turning a profit of roughly $1400. The Over is 44-39-1, but the Under has cashed 30 of the last 54 games. There have been 23 overtime games, and road teams are 15-8 in those games. NHL favorites higher than -150 are 14-34 on the puck line this postseason. Stanley Cup Notes:FLORIDA The Panthers have won 16 of their last 22 road games. Florida heads to Game 2 of the SCF on an 18-7 win streak. The Panthers check in at seventh in the postseason with 3.13 goals-for per game. Florida's goals-against average during the playoffs is 2.69, ranking sixth. VEGAS Vegas has now won 14 of 18 against Atlantic Division teams. The Golden Knights are on a 19-6 roll at home. The Golden Knights rank third in the playoffs with 3.65 goals-for per game. Vegas is fourth in the postseason with a goals-against average of 2.65. SERIES The home team has won the last six meetings. The Golden Knights have won six straight meetings in Vegas. Vegas is on a 6-2 roll in the overall series. In the NBA last night, the Miami Heat proved they're no fluke with a 111-108 win at the Denver Nuggets.The Heat were catching about 8 points, and the total went over. This is a team that has learned to overcome big deficits, as it's now 7-6 when trailing by 12 or more this postseason.Yesterday it was a 15-point comeback to win Game 2 of the NBA Finals over Denver. Miami trailed the Nuggets 50-35 with five minutes left in the second quarter, and then outscored Denver 76-58 to even the series 1-all.Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday night in Miami.In MLB on Sunday, seven of the 13 underdogs covered, while I saw two games at a pick. The standout victory for me was the New York Yankees (+145 DraftKings) with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.The Pinstripes went 4-2 on their road trip, going 2-1 in both Seattle and Los Angeles. The Yankees have won six of their last eight, during which they've drilled 17 home runs and are averaging nearly 6 runs per game. Their pitching staff has a 3.13 ERA in that span, and is averaging 9 strikeouts per game.It's a quiet card in baseball, with only eight games on the card. But there is one that stands out, and I'm ready to unload with my third straight Interleague Game of the Month. I hit the Yankees over Frisco (4/2) and the Jays over Atlanta (5/14). Tonight I make it three straight INTERLEAGUE GAME OF THE MONTH winners, as I love one side and one value price.There were three WNBA games on Sunday, and we saw the underdogs go 2-0-1.The Connecticut Sun (-6) beat the Dallas Wings, 80-74. The Chicago Sky (+12) won outright at New York over the Liberty. And the visiting Las Vegas Aces (-15) barely covered in an 84-80 win over the Indiana Fever.The WNBA is off tonight.

Weekly Betting Perspective

The Miami Heat have made it a habit to erase the chalk throughout the entire NBA playoffs, and Sunday night’s victory in Denver has done nothing to alter things in what is shaping up as a weird Finals.If the Heat go on to win the title, the league might have to retire the Coach of the Year Award and just give it to Erik Spoelstra before the season even starts. Spoelstra’s Heat are three wins away from a championship despite starting three undrafted players and being without starter Tyler Herro and rotation sub-Victor Oladipo.Denver started the Finals at a solid -480 win the title, with the number soaring to -800 after a convincing win in Game 1 at home. Miami opened at +330, with the number climbing to +550 after the loss. Entering Game 3, the odds have tightened considerably, with Denver at -275 and the Heat (who now owns home court) at +220.Miami, BTW, is 15-5 ATS in the post-season (including two play-in games).--Rory McIlroy is the favorite (or co-favorite) in most books to win the British Open next month, with numbers in the +800 to +900 range. McIlroy faded late at the Memorial, dropping from a tie for the lead midway through the final round and into a T7 with three others, including Jordan Spieth.McIlroy has four major titles on his resume but hasn’t won any of the biggies since taking the PGA in 2014. He hasn’t seemed comfortable of late, though his T7 at the recent PGA should be somewhat encouraging. The back-and-forth spitball fight with Phil Mickelson over the relationship between the PGA and LIV can’t be helping too much. Speaking of LIV, Masters champ Brooks Koepka is at +1200 for Open punters, and Cameron Smith is at +2000.--Kansas City remains a healthy +600 to win the Super Bowl eight months from now, but the other recent Super Bowl winners have all fallen on hard times.The Rams (+6500), who won in 2022, have fallen off the radar and last season had more losses than any team in NFL history trying to defend its title (5-12). The key to getting back in the mix is somehow steering clear of injuries. Last year Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp all spent significant time off the field.In the kingdom the blind, the one-eyed man is king. That seemed to be the Bucs’ season as they went 8-9 while everyone else in the NFC South clocked in at 7-10. Tom Brady was out, then he was in, and after the year he was out again. So now they regroup and pay the price for going all in and winning a few years ago. TB is at +7500.And then there are the New England Patriots, Super Bowl champs in 2019 but who have fallen to the middle of the pack in the AFC and probably to the bottom in the QB-rich AFC East. No one was happy with Mac Jones’s 2022 backslide, least of all Mac Jones. NE is +6500 to re-capture some magic, but the roster is pretty much the same one that produced an 8-9 record a year ago.--The Stanley Cup Finals are a tough swallow in Boston, where the Bruins are still licking their wounds after laying waste to the NHL in the regular season before getting bounced by the Panthers in Game 7 – at home no less. Either way, they turn, the Bruins will take another arrow to the chest. If Florida wins the Cup, the Bruins will have to live down losing to the 8th-seeded Panthers at home in a Game 7. OTOH, if the Cup heads to the Vegas desert, the Bruin front office will have to take shots for firing current Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy after his reportedly being too tough on the players. After its victory in Game 1, Las Vegas was a solid -225 favorite to win the Cup, with Florida at +175 heading into Game 2.

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