This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Lookahead spot
Things are heating up north of the border. Since making the biggest splash in the majors during the trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays have played like World Series contenders and ride a 7-1 winning clip into Thursday’s series finale with the Minnesota Twins.
However, Toronto could get caught looking past this matchup with Minnesota and to Friday’s series opener with the New York Yankees. A series win over the Bronx Bombers would solidify the Jays' place as the team to beat in the AL East, with Toronto 5.5 games back of New York in the standings as of Wednesday. That eagerness to test this revamped roster against the Yankees could open up Toronto for a letdown spot against the Twins Thursday.
Letdown spot
The Texas Longhorns are a program in flux as the 2015 college football campaign gets closer. The Horns enter Year 2 under Charlie Strong and while they are still a very capable and talented program, Texas is a far cry from its national title days.
For Strong, showing the Longhorns can compete against the Big 12 elite is imperative to the growth of this program - even if that means just one marquee win. And that entails taking down the likes of TCU or hated rival Oklahoma, who highlight Weeks 5 and 6 for Texas. That back-to-back gauntlet is followed by a bye week then a home game against Kansas State. If Texas can't stand its ground against the Horned Frogs or Sooners, Strong may lose his grip on this program and it's players, lining up a letdown in Week 8.
Schedule spot
Keeping things in Toronto, the CFL’s Argonauts make their Rogers Centre debut this weekend hosting Saskatchewan in their first official home game of the 2015 season. Thanks to the Pan Am Games taking over the Big Smoke, the Argos were on the road for their first five games, including a season-opening “home game” against Edmonton in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Toronto has done well for facing sure a tough and quirky challenge to start the season, going 3-2 SU and 4-1 ATS. The Argos got caught looking ahead to the comforts of home last week in Hamilton, losing 34-18 as 3.5-point underdogs. Oddsmakers have pegged Toronto as a 9.5-point favorite at home to the winless Rough Riders Saturday.