This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Lookahead spot
The Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles will play two on Thursday after the riots in Baltimore forced two of their games to be postponed last month. That’s a rare spot for MLB teams, with only a handful of doubleheaders scheduled on the 2015 calendar.
The Orioles are at home already, so they only have to show up. But the White Sox could get caught looking ahead to a busy Thursday when they wrap up a road set against the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday afternoon. With two games on deck Thursday, the ChiSox may let Wednesday's expected starter Jeff Samardzija go a bit deeper – even if he gets in trouble – as to not deplete their bullpen before the double dip in Baltimore.
Schedule spot
The Baltimore Ravens have one of the more daunting schedules to begin the 2015 NFL season, playing three of their first four games away from home. Baltimore opens the year with two cross-country trips to Denver and Oakland before coming home in Week 3 to host Cincinnati.
This tough stretch of sked hits a peak with a road trip to Pittsburgh in Week 4 on Thursday Night Football. So, not only are the Ravens on the road for a huge divisional game under the national spotlight, but they’re playing on a short week after that grueling itinerary in the first three weeks of the seasons. Early odds have Baltimore as a 3-point road underdog in Week 4.
Letdown spot
The Seattle Mariners are on the other side of the continent, wrapping up a nine-game road trip in Tampa Bay this week. The M’s have gone 4-3 in the first seven games of this trek, heading into Tuesday’s Game 2 with the Rays, and could find themselves in letdown mode in their first game back in Safeco Thursday.
Seattle travels back home to host the Cleveland Indians Friday. Often times, teams returning from a long away stretch can suffer a letdown in that first game home with the focus not entirely on baseball. The Mariners have been gone since May 19 and missed being at home over the Memorial Day Weekend. With little time between games and travel, beware of the Mariners in a letdown spot Friday.