THE BEST, THE WORST AND THE HOOKS: CHAPTER 4, A DIVERSE EDITION

Back again with another article going over some of the best bets, worst bets and hooks across the sports world. With MLB, NBA and the NCAA tourney all active, there were plenty of candidates to choose from and there are some jaw droppers. For this episode, I am touching on all these sports, so just sit back and imagine the heartbreak, or elation, if you were on one of these plays. It was a rollercoaster.

We begin with what were arguably the easiest buttons to click on your apps. It starts with the Bluejays pitching staff. If you took Gausman, Cease and Lauer to go over their strikeouts props vs the Athletics, you were cashing out without a sweat. They guys finished with 11, 12 and 9 Ks, respectively. Now, the As are not the best team in the world and these are REALLY good pitchers. Still, they don’t make K props like these nowadays.

For the second best bet, our sights are set on mighty Michigan. The Wolverines played Tennessee Sunday afternoon, and all due respect to the Volunteers, they hung around… for about 10 minutes. It did not take long for Yaxel Lendeborg and company to start throwing haymakers, ballooning their lead to 22 points by halftime.

While Tennessee took care of business against an Iowa State team that simply could not get a ball into the basket, they were nowhere near covering the +7.5 line against the boys from Ann Arbor. The final score was 95-62 in what was the most obvious and easiest wager of the NCAA tournament weekend. 

Gambling is hard. But these wagers were bad enough to dissuade you from opening the apps again. What if one told you that the best pitcher in baseball was starting opening day after a dominating performance wearing his country’s colors and on a team with heightened expectations for the year? Enticing, but real world is cruel, because Paul Skenes did not make it out of the first inning against the Mets. Starting with a two-run shot from Brandon Lowe and a sac fly from Bo Bichette (one of the only notable things Bo has done so far). To be fair, O’Neal Cruz did not help matters much, either.

Obviously, none of his lines cashed…well, except over earned runs allowed. But can’t feel too bad. He’s got Olivia Dunne and a duvet that needs fitting when he gets home.

And while we’re on the topic of baseball, how about Ronald Acuna Jr.? Evidently, people were high on him early in the year, particularly to hit a home run versus the Royals. Instead, the former MVP went 0-5 with 3 Ks. Not only that, but he’s also 1 for 12 to start the year, bad news for season-long season prop folks.

No shortage of horrific beats here, so this is where the fun really begins. Two quick mentions to kick this off. First, how about the Yordan home run that was… but was not?

It was pretty clear Yordan smashed the ball (at 109mph) and would have easily been a home run without the pesky roof. But the umpire later explained why that was not the case. Either way, tough break for home run bettors and any other player prop. Yordan would go on to strikeout and walk with no hits the rest of the game.

Sticking to Houston, the collapse by the Rockets against the Wolves must be a notable mention. The Rockets made a remarkable comeback, down 11 with four minutes left to play. Their lead swelled to 13 points with three minutes to go in overtime. The T-Wolves, though, did not hear a single bell because, somehow, they pulled off a 15-0 run to win outright 110-108. And all of this without the services of Ant Edwards and with Gobert having fouled out. You could argue the Rockets didn’t deserve to be there after being down so late in the fourth quarter, but that does not make it any better for their moneyline backers.

To wrap things up, we could go to the UConn game and the buzzer beater, but we’ve all seen (see it again below from the announcers angle, because holy smokes what a call by Ian Eagle).

But to be a little more original, let’s go over to the diamond in Seattle for SNB. The total was 7.5, and if you had the under, you were already flirting with disaster since the fifth inning with Seattle up 6-0. The bottom sixth produced another run but you had to feel ok going into the bottom eight with the score 7-0. Just a few meaningless at bats and you’re home free. Well. Brayan Rocchio and Randy Arozarena had other plans with two outs and nobody on base. Rocchio bobbles an easy grounder that would have gotten Julio Rodriguez out at first. This leads to a Naylor walk and ultimately Randy in-play runs to make it an 8-0 final score. Just a brutal heartbreaker for people sweating out an under throughout the whole game with their hopes up toward the end.

That is it for this week folks. Can’t wait to see the beats that will take place during the Final Four and a with a full week of baseball.