Today’s Best Bets: Someone Will Win the American League West

Nice little day yesterday, aside from the whole “The Wild collapsed and took away a major out from our NHL futures portfolio” angle.


Washington at Cincinnati

It’s not often that we see value on the Reds these days, but Foster Griffin’s due for some regression, and Chase Burns is due for much less regression. Also, Cincinnati’s stumbling but they won the series this weekend against the Astros after that Cubs sweep, which pokes a hole in the meltdown theory.

Pick: Cincinnati to win –152. 9.40 units to win 6.18.


ALCS

As we said yesterday, there’s a better chance the Mariners get a bye these playoffs than there is for any other non-Yankees team in the AL.

Pick: Seattle to win +500. 2.00 units to win 10.00.

World Series

And as we didn’t say yesterday, there’s a real chance the A’s get that bye! What a world.

Pick: Sacramento to win +5500. 2.00 units to win 110.00.


NBA Finals

The usual, as our quest to build Knicks–Thunder leverage continues.

Pick: New York to win +600. 2.00 units to win 12.00.


Stanley Cup

We see good value available right now in some capacity on everyone not named the Avalanche or the Ducks. We see great value on the Sabres. We’re going to add a little more on Buffalo while continuing to build up our Carolina bulwark.

Pick: Carolina to win +165. 1.00 unit to win 1.65.
Pick: Buffalo to win +1300. 1.00 unit to win 13.00.

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These numbers are for the 2025–26 effort, which is currently scheduled to end at the end of the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Final (whichever comes second). Sorry for the poor transparency. We’ll do a better job tracking the 2026–27 campaign, which is already underway with our MLB futures portfolio.

2025–26: –677.87 units (started with 1,000-unit bankroll)

2025–26: –7% average ROI (weighted by unit; sample size: 1,141 single-game markets plus seven completed futures portfolios)

Pre-2025: 0% average ROI (worse when limited to only sports)

Units taken from best odds we can find at major sportsbooks available to most Americans.

These bets are not investment advice. If you’re worried you or someone you know might have a gambling addiction, call 1-800-GAMBLER for free, confidential help.

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The Barking Crow's resident numbers man. NIT Bracketology, college football forecasting, and things of that nature. Fields inquiries on Twitter: @joestunardi.
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