Sunday June 2 Best Betting Picks & Predictions For NHL & MLB

Expectations are a major piece of the sports-betting puzzle, of course, with opinions and tools easily found.

Sunday finds that element in the NHL Western Conference final matchup, the Sunday Night Baseball offering as well as the French Open as it heads into the second week of play.

Expectations sometimes meet a rude reality, but we'll try to provide successful expected outcomes all around.

St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies

The expectation is that the Cardinals will find more contact than they've had in this series' first two games.

St. Louis has scored only three runs in those two games and saw its team batting average drop to .236 – 11th of 15 National League teams. And it's not like they're ready to manufacture runs in Philadelphia with their 13th-ranked stolen base total.

The Phillies have their swagger and look to make an average Cards pitcher – by MLB metrics – look worse. Lance Lynn has been just OK this season, and will have to be sharp Sunday night. His ERA of 3.45 isn't bad, but he sits tied for 13th in NL walks. The Phillies can roll up the score with free base runners.

Philadelphia starter Tajuan Walker isn't a star, either, allowing an expected batting average (xBA) of .287 while sitting 19th in all of baseball in average exit velocity. He is being hit, and hit hard.

We'll trust the Phillies bats and the inability of Walker to shut down St. Louis.

Phillies moneyline with OVER 6.5 at +120 (DraftKings)

Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers

Our expectation is that the Stars play like the more desperate team. And they should. They face elimination on Sunday night in Canada.

The goaltending will again be in the spotlight, with Dallas'  Jake Oettinger carrying a goals-against average of 2.25 and a .915 saves percentage during the playoffs.

The Oilers have a hot goalie, too, with Stuart Skinner registering a 1.92 goals-against average and a .908 saves percentage over his past seven playoff games.

We expect a game total of seven goals or fewer.

The Stars were undone by two power-play goals in Game 5, and have had 48 hours to stew on their missed opportunities. 

We'll hold to the idea that Dallas can lock it down and find a way – or at least cover the puck line.

Two leg parlay: Dallas +1.5 and UNDER 7.5 goals at -130 (BetMGM)

French Open

After wins over Rafael Nadal, David Goffin and Tallon Griekspoor, Alexander Zverev has a path to the French Open championship, beginning Monday morning.

The talented German is the No. 4 seed in a group of beatable opponents, including No. 1 Novak Djokovic, and we expect he'll continue to improve after a scare against Griekspoor.

Zverev must now take down Denmark's Holger Rune, seeded 13th, to reach the quarterfinals against either Aussie Alex di Minaur or Russian Daniil Medvedev.

His +700 futures odds – we expect – will begin shrinking quickly if he takes out Rune, so we'll use that as part of our Sunday best.

Alexander Zverev +700 to win French Open (FanDuel)

Two-leg parlay: Zverev and Medvedev to win their next match at +110 (BetMGM)