Thursday June 13 Best Bets & Picks For MLB, Stanley Cup Final, & US Open Golf

If you enjoy variety, it’s a great day to be a sports bettor. There’s baseball being played from midday until midnight, plus the opening round of a golf major and, to cap it off, Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

We’re going to sample a bit of each below, starting on the diamond.

Atlanta Braves at Baltimore Orioles

This is the first MLB game of the day, with a 1:05 ET first pitch, so don’t dawdle if this bet interests you.

The Braves are wrapping up a nine-game road trip, including a seven-game stay in the DMV -- that’s the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area for those not in the know. But the club has enjoyed this trip about as much as a visit to the other kind of DMV. Atlanta is 2-6 so far, with a five-game losing streak that began in Washington and has extended into Baltimore.

The Braves are hurting with Ronald Acuna Jr. out of the lineup. They scored the third-fewest runs in MLB in the month of May, and so far in June they rank fourth from the bottom. They’ve put up 1, 3, 5, 0 and 2 runs during their skid.

Atlanta faces Orioles starter Cole Irvin, who’s enjoying a career season. He isn’t a high strikeouts guy, but rather a bend-don’t-break pitcher who has allowed two earned runs or fewer in his past eight starts. This won’t be the day a weakened, exhausted Braves lineup will magically come through.

The pick: Cole Irvin U 2.5 earned runs allowed (+125 at DraftKings).

U.S. Open Round 1

Golf bettors know it’s incredibly difficult to wager on this sport, but it’s equally irresistible when the likes of Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and others are on the course together.

Woods is already playing his first round as you’re reading this, so let’s get a bet in for one of the most prominent players teeing off in the afternoon, McIlroy (1:14 ET).

The man has gone through a lifetime of changes since his last major win 10 years ago -- including a divorce that’s apparently no longer happening? -- but it’s Thursday, and we don’t have to forecast a win yet. Baby steps.

McIlroy’s performance at U.S. Opens has been a consistent bright spot. He’s finished top-10 at each of the past five, including second place last year. Strong starts have been key: He’s shot under-par first rounds in all five cases, four of them sub-70. McIlroy has been the third-best golfer statistically this year behind Scheffler and Xander Schauffele -- his playing partners for the first two rounds -- and we should expect more of the same at Pinehurst.

The pick: Rory McIlroy to shoot under 70.5 in Round 1 (+100 at DraftKings).

Florida Panthers at Edmonton Oilers Game 3

Time to talk pucks. If there’s one thing every casual sports fan knows about hockey, it’s that you back the hot goalie during the playoffs, and man, does Sergei Bobrovsky fit that bill.

After earning six shutouts during the regular season, the Florida goaltender has added two during the playoffs, including one in Game 1 of the final against Edmonton and its dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Bobrovsky then held them to one goal in Game 2 to help the Panthers go up 2-0 in the series.

Here’s the thing: Tonight, the series shifts to Canada, a country whose teams haven’t won a Stanley Cup since before I was born. The Oilers are past due for an offensive outburst, and with the backing of around 20,000 hockey-crazed Canadians, it’s McDavid’s moment, at least for one game. Bobrovsky has racked up great performances at home, but his two worst showings of the playoffs came at Tampa Bay and at New York.

Hey, maybe the home team can make this series more interesting than the NBA Finals.

The pick: Over 5.5 goals scored (-105 at DraftKings).