Phil Agius
Show Bio
Good morning Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another fantastic Friday of sports. The NHL is taking a day off but there is plenty of NBA and MLB action to enjoy today, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.
About Last Night
Heat still in hunt for a top-6 finish
The Miami Heat kept their hopes of avoiding the NBA play-in tournament alive with a 129-101 win over the 76ers on Thursday, while the Thunder improved their hopes of making the tournament in the West with a 114-98 win over the Jazz. The Suns won their 7th straight game, beating the Nuggets 119-115.
Giants continue explosive start
The Giants blasted 5 home runs in a 16-6 MLB win over the White Sox, taking their tally for the season to a team-record 15 in their first 6 games. The Braves moved to 6-1 with a 7-6 win over the Padres, while the Blue Jays’ 6-3 win over the Royals helped us cash our top MLB player prop play.
NHL parlay cashes at +600 odds
The Pickswise NHL team earned their day off today with a 10-6 record on Thursday’s slate, which helped us to cash our daily parlay at +600 odds.
Now you can bet any of our Friday sports predictions at FanDuel Sportsbook, which has a great new-customer offer to take advantage of. If you sign up for FanDuel right now, you can secure a No Sweat First Bet up to $1,000! Click here to join FanDuel right now.
Today’s Slate
Doubleheader on NBA TV
There’s a great 11-game slate in the NBA tonight, with Grizzlies vs Bucks on NBA TV at 8:00 pm ET and Suns vs Lakers at 10:30 pm ET on the same channel. Read today’s NBA picks.
14 MLB games on Friday
We have 28 MLB teams in action today, with Apple TV+ showing Rangers vs Cubs at 2:20 pm ET and Padres vs Braves at 7:20 pm ET. Read all of today’s MLB predictions.
Best Bet of the Day
MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 over Arizona Diamondbacks
9:40 pm ET
The Dodgers and the Diamondbacks battle again after opening the season with a 4-game series which they split 2-2. This is a rematch of game 3 of that series, which the Dodgers won 10-1, with the Diamondbacks bringing out Madison Bumgarner and the Dodgers starting Clayton Kershaw. This would have been a great matchup in 2013, but both pitchers are now at the end of their careers, but especially Bumgarner, who gave up 5 earned runs on 4 hits with 4 walks after only 4 innings last time. Kershaw did not struggle at all, with only 1 earned run after 6 innings pitched with 9 strikeouts. Read our full Dodgers vs Diamondbacks predictions.
You can bet on today’s MLB action over at DraftKings Sportsbook, which has a great sign-up offer where you can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your team wins! Click here to take advantage and claim your bonus bets right now.
Must-read
Today’s NBA mega parlay is ready to read and you can also check out our MLB mega parlay, MLB best bets and today’s top YRFI/NRFI picks. Our EPL parlay for tomorrow morning’s games is also available, along with our UFC 287 best bets for Saturday’s big fights.
Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Rockets have won just 6 of their 39 NBA road games this season.
Quote of the Day
“We forget about the opening green and it was about as comfortable as I’ve felt this year.”
Jon Rahm shrugged off a double bogey at the first hole to share the Masters lead with Brooks Koepka and Viktor Hovland after an opening round of 65 at Augusta. Rahm begins Friday as the +310 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook.
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