Phil Agius
Show Bio
Good morning, Pickswise Nation. We’ve got another fantastic Friday of sports ahead, with Game 4 of the NBA Finals, a big day of baseball and the start of Week 2 in the Premier Lacrosse League season. Let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Lightning rally on the road
The Rangers struck first in Game 5 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, but the Lightning struck 3 times to win 3-1 and move within a win of a return to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Avalanche are -200 favorites to win the Stanley Cup with FanDuel Sportsbook, with the Lightning +195 and the Rangers out to +1600.
MLB parlay cashes at +589 odds
We cashed our Thursday MLB parlay at +589 odds thanks to the Dodgers (ML), Braves (-1.5) and Yankees (-1.5). The Dodgers game was a lively one as they won 11-9 over the White Sox after trailing 4-0, while the Braves won their 8th straight game, 3-1 against the Pirates, and the Yankees also had to rally to beat the Twins 10-7.
Today’s Slate
Warriors under pressure
The Warriors don’t have to worry about blowing a 3-1 lead in these NBA Finals, as they trail the Celtics 2-1 heading into tonight’s Game 4. The big game at TD Garden starts at 9:00 pm ET on ABC and Golden State star Steph Curry has said he will play despite picking up an injury on Wednesday. Get our picks for tonight’s game.
Big day of baseball
We have a big slate of 15 MLB games today, including Rays vs Twins (8:10 pm ET) and Mets vs Angels (9:38 pm ET) on Apple TV+ and Dodgers vs Giants at 10:15pm ET on ESPN+. Read today’s MLB game previews.
Friday night lacrosse
This week’s Premier Lacrosse League games are being played tonight and tomorrow, with Redwoods vs Chrome (6:00pm ET, ESPN+) and Archers vs Chaos (8:45pm ET) on ESPN+ tonight. Read today’s lacrosse predictions.
Best Bet of the Day
Philadelphia Phillies ML vs Arizona Diamondbacks
7:05 pm ET
After a rather improbable 9th-inning comeback on Thursday afternoon, the Diamondbacks were able to split their series with the Reds. However, that’s most likely going to be the highlight of their week as they now have to face a much tougher team in the Phillies. Bryce Harper and the Phillies have looked great since firing former manager Joe Girardi, and have won their last 7 games including sweeps against the Angels and Brewers. The reasonable money line price for a Phillies team at home is due to Zac Gallen getting the start for the Diamondbacks. He is Arizona’s best option, but he doesn’t pitch very deep into games and the Diamondbacks have a bottom-5 bullpen coming in behind him. Read our full game preview for Phillies vs Diamondbacks.
Must-watch
Don’t forget to check out our daily show Let’s Bet It! on our YouTube channel atyoutube.com/c/Pickswise at 10:00 am ET.
Today, the team will be hunting the best bets for Game 4 of the NBA Finals, with former NBA champion Brian Scalabrine joining the show to talk hoops, and also looking ahead to today’s MLB games before revealing their Plays of the Day.
You can also access the show at any time through Spotify and Apple Podcasts (search for Let’s Bet It Presented By Pickswise).
Must-read
We’ve got you covered for today’s big NBA game with our experts’ best bets, same game parlay (+1322 odds), first-basket best bet and JutPicks’ player prop for Warriors vs Celtics.
We’re also set for Week 2 of the Premier Lacrosse League season, and you can read our Week 2 picks and this week’s best prop bets for the games, which are being shown on ESPN+ and ESPN2.
The USFL regular season has just 2 weeks left and our best bets for Week 9 are available now.
Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Guardians have lost 8 of their last 9 home games against the Athletics.
Boost of the Day
FanDuel Sportsbook has enhanced the odds of a 3-team MLB parlay today, with a wager on the Yankees (vs Cubs), Phillies (vs Diamondbacks) and Blue Jays (vs Tigers) all winning today boosted from +250 odds to +350.
Pickswise is the home of free sports picks, news, and best bets. Check out our expert NBA picks, NHL picks, MLB picks and Soccer picks for the latest game picks.
