Phil Agius
Show Bio
Good morning, Pickswise Nation. There’s a huge weekend of sport coming up with the French Open tennis, Indy 500, Monaco F1 Grand Prix and the Champions League final. But today’s action is pretty good too and includes some crucial games in the NBA and NHL playoffs, plus a big night of baseball. Let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Warriors punch ticket to the finals
The Warriors ended the Mavericks’ comeback after one game and completed a 4-1 series victory last night with a 120-110 home win. The Dubs are now -160 favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook for the NBA Championship, with the Celtics at +140 and the Heat +3000.
Flames extinguished in overtime
We had a series closed out in the NHL too, as the Oilers beat the Flames 5-4 in overtime to wrap up a 4-1 series win. The Hurricanes beat the Rangers 3-1 at home to move 3-2 ahead in that series.
MLB mega parlay cashes at +943 odds
Caleb Wilfinger pointed the way to a +943 win on our Thursday MLB mega parlay as the Brewers ML (beat Cardinals 4-3), Phillies ML (beat Braves 4-1) and Yankees -1.5 (beat Rays 7-2) all landed at plus-money odds. The early game also raised a few eyebrows as the Reds thrashed the Cubs 20-5.
Today’s Slate
The Heat is on for Miami
The Celtics are looking to join the Warriors in the NBA Finals as they play Game 6 of their series against the Heat tonight (8:30 pm ET, ESPN). Read today’s Heat vs Celtics preview.
Blues aiming to tie it up
The Blues are at home looking to force a Game 7 in tonight’s NHL game against the Avalanche (8:00pm ET, TNT). Get our picks for Avalanche vs Blues.
Big day of baseball
We have a big slate of 14 MLB games today, including Rockies vs Nationals at 7:05 pm ET on ESPN+, and Apple TV+ showing Orioles vs Red Sox at 7:10 pm ET and Blue Jays vs Angels at 9:38 pm ET. Read today’s MLB game previews.
Best Bet of the Day
Houston Astros -1.5 vs Seattle Mariners
9:40 pm ET
Houston’s Justin Verlander looks like he is in his prime at 39. The veteran comes into this matchup with a 1.22 ERA and a 2.56 xERA in 51.2 innings after missing the entire 2021 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. In his 8 starts this season, Verlander has faced the Mariners twice and the Astros have won 4-0 and 7-2. In the span of those 2 starts, Verlander allowed 2 runs on 8 hits in 14.2 innings. The Mariners have lost the last 5 games that Chris Flexen has started. His 4.99 ERA isn’t great, but his 6.16 xERA indicates that Flexen has been getting lucky with an ERA that’s already close to 5. Read our full game preview for Astros vs Mariners.
Must-watch
Don’t forget to check out our daily show Let’s Bet It! on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/Pickswise every day at 10:00 am ET.
Lauren Jbara and Jared Smith are your hosts today and they will be joined by Brian Scalabrine, former NBA champion and Pickswise NBA analyst, to discuss the NBA playoffs. The team will also take a look at today’s slates in the MLB and NHL 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
Our same game parlay and first basket best bets for tonight’s Heat vs Celtics game are available, along with our MLB mega parlay as we go for back-to-back wins. We also have an NHL same game parlay for Game 6 between the Avs and Blues.
Our French Open tennis picks are available after a 3-0 day on Thursday and you can also read our best bets for this week’s USFL games and a same game parlay for Saturday’s Champions League final. It’s a huge weekend in the motorsport calendar and Matt Selz has put together a mega parlay incorporating the Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600!
Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Celtics are 49-19 in closeout playoff games at home in their history.
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.
