Daily Sports Betting Preview 10/16/2020: ALCS Game 6, SMU vs. Tulane, ATP Cologne

• The Houston Astros, on a two game winning streak, have +120 odds to even the series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
• SMU are 6.5 point favorites on the spread against Tulane.
• Roberto Bautista Agut is a 3.5 game favorite over Hubert Hurcakz at ATP Cologne.

LAS VEGAS - Today’s Daily Sports Betting Preview focuses on three great betting opportunities.

First, Game 6 of the ALCS happens today, as the Houston Astros look to even the series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Then, SMU takes on Tulane in college football action on a Friday. Finally, ATP Cologne sees Roberto Bautista Agut taking on Hubert Hurkacz.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

ALCS Game 6 Betting

The Houston Astros refuse to lose. They seem to be living something of a charmed existence right now.

First, they cheat. A lot. Then, when caught, most of the team avoids all serious punishments.

Now, they’ve somehow embraced the fact that everyone hates them (for cheating), and turned into an underdog team with a chip on their shoulder.

The Tampa Bay Rays have had two shots at eliminating the Astros, and have fallen just short two consecutive times.

Thursday’s game was especially heartbreaking, as a late home run from Hyun Jin Ryu was rendered null and void by a Carlos Correa walk off.

To add insult to injury, the Astros bullpen-ed out the Rays - a specialty of the Rays throughout the entire regular season. Now, the Astros are still underdogs game-to-game, and that has not changed for Friday’s matchup.

If Houston manages to take this Game 6, and push the series to seven games, it will be a five alarm fire for Tampa Bay.

It’s worth noting, in the context of these odds, that Tampa Bay still has far higher World Series odds than Houston does.

One would imagine that these odds would shift dramatically if Houston manages to win this game, and also that anyone wagering on Houston should take a look at these odds as well.

MLB bettors have a plethora of available wagers for this game and the futures odds for both teams are quite interesting.

SMU vs. Tulane Betting

A ranked team seeing play on a Friday evening is always cause for celebration among college football betting fans.

SMU, currently ranked #17 among college football teams, is set to face off against Tulane at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Interestingly, the #17 ranked team in the nation is only favored against Tulane by a little under a touchdown.

That said, the 6.5 point spread on the matchup does have a bit of shading towards SMU, with SMU -6.5 having -115 odds.

The moneyline reflects the idea that SMU has a roughly 65%-69% chance of winning the game.

It seems that the sportsbooks are fairly sure that SMU will win, but are not wholly confident that they will win heavily.

SMU are 4-0 on the season, while Tulane’s 2-2 record does not exactly inspire confidence in the underdog.

However, Tulane are 5-0 ATS in their last five games as a home underdog, which is part of a larger streak that sees them as 7-1 ATS in their last eight home games outright.

The trends seem to indicate that the underdog might have some say in this game, although Tulane are 1-3 ATS this year so far.

The spread does seem a bit low for a ranked team against an unranked team, but it’s worth noting that the spread opened at SMU -7, and has since moved to -6.5.

ATP Cologne Betting

Roberto Bautista Agut is set to face off against Hubert Hurkacz at ATP Cologne today.

Bautista Agut is one of the best players in the world, and enters this match ranked at 13 by the ATP.

Hubert Hurkacz, on the other hand, is a younger player who has already reached the ranks of the elite, sitting at 31st in the world.

Bautista Agut, at age 32, has an experience edge for sure, but the younger, taller, bigger Hurkacz might have an athletic edge.

Hurkacz reached the round of 16 in ATP Rome, but followed that tournament up with a loss in the Round of 128 at the French Open.

He’s had a fairly spotty 2020, with a record of 12-10 this year.

Bautista Agut, meanwhile, has a record of 18-7 in 2020, but the year has seen him fall three spots on the leaderboard. He reached the round of 32 in the French Open, the semifinals at ATP Hamburg and the round of 32 in the US Open.

In other words, despite any perceived athletic edge that Hurkacz has, Bautista Agut has been the player who has had a better year so far.

This is reflected in the moneyline, of course, but also in the spread.

Bautista Agut is favored on the spread by 3.5 games, with some significant shading towards that line.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see this line at -4.0 at some point before the match, depending on what sportsbook a given tennis bettor decides to use.

Odds of -125 is a significant amount of shading, and definitely worth taking into consideration.

Happy Betting!