Daily Sports Betting Preview 7/31/2020: PGA, NBA, and MLB

• Brooks Koepka is a serious favorite to win the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational (+185 odds) after a great first round yesterday.
• The Boston Celtics are +5 underdogs to the Milwaukee Bucks in tonight’s NBA action.
• The New York Yankees have -200 odds against the Boston Red Sox tonight in MLB.

LAS VEGAS - Today’s Daily Sports Betting Preview is an incredible one, with a bunch of great sports now that they’ve all started reopening.

First, the Preview takes a look at the odds for the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational after an action packed first round.

Then, the Preview examines some NBA betting, after yesterday’s opening day seemed to be a rousing success.

Finally, baseball continues as well today, with MLB action providing a lot of interesting betting opportunities.

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

WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting

The WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational continues today, and there are a lot of interesting ways for bettors to wager on this event.

Normally, the Preview covers the three-ball matchups, but today, it’ll deviate a little bit from the norm and talk about the updated futures odds after the first round.

Brooks Koepka is a dominating favorite in this tournament now, after an outstanding round one put him in a great position. Koepka had been on a bit of a rough streak recently, as he didn’t even make the cut at last week’s 3M tournament.

However, a great day one and some name recognition can fix anything, and now Koepka is at the top of the odds boards.

Will he remain there? Golf bettors will have to find out.

One name that might get lost in the mix here is Jon Rahm’s, and that’s a name that golf bettors never want to lose track of.

Rahm is sitting right at par, which is pretty far behind the lead, but he’s also one of the best golfers in the world. In fact, there’s a pretty compelling case that the only reason he’s this high up on the leaderboard is that people feel like if he can just hang in there, he’ll eventually make a run.

And they may be right.

NBA Betting Odds

The NBA reopened yesterday with two great games, but for most teams, opening day is today. Only the New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz played yesterday.

The other teams in the bubble have to wait for tonight’s games, which include some seriously good ones.

On the moneyline, the Bucks are a little over 1:2 favorites, with -220 odds. The Bucks are one of the very best teams in the league, and are clearly the best team in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are very good, and are generally regarded as the closest competition that the Bucks have within the East. That said, they don’t appear to be that close, either on the moneyline or the spread.

So, just to drive the point home here - the Celtics are the closest competition the Bucks have in the Eastern Conference, and they’re five point underdogs.

Given this, it might be worth checking out the odds for the Bucks to win the Eastern Conference Finals.

Honestly, these odds don’t look too bad in the context of the way the above spread panned out, and NBA bettors should surely take a look at them.

MLB Betting

The MLB has continued the season in the face of some serious challenges from COVID-19, specifically relating to the Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, and more recently, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.

The Marlins have been shut down for the time being, but it seems that COVID-19 may have been transmitted to their opponents in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Phillies have canceled workouts today after a coach and clubhouse attendant tested positive for coronavirus. Activities are shut down “until further notice,” according to the team.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2020

This is a tough spot for MLB to be in, and Rob Manfred is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure right now. That said, the MLB solution to this has been to keep playing games, which means that MLB bettors have plenty to wager on today!

In fact, one of the greatest rivalries in sports is happening today, although it’s starting to look like it did about 20 years ago.

The Yankees are a dominant team in the AL East once again, while the Red Sox have adopted that old pattern of letting their best player go and trying to rebuild.

These odds are not surprising. The Yankees are a lot better than the Red Sox. In terms of goals, the Yankees are looking to win a World Series, and the Red Sox are looking to be a fringe playoff team.

In addition, the Red Sox pitching staff has been decimated, with Chris Sale out injured, and Eduardo Rodriguez medically unavailable due to complications from COVID-19.

All due respect to Nathan Eovaldi, but when he’s the number one starter on a team, that team might be in trouble.

The Red Sox sure seem to be in trouble tonight.

Happy Betting!