Daily Sports Betting Preview 8/20/2020: MLB, NBA Playoffs Betting, Tennis Betting

• The New York Yankees have -135 odds against a team that has beaten them five out of six times in the Tampa Bay Rays.
• The Miami Heat are favored by -4.5 points against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Playoffs.
• There are a ton of betting opportunities for tennis bettors in today’s ATP Cincinnati Qualifiers.

LAS VEGAS - Welcome to the Daily Sports Betting Preview! Today’s edition covers three great sports betting opportunities.

First, in MLB, the Tampa Bay Rays take on the New York Yankees, in a showdown at the top of the AL East. Then, in the NBA Playoffs, the Indiana Pacers face off against the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Finally, in the world of Tennis, the ATP Cincinnati Qualification takes place today, and there are some great volume betting opportunities.

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

MLB Betting

The Tampa Bay Rays have been dominant against the New York Yankees so far this season. The odds have bounced all over the place each time the two teams have matched up, but the Rays have come out on top five times.

The Yankees are 16-8, which means that the Rays account for the majority of the losses they have taken on the season. The Rays are 16-9, and today’s matchup against the Yankees is a chance to take the crown at the top of the AL East.

Yesterday, the Rays managed to win a game that Gerrit Cole started for the Yankees, which is not an easy task.

The Yankees were significant favorites due to the pitching matchup, but the Rays managed to pull it out. The odds today are more even than they were yesterday, although the Yankees are still favored.

The Yankees send a struggling James Paxton to the mound. Paxton has been pretty abysmal this season, averaging a 7.04 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched.

The Rays, meanwhile, look to John Curtiss, who has only pitched 6.1 innings so far this season, but has been fairly good in those innings.

Curtiss is not a full-time starter - in fact, this is his first career start - and the Rays will cobble together pitching behind him. Given this, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the Rays are underdogs on the moneyline.

All things considered, however, MLB bettors have to at least give some credence to the idea that the Rays have the Yankees’ number.

Winning five out of six games against any team is a big deal, and winning five out of six games against a Yankees team with only eight total losses is a huge deal.

It’s hard to ignore that elephant in the room, as well as the absence of Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, and Giancarlo Stanton from the Yankees lineup.

This lineup is not the terrifying Bronx Bombers that started out the season, but instead a lineup without its heart. The Yankees are still moneyline favorites in this matchup, but are they even still the Yankees without those players?

Time will tell.

NBA Playoff Betting

The NBA Playoffs have been full of surprises and exciting games so far, and the Eastern Conference 4-5 series has not disappointed.

4-5 series’ are often some of the most competitive in the NBA playoffs, because there shouldn’t be a large gap between the teams competing.

However, this series has been a bit different. While the two teams on the floor had similar regular season records, in the playoffs, one has quite a bit more talent.

The Miami Heat, behind Jimmy Butler, went up 1-0 in this series quite easily two days ago, behind Jimmy Butler’s 28 points.

Butler is a bit of a controversial player in the NBA, but it’s unquestionable that he’s one of the best two-way wing players in the league. Butler can guard most of the electric scorers in the NBA, and produce on the offensive end while doing so.

The Heat are also buoyed by the defensive and offensive talents of the young Bam Adebayo, who is frankly a very unique player.

Adebayo is a defensive dynamo with great court vision for a big man, and creates a lot of interesting situations on the floor.

Indiana, meanwhile, is suffering from the loss of Domantas Sabonis for the season, but could be helped out by the return of Victor Oladipo for this game.

Oladipo was knocked out of Game 1 early with an eye injury, and is by far the best ball handler on the Pacers roster, and has been the best player on the team for several years now.

Despite the bubble hype around TJ Warren, it seems clear that Oladipo will be necessary if the Pacers want to win playoff games.

The Pacers are 4.5-point underdogs on the spread, and that’s pretty reasonable given the talent differential between the two teams.

The Heat won game 1 by more than 10 points, and it had a similar spread, so that is worth considering for NBA bettors. Regardless of the specific wager placed on this matchup, it is sure to excite, and it should be a great game to watch and wager on.

ATP Cincinnati Qualifier Betting

Tennis bettors rejoice! There are some excellent volume betting opportunities on the table for those who wish to take them.

ATP Cincinnati is coming up, and that means that the last few slots in the tournament must be filled up. The way these slots are filled is via qualifying rounds - prospective competitors face off to see who gets a shot at the main event.

Matches will be running all day Thursday, and that means that there are a ton of different ways to bet on tennis.

In fact, each match on Bovada has over 70 different bets available on it, so the volume betting opportunities grow even further.

The matches have varying start times. Five matches start at 11:00 a.m. EST, 12:20 p.m. EST, 1:40 p.m. EST, 3:00 p.m. EST and 4:20 p.m. EST.

In other words, bettors will have quality tennis in front of them for the foreseeable future. There are tons of great matchups to wager on, and a lot of different betting strategies that tennis bettors can employ.

This should be a day full of betting for those that want it, and we wish them, as always…

Happy Betting!