The Road to Omaha

Good morning,

Let’s dive in…

Developing Stories 📰

College baseball season is finally here, and the Road to Omaha will be here before we know it. Last year the Ole Miss Rebels stunned the nation as one of the final five teams to make the field of 64 and made its way through the NCAA tournament to win its programs first national title. LSU Tigers failed to make it out of their regional in 2022, but they enter the 2023 season as the #1 team in the nation. HC Jay Johnson had a great offseason picking up some big talent out of the transfer portal with the addition of Tommy White (.362, 74 RBI’s, 27 HR) to join one of the nation's best hitters in Dylan Crews. Their pitching staff went from being one of their weakest to now their biggest strengths by adding Air Force transfer Paul Skenes who averaged a 2.96 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85.2 innings last year.

Tennessee, Stanford, Ole Miss and Texas A&M close out the rest of the top 5 in D1 Baseball preseason 25. Three of these teams played in the Men’s College World Series last season, with Ole Miss taking home the title. The Volunteers missed out despite winning 57 games and a historic season. They are ranked #2 after losing 7 players with a combined 105 home runs and they could have the best pitching staff in the country coming back.

Stanford is a team that’s built around their hitters- Carter Graham (.331, 79 RBI, 22 HR), Tommy Troy (.339, 23 RBI, 7 HR), and Drew Bowser (.293, 50 RBI, 18 HR). Stanford also has Braden Montgomery who is one of the most electric two-way baseball players in the country who can hit with power and throw 100 MPH.

The reigning champs come in as #4 in the country. The team lost Tim Elko and Dylan Deluchia. Top SS Jacob Gonzalez returns and Kemp Alderman is a big offensive threat when he’s at the plate. Mike Bianco got some names form the portal as well- Anthony Calarco from Northwestern and 1B Ethan Groff from Tulane who hit for over .400 last year and plays great defense in CF.

Last and #5 is the Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies had few players leave for the draft that decided to come back- Trevor Werner and Ryan Targac. Then you have a lineup loaded from top to bottom with Jack Moss leading the team. Should be a great year for college baseball.

Here are all the Futures I will be taking to win the MCWS this year  

(0.5U) Ole miss +1200

(0.5U) Florida +1500

(0.5U) Oregon State +2500

(0.5U) North Carolina +3000

(.25U) UCONN +30000

Headlines 🚨

On this Day in Sports History: 1943 NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio enlists into the US Army

A trial looking into bribery at the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee has begun

Giannis breaks Milwaukee’s career assist record with 3274 over 10 seasons, Bucks win 12 straight

Tiger Woods Opens with a 69 at The Genesis Open, trails lead by 5

DA drops domestic violence case against former Texas HC Chris Beard

Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla loses title as interim coach, named head coach and gets extension

Saints’ Alvin Kamara indicted in battery case

Maryland basketball defeats #3 Purdue, their second straight loss

Hall of Fame analyst & World Series champion Tim McCarver passes at 81

Kings defensemen Mikey Anderson signs 8-year extension for $33 millionP

Packers and Aaron Jones reach an agreement keeping Aaron in GB for at least 2023 season

Trends 📈📉 via Oddsshark

🏒 Penguins at Islanders

• Pittsburgh is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road

• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games on the road

• NY Islanders is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Pittsburgh

• NY Islanders is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing Pittsburgh

🏒 Black Hawks at Senators 

• Chicago is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Ottawa

• Chicago is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Ottawa

• Ottawa is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games 

• The total has gone OVER in 6 of Ottawa's last 8 games when playing at home against Chicago

🏒 Stars at Wild

• The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Dallas's last 5 games 

• The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Dallas's last 10 games on the road

• The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Minnesota's last 10 games at home

• The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Minnesota's last 8 games 

🏒 Rangers at Oilers

• NY Rangers is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games on the road

• NY Rangers is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games 

• Edmonton is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing NY Rangers

• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Edmonton's last 6 games 

🏒 Kings at Ducks

• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 6 games on the road

• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 6 games 

• The total has gone OVER in 6 of Anaheim's last 7 games at home

• The total has gone OVER in 13 of Anaheim's last 16 games

Public Money 🤑 via VSiN at 9AMCT

🏒 NHL

33% of bets and 71% of money is on NYI -1.5 +205

64% of bets and 76% of money is on UNDER 6 PIT at NYI

55% of bets and 66% of money is on NYI -115

25% of bets and 58% of money is on MIN -1.5 +210

61% of bets and 89% of money is on UNDER 5.5 DAL at MIN

64% of bets and 75% of money is on OVER 7 NYR at EDM

🎓🏀 NCAAB

23% of bets and 54% of money is on UNDER 126.5 Fairfield at Marist

53% of bets and 80% of money is on OVER 143 Brown at Princeton

34% of bets and 58% of money is on Canisius +6

46% of bets and 79% of money is on OVER 140.5 Canisius at Rider

55% of bets and 72% of money is on UNDER 144.5 New Mexico at San Jose State

Future Odds 🔮 via BetOnline

Injury Report 🏥 via ESPN

🏒 ANA (G) Anthony Stolarz | Questionable

🏒 CHI (RW) MacKenzie Entwistle | Questionable 

🏒 DAL (LW) Joel Kiviranta | Questionable 

🏒 EDM (D) Vincent Desharnais | Questionable 

🏒 OTT (G) Cam Talbot | Probable - Lower Body

🏒 PIT (D) Mark Friedman | Questionable 

 Weekend Picks 🔒

🎾 Tennis

2/17/2023

Dusan Lajovic +5.5 | Alcaraz is a top tennis player, but he has been out of recent tournaments with injury. He has been back for one match, and it went the distance. Lajovic doesn’t have overwhelming power, which is fine because Clay courts play slower anyway. What he does have is variety. He spreads the ball around the court, keeping his opponents moving and allowing him to win the court-positioning battle

🏒 NHL

2/17/23

Rangers +113 | The Rangers are hot. HavIng won 6 in a row with at least 4 goals in each game including 6 goals in the last three. Since they acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Blues, they’ve won all three games. They’re ninth in scoring and fifth in goals allowed/game for the run.

XFL

2/18/23

Houston -3 | The Roughnecks probably have the best defense considering Wade Phillips resume form that side of the ball. They feature a QB/WR duo that played together at Hawaii. Cole McDonald and Cedric Byrd connected 177 times for 2,067 yards and 19 touchdowns across two college football seasons. Phillips defensive knowledge should lead the roughnecks to a win.