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Thursday’s Best MLB, NBA & NHL Bets (5/11)

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No matter your sport of choice, there's always sports betting action to be had. We'll have you covered each and every day with our daily best bets. Here are all of our best bets across each major sport in action today.

Today's Best Bets

Here are today's best bets.

MLB Best Bets

San Diego Padres (-120) at Minnesota Twins (+100) | O/U 8 (-110/-110)

The Twins currently hold first place in AL Central, but they're only three games above .500 so it's a small margin. The offense has been horrendous this year, as they sit in last in batting average and near the bottom in OBP and SLG. They are a home-run-or-bust type of lineup, being eighth in hard hit percentage and ninth in home run percentage. Bailey Ober has three great starts this year, allowing one run or fewer in each, but those three teams are in the bottom seven in wRC.

The Padres aren't at the top, but they are 16th in wRC. The NL West is another division that looks wide open, and although San Diego is 19-18, they're just 2.5 games behind first. Yu Darvish is having a fantastic season, allowing two or fewer runs in four of six starts, and his record would be better if the Padres weren't shut out in a couple of his starts.

Minnesota has the sixth-highest strikeout rate against right-handers, which will be tough against Darvish and his 27.2 strikeout percentage.

Pick: Padres Moneyline (-120)

-John Supowitz

Check out our other MLB Odds, Picks & Predictions:

NBA Playoffs Best Bets

Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers

What about the Celtics inspires optimism right now? Boston's coach has exhibited poor game-planning and late-game decision-making, Jayson Tatum has been a ghost on the court for prolonged stretches, and the team has had no defensive answer for Joel Embiid and the Philly pick-and-roll. The Celtics continue to be a frustrating watch and are deserving losers of these past two games as the 76ers' starters continue to thrive in this matchup. I have much more faith in Philly's best and the league MVP than I do in the Celtics at the moment, and it is nonsensical to want to bet on Boston amid such a tumultuous stretch.

These past two games, Boston has been thoroughly outplayed, with the only stretch of good basketball coming in the 4th quarter of Game 4, a game in which the point spread closed as a straight pick'em. Plainly, what logical reason is there that Boston should be favored by 2.5 points more in this contest than they were this past Sunday? The argument that the Celtics get a bump here because they 'need it' is illogical, and it isn't analysis. This game deserves to be, once again, a pick'em, and we'll gladly take the two free points as we root for the 76ers to close out the series at home.

Bet: 76ers +2.5 (-110)

-Tommy Jurgens

Check out our other NBA Playoffs Best Bets:

NHL Playoffs Best Bets

Sebastian Aho Under 2.5 Shots On Goal (-120)

As they did against the Islanders, the Hurricanes regrouped after a road loss and are now a win away from the Eastern Conference Finals. They have done well throughout this series, controlling both sides of the ice and containing the Devils' superb talent for three of four games.

One person left off the stat sheet in Game 4 was Sebastian Aho, and it was the first time in this series that he didn't have a point. He has contributed in this series, but he hasn't done it while attacking the net and didn't have more than one shot on goal in any game in this series. They haven't needed him to be aggressive at the net to win, so don't expect him to increase his shot total.

-John Supowitz

Check out our other NHL Playoffs Best Bets:


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