STN Sports Weekly Rundown

Hot takes, bad beats and all things sports betting, a weekly newsletter by Steven Money.

STN Sports Weekly Rundown

May 25, 2022

Sports are a lot like Electric Daisy Carnival DJs: They can bring music to people’s ears and make you happy, and sometimes they drop serious beats. We’ve seen it all at the Station Casinos Sports Books over the past week, including a few tickets that had social media buzzing. Having said all that, let’s quickly look over the sport’s landscape and take a peek at what’s ahead on the court, on the ice, on the links and on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Book.

Hoops
The NBA postseason seems to be akin to a woman’s desire at a salon: You can never have too many blowouts. The NBA postseason, at least of late, has offered very few competitive games, as the vast majority of them seem to be over by the end of the first quarter. Between the Golden State/Dallas series and the Miami/Boston series, the spreads haven’t seemed to matter much, as the games are often decided by double-digit points. Because of the blowouts, bettors aren’t exactly pounding in-play betting like they normally might. “It used to be kind of the rule of thumb in the NBA that everybody’s going to make a run and it’s gonna be competitive, but that hasn’t been the case this postseason,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director. “You get some in-play bets especially when the favorite is down, but when the favorite is up by a huge margin, I think it deters in-play a little bit in the NBA.”

Their Tuesday night loss to the Mavericks notwithstanding, the Golden State might be turning the NBA Playoffs into a one-horse race — at least when judging by the odds and the barrage of wagers. “The Warriors are the darlings of the bettors in the NBA Finals and of the four teams left of the right now,” Esposito said. Golden State wasn’t the Finals favorite coming into the NBA playoffs, but they soon moved way down in the future’s market after Phoenix lost to Dallas. They are the clear-cut favorite right now, especially given that they’ll have home court advantage in the Finals (should they beat Dallas in the Western Conference Finals.) “They’re going to be a very well rested team, by all indications,” Esposito said. “They’ll have home court advantage against two Eastern opponents that could easily go seven games and have to turn around and play two days later.” A quick turnaround is only good when dealing with jump shots, airplanes, pickpockets and wedding reception dances.

The Great Skate
Unlike the NBA, the NHL has featured much tighter games. Granted, there have been some surprises, namely Tampa Bay running through Florida, the President’s Trophy winner. They did so with defense (which we all know wins championships!). Tampa easily held the high-powered Florida offense in check. In fact, the last five Tampa games have all gone under the total. While the Rangers evened its series with the Hurricanes, Carolina is still the favorite to come out of that series. If Tampa faces Carolina in the next round, Esposito expects more low-scoring games and games consistently going under the total. Over in the West, if it ends up being Colorado and Edmonton, the smart money is on the overs. “They play a wide open style, they both score a lot of goals and have big time playmakers,” Esposito said. “There are definitely two contrasts and styles in both conferences, if it works out that way.”

“Meaningless” goals are having meaningful impacts on postseason hockey betting. Teams are consistently covering puck lines late in games, as Edmonton did Tuesday night, win 5-3 after a last-minute empty net goal. “Whoever is leading in the last few minutes of the game, they are usually covering the puck line,” Esposito pointed out. “The favorite or the ‘dog on the reverse puck line, these teams are pulling their goalies even earlier now, and it seems like that empty net is triple the size when it gets to the last two minutes, as there’s nobody in the crease.”

Ball Boys
Don’t look now, but the Padres are racking win after win after win, and they’re doing it without their best player, Fernando Tatis Jr. Also, the Twins are surprising the hell out of the American League with one of the best records. Betting on the Twins and Padres lately has been like betting on the Dodgers, but without the premium price. “The betters tend to back streaky teams, both good and bad,” Esposito said, “and the Twins and Padres are a streaky team in a good way.” With the way these teams are playing, even Windex can’t handle these streaks.

Pro tip: When betting the Dodgers, bet the run line. It’s no secret that Los Angeles is really good at baseball, but when they win, they’re winning fairly easily. In fact, when the Dodgers win, they’re covering the run line over 80% of the time. “If you’re going to bet the Dodgers, you should bet them on the run line because you are saving money, and the majority of the time they win on the run line,” Esposito said. We’ll call it “Dodging For Dollars.”

The Greens
Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are all about to drive without the help of Uber. On June 1, the four men will participate in Capital One’s The Match, which takes place in Vegas and airs on TNT. Under this format, the old timers will team up to face off against the young guns for 12 holes. The current line has Brady and Rodgers as decent-sized favorites. “We’ve seen Brady and Rogers kind of do these things before, and we put it up and we want to have fun with it,” Esposito said. “We’ll let the public kind of decide if the number’s too high or too low, but being on TV is definitely going to generate some interest and buzz.” Let’s just hope this one doesn’t come down to a coin toss.

Bets To Know

Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are all ready to drive down the fairway. On June 1, the four men will participate in Capital One’s The Match, which takes place in Vegas and airs on TNT. Under this format, the old timers will team up to face off against the young guns for 12 holes. The current line has Brady and Rodgers as decent-sized favorites.

STN Sports Weekly Winners

$100 to $11,433! A NICE hit from this bettor at Santa Fe Station. Check out the 8-team parlay across baseball on May 24:

  •  
  • – Giants -122
  • – Red Sox +144
  • – Blue Jays -138
  • – Rays -150
  • – Yankees -235
  • – Braves -180
  • – Cubs EV
  • – Rockies +102
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