This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 9/12/2018

by Ricky Dimon - 9/12/2018

Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson

A. Adrian Peterson . Once a longtime member of the Vikings, Peterson now has about as many former teams as Derek Jeter has former girlfriends. Well, not exactly. Whatever the case, the new Redskins running back torched some of his old mates-the Cardinals-with 90 rushing yards and 70 receiving yards in Washington's 24-6 Week 1 victory.

B. Browns . Were people onto something when they backed the Browns-yes, the Browns-to win the Super Bowl? Um, probably not; but Cleveland at least earned a respectable 21-21 tie against Pittsburgh in Week 1. "The Browns are our only liability right now," MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood said of his book's odds to win the Super Bowl. "We're sitting pretty well on every other team except Cleveland." The Browns are +9 underdogs at New Orleans on Sunday, per MyBookie.ag.

C. Chapman, Aroldis . The Yankees placed Chapman on the disabled list (left-knee tendinitis) three weeks ago. His return remains uncertain, but there is growing confidence that the flame-throwing closer will be back at some point this season.

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D. Djokovic, Novak . In an up-down-and-up-again career of which even Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights would be jealous, Djokovic has now won consecutive Grand Slams. On the heels of his fourth Wimbledon title, the Serb triumphed at the U.S. Open with a win over Juan Martin Del Potro in this past Sunday's final. Bovada Sportsbook has Djokovic at +325 to win the 2019 Australian Open.

E. East Lake . The field is set for the TOUR Championship, held at East Lake in Atlanta in two weeks. Bryson DeChambeau leads the FedEx Cup standings going into it with victories at The Northern Trust and the Dell Technologies Championship. Justin Rose, now world No. 1 following his runner-up performance at last week's BMW Championship, is a +700 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook prevail in Atlanta.

F. Frost, Scott . Frost's Central Florida team failed to win the National Championship last season. His Nebraska team has pretty much eliminated itself from contention already this season. Playing their opener against Colorado this past weekend following a postponement against Akron, the Cornhuskers fell to the visiting Buffaloes 33-28.

G. Goals record . Atlanta United star Josef Martinez broke the MLS single-season scoring record with No. 28 in his club's 26^th match, a win over Orlando FC last month. Twenty-eight goals in 26 matches. Is that good? It's not bad!

H. Hit . Royals right-hander Jorge Lopez allowed only one to Minnesota last Saturday. Lopez came within three outs of a perfect game. Max Kepler walked and Robbie Grossman broke up the no-hitter with a single center. The 25-year-old left after 110 pitches as Kansas City held on for a 4-1 victory.

I. Ibrahimovic, Zlatan . Rumors are running rampant that Zlatan and Pyramids FC of Egypt are in discussions for a transfer from the L.A. Galaxy. But the African club's director of operations called the rumors "fake news." Ah, just what we need right now: more fake news!

J. Jimmy Smith . The Ravens cornerback is suspended for the first four games of the season, stemming from a domestic violence allegation. To say it didn't matter in Week 1-when his team embarrassed Buffalo 47-3-would be a gross understatement. Unfortunately for the Ravens, they don't get to play Buffalo the next three weeks. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Baltimore as a -1 favorite at Cincinnati on Thursday night.

K. Keanu Neal . The Falcons safety is done for the season after suffering a torn ACL in last Thursday's opener against Philadelphia. Atlanta also lost linebacker Deion Jones to the IR (stress fracture) and lost the football game 18-12. Welp, at least the city's baseball team is finally good again.

L. Love, Bryce . Now that's the real Stanford running back we know and love. After rushing for just 29 yards against San Diego State, Love carried 22 times for 136 yards and one touchdown in the Cardinal's 17-3 victory over Southern Cal this past weekend.

M. Murphy, Daniel . Don't blame Murphy for the Cubs' current failure to run away with the NL Central. He has seven multi-hit performances since being acquired from Washington on Aug. 20. Chicago halted a three-game skid with a crucial 3-0 win over the Brewers on Tuesday, pushing its slim lead back to two games. The Cubs (Hendricks) are -150 home favorites over Milwaukee (Anderson) on Wednesday, according to YouWager.eu.

N. National Team . The USMNT beat Mexico 1-0 on Tuesday. That's all well and good…aside from the fact that it was an international friendly. Even the Detroit Lions could probably win an international friendly.

O. Ohio State . So far, so good without Urban Meyer. The Buckeyes are 2-0 following a pair of blowouts, but their last game sans Meyer will actually come against a decent football team (TCU) on Saturday. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins is +1000 at MyBookie.ag to win the Heisman Trophy.

P. Posey, Buster . San Francisco's star catcher underwent hip surgery late last month and will be sidelined for at least six months. Posey, a six-time all-star, was batting .284 with only five home runs and 41 RBIs this season.

Q. Quarterback battle . A QB battle between, say, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts? Good problem to have. One between Nathan Peterman and Josh Allen? A true problem. Well, the Peterman part is undoubtedly terrible; the jury is obviously still out on Allen. Peterman, of five-interceptions-in-one-half fame, was picked off twice more in brief work against Baltimore last weekend.

R. Retiring . It's the end of an era-again-in San Antonio. Manu Ginobili, the last of the Mohicans if you will, announced his retirement last month. The Spurs are +2500 at XBet.ag to win the Western Conference.

S. Serena Williams . Regardless of what side of the issue/incident you are on, the bottom line is this: Serena probably would have lost the U.S. Open final anyway. Even before all hell broke loose, Naomi Osaka was thoroughly outplaying the former world No. 1 to the tune of a set and a break lead. The 20-year-old from Japan ended up triumphing 6-2, 6-4-which should be the story…but isn't.

T. Turnover chain . Perhaps turnover accessories aren't such a good idea. Miami, which now has an upgraded seven-pound chain, got blown out by LSU 33-17 in its opener. Florida State, which has copycatted to the tune of a turnover backpack, was thrashed by Virginia Tech 24-3 before just barely scraping past Samford last weekend. Miami is a -10 favorite at Toledo on Saturday, as indicated by BetOnline Sportsbook.

U. UK . Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Granted, Florida has not been all that mighty for a while-but losing at home to Kentucky still constitutes an unmitigated disaster. The Gators fell to the Wildcats 27-16 as -13.5 favorites last Friday night

V. Verlander, Justin . Verlander was jokingly hit with a $1,000,000 charge for "Dodger Killer" when he dined at the Cabana Café at the Beverly Hills Hotel as the Astros paid a visit to the L.A. last month. He continues to kill a lot of opponents, with 15 wins and a 2.72 ERA this season. YouWager.eu has Houston (Cole) as a -240 favorite at Detroit (Norris) on Wednesday.

W. WNBA Finals . It's win or go home for Washington on Wednesday. The Mystics dropped the first two games of the finals in Seattle, losing 89-76 last Friday and 75-73 two days later. Are they Elena Delle DONE? Okay, that was bad. Washington is a -3 home favorite in Game 3, per Bovada Sportsbook.

X. Xavier Rhodes . Rhodes was questionable for Week 1. Question no more. The Vikings' star cornerback was one of three players who picked off San Francisco quarter Jimmy Garoppolo as Minnesota prevailed 24-16. GT Bets has the Vikings at +900 to win the Super Bowl.

Y. Youngs . No Smith, no problem for the Baltimore defense. The Ravens sacked Buffalo quarterbacks six times in Week 1 and the Youngs combined for three (Tavon Young had two, Kenny Young had one). But now let's see how they do against a real NFL team.

Z. Zach Eflin . Are the Phillies cursed by how they handled Eflin? Philadelphia saved $20,000 by briefly sending the 24-year-old righty to the minors in mid-August. He was having a career year (8-4, 3.57 ERA at the time). Since owning the NL's second-best record on Aug. 5, the Phillies are an NL-worst 11-22 and now trail the Braves by a whopping 6.5 games in the NL East. Eflin has been unable to get back on track, allowing a ridiculous 20 runs in 16.2 innings upon his return to the majors.

Start:	November 17, 2018 @ 8:30 PM
Expert:	Raphael Esparza (VSI)
Offered at:	5Dimes
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