Top 10 betting prospects for my favorite sports teams
It’s safe to say that anyone who has been backing the professional sports teams from this area at the betting window have been paid off handsomely, starting with the New England Patriots upset of the Rams back in 2002 in Super Bowl XXXVI. Not only were the Pats a 14-point underdog in that game, but they were a 60-to-1 long-shot to win the Super Bowl at the start of the season.
Of course, living in Massachusetts, the home base of Casino City, I have only been able to place wagers on my hometown teams for just a few weeks with mobile sports betting just on the horizon with a 10 March launch date.
I don’t strictly have Boston sports teams on my list of favorites, though. Here, I take a look to 10 teams that I love to watch and support and where they stand in the sportsbooks in their current seasons. Some are favorites to win their respective titles, and some don’t even crack the books for title odds, but they still find themselves on my TV screen come gameday.
10. Denver Nuggets
I have put them in my future bets articles before, the Nuggets are a fun team to watch and it helps they have the reigning back-to-back MVP, Nikola Jokic.
Currently with a 5.5-game lead in the Western Conference, the Nuggets are a team that you do not want to have the better seed come playoff time. Why? Well, they just happen to have the best home record in the NBA at 28-4.
At +700 to win it all on Everygame Sportsbook, the Nuggets have a great complimenting cast of Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and others off the bench. All of this led by Jokic who is averaging a triple-double and looking to become the fourth player ever to win three-straight MVPs.
9. Ohio State football
Ohio State ] had a sour taste in its mouth as 2023 rang in. Pretty much as the clock struck midnight on 1 January, Ohio State had a field goal sail wide left by a large amount and lost in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Georgia ended up winning the game 42-41 with the Bulldogs favored by five, so the Buckeyes did cover, just couldn’t pull off the upset.
The colleges here in Boston haven’t had any major success in recent history besides Matt Ryan with the Boston College Eagles, so with a few friends on the Ohio State train early on, I decided to buy a ticket on that ride as well.
What solidified my fandom was in 2021 on Thanksgiving weekend when I attended one of the greatest rivalries in sports. I went to the Michigan-Ohio State game in Ann Arbor and the 112,000 in attendance with a slight snowfall made the experience turn into a picture.
When it comes to college football, the last few years have had the same teams be in the contention talks and it is similar again for the 2023/2024 season. Georgia is the favorite on bet365 Sportsbook & Racebook at +275, followed by Alabama (+550) and OSU (+750).
fight or flight ??
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) February 23, 2023
#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/kNBbdu6vR7
8. New England Revolution
Soccer is gaining more supporters in the U.S., especially at the international level but hopefully the MLS isn’t far behind.
Growing up playing soccer through high school, the sport will always have a place in my heart. Sure, the Revs have definitely gone through their fair share of struggles and might be looking at a down season ahead, but they will still have my eyes on the TV when they play.
The Revolution aren’t projected to be a title contender this year. Sitting roughly in the middle of the pack, New England is +2000 to win the MLS Cup at Everygame Sportsbook.
A couple of years ago, the Revs were a top team and actually broke the single-season points record in 2001, but failed to reach the finals. Since then, some of the top players on the roster have been loaned to successful clubs in Europe and now the team looks to reform a top-performing roster.
7. Chelsea FC
If you are a Premier League fan, you are used to seeing the Chelsea Blues in the top 4 conversation pretty much every season. Well, this year, and most recently, has been a downward dive.
Chelsea currently is in 10th place in the EPL. Yes, you read that right, 10th. In the last nine matches, Chelsea only has one victory which has led them to find themselves way out of Champions League qualification for next year and even in deep trouble in regards to Europa League qualifying.
If you think I sound like I am overreacting to how far behind they are, well Everygame doesn’t even have them listed in the Premier League title odds. bet365 has them listed but it looks even worse than not being there. Chelsea is +250000 on bet365.
The team has made more moves than Michael Jackson on stage, yet no combination of 11 players have seemed to work. With this year pretty much a wash in the EPL, the eyes turn to the current Champions League that it is battling in and are only +2000 on bet365.
6. Marist basketball
As you can see in my bio, I graduated from Marist College nearly six years ago. No matter how bad of a year the team was having, you could catch my friends and I in the stands for a Marist basketball game.
The Red Foxes had a winning record two years ago, but since then have struggled and this year is more of the same. I don’t even want to give the embarrassing line for them to somehow win the MAAC tournament to get the auto-bid to March Madness and somehow do the unthinkable and win it all.
However, despite not being a team that is going to draw big crowds or be on National TV often, I still find myself logging into ESPN+ on gamedays to support my alma mater and I don’t see that changing soon.
5. Boston Bruins
NHL teams and fans have found out the hard way, the Bruins are a wagon and you should probably get out of their way.
Boston has a nine-point lead over the second-best team in the NHL and has a chance to break the all-time single-season points record as well. The most impressive stat thus far is the Bruins have only two regulation losses at home…two!
While that is incredible, it does take away from the road success Boston has tallied with a 21-6-2 away record. This is led by the two brick walls the Bs have. The backup, Jeremy Swayman has a 14-4-4 record which is a very solid win percentage.
Unfortunately for Swayman, his numbers tend to get overshadowed by Linus Ullmark who has a 30-4-1 record and is arguably the best goalie in the NHL. In fact, Ullmark got so bored of making saves that he wanted more action as he became the first Bruins goalie to score a goal when he shot it basically the length of the ice on Saturday night and buried the empty-net goal.
The favorites on Everygame (+400), the Bruins are clearly the team to beat this year.
A tendy shot to CELLY ?? pic.twitter.com/Mt5BBOtIJa
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 26, 2023
4. Boston Red Sox
While the Bruins have Boston fans on the edge of their seats, the Red Sox have fans filled with very mixed feelings heading into the 2023 season. One of the most beloved Red Sox in the last 10 years, Xander Bogaerts, signed with San Diego Padres in the offseason after Boston failed to reach a deal with him.
Fans immediately began to panic, but luckily their panic was dropped when Rafael Devers was signed to a 10 year/$313 million extension through 2034. The face of the franchise will have to help develop a winning team with some newcomers like Justin Turner, Adam Duvall and Masataka Yoshida.
With the lack of Bogaerts and identity, the books don’t love Boston to be a major threat and I can’t blame them until it proves early and often in the season that it can string wins together. The Sox are picked to finish fourth in the AL East as many believe it will be the Yankees and Blue Jays battling it out for the division title. The World Series odds for Boston is +4000 on bet365.
While a sub-par season could be on the horizon, I can’t fret too much as we have four titles in the last 19 seasons, but having a down year is never easy to swallow.
We really missed watching Rafael Devers play baseball. pic.twitter.com/WRK15WwrNd
— Red Sox (@RedSox) February 24, 2023
3. UMass Amherst basketball
This is a team that has toyed with my emotions more than I would have hoped. In 2013, UMass basketball had probably its best team in recent memory after being a six seed in March Madness, but unfortunately got upset in the opening round by Tennessee.
Since then, it has been a struggle to get back to the tournament but this year has shown great promise despite the record. In the offseason, UMass signed Frank Martin to become the head coach and he reached the Final Four in 2017 with South Carolina and had some success in his years at Kansas State as well.
In his first year, Martin’s Minutemen only have a 14-14 record but part of that is due to only returning three rotation players from the team last year and mixing a majority of new faces in. There is hope that Martin can turn this program around especially with the talent the freshman class has.
Since this year is almost guaranteed to be one without March Madness again for the Minutemen, the books don't seem to have UMass on the list for title odds.
2. New England Patriots
As a Patriots fan, I believe despite missing the playoffs this season, we need to have a few poor years in a row before the rest of the league will allow us to mope around. With six Super Bowls and one of the most historic runs with Tom Brady that may never be duplicated, it would be quite annoying to other fans if we got down after one frustrating season.
That being said, I hope with a legit offensive coordinator and play-caller, that the playoffs are in the cards for the 2023/2024 season.
Not many books are truly sold on the Patriots being able to fix the issues they have and become a contender right away as the Pats are +5000 to win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas come February.
Is QB Mac Jones the answer? Well, we sort of wasted a season of figuring that out due to poor play-calling and a defensive mind running the offense on the sidelines, but this season could be the true test to finding that answer.
1. Boston Celtics
Similar to the Bruins, the Celtics have the best record in the NBA, although the Milwaukee Bucks are within an arm’s reach at just a half a game back.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the two main components to this highly-successful roster. They seem to get better each year and they have an arsenal of weapons alongside them. Everyone knows about the role Marcus Smart holds and that was solidified after winning Defensive Player of the Year last season.
The bigs, Al Horford and Rob Williams, are doing a good job clearing the boards and protecting the rim, while Al’s shooting capability opens the floor for the Jays to get downhill and attack the basket.
Derrick White and newcomer Malcolm Brogdon off the bench almost seems unfair at times because these two would start on most other teams. Oh, and Brogdon just happens to also lead the NBA in three-point percentage.
In his first season as head coach, Joe Mazzulla has secured himself the permanent title after beginning the year as the interim coach. Mazzulla has his team with great locker room comradery and they’re the favorites to win the title at +260 on bet365.
Can the Celtics get revenge on the NBA after losing to the Golden State Warriors in the finals last year in six games?
this team is special ?? pic.twitter.com/QbXUCMeSXW
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 26, 2023