Sports Betting

Thursday’s Best ESPN BET Bets: Pirates-Marlins, Blue Jackets-Penguins, Alabama-North Carolina

Published

4 weeks ago

March 28, 2024

A tough night for the Winning Picks finishing 1-2. Seton Hall was able to get the cover and win over UNLV in the quarterfinals of the NIT. Unfortunately, VCU could not cover in their game in the NIT and fell by double digits to Utah. The Bruins could not extend their lead in the Atlantic Division and lost to the Lightning. We moved to 222-168-3 on the year.

Unlike last week, I will be giving out only 1 Sweet 16 game tonight as we have both the Pirates and Penguins on today. I do have some games that I like more than others tonight. I believe Arizona will cover against Clemson. The Wildcats have way too much firepower than the Tigers. I also like San Diego St to cover their double digit spread against UConn in a rematch of last year’s final. I believe the Aztecs can muck this game up enough to keep it under double digits.

As for the last game of the night, I absolutely love Illinois over Iowa St. I know their first two wins in the tournament were against teams like Morehead St and Duquesne, but the Fighting Illini are very good and have NBA caliber players. Give me them as short underdogs in Boston.

Now time for the Winning Picks!

Pittsburgh Pirates at Miami Marlins (-130) O/U 7.5 4:10 PM on SportsNet Pittsburgh

Play ball! The Pirates will open up their 2024 season in South Beach this afternoon as they take on the Miami Marlins. This will be only the second time the Pirates have ever opened up in Miami. The last time was in 1995 when the Marlins were still the Florida Marlins and played at what is now called Hard Rock Stadium. Paul Wagner started for Pittsburgh that day in a 4-0 win.

As for today’s game, the Pirates will face a string of lefties to start the season including today against Jesus Luzardo. Despite them struggling a little bit against left handed pitching, I believe Mitch Keller will pitch even better and the Pirates pick up the win on Opening Day.

Pirates Moneyline +110, Pittsburgh Pirates 4 Miami Marlins 3

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins (-230) O/U 6.5 7:00 PM on SportsNet Pittsburgh

I will be at a Penguins game for the first time in nearly a decade tonight. It has been way too long, too bad it is when the team is in one of their worst seasons in over 20 years. Luckily for me, the Pens have had their way with the Blue Jackets all year.

In each game versus Columbus this year, Pittsburgh has won each of those games by the score of 5-3. I think that trend continues tonight. With the moneyline being so high and not trusting a spread bet on this game, I like the over to cover tonight.

Over 6.5 Covers, Columbus Blue Jackets 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 5

#4 Alabama Crimson Tide vs #1 North Carolina Tar Heels (-4.5) O/U 173.5 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 9:39 PM on CBS

This should be a great jersey game tonight and look amazing on tv as Alabama faces North Carolina in Los Angeles. Both of these teams pretty much rolled into the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels have already beaten two SEC opponents on the year in Arkansas and Tennessee. Can they make it a third with the Tide?

Alabama can go up and down the flow with any team. The problem is they can’t stop some teams from scoring at all. I believe that will be the case tonight as the Tar Heels will use their veteran lineup to clip away at the Crimson Tide and cover tonight in LA. That matchup with Arizona will be very interesting for North Carolina.

North Carolina Covers -4.5, Alabama Crimson Tide 70 North Carolina Tar Heels 83