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Today's picks: A prime prop play from Red Sox-Phillies, plus more MLB, NBA, NHL, Golf and MMA picks for Friday

SportsLine's experts share their best bets on the Early Edge podcast for Friday, May 21

By@SportsLineUpdated: May 21, 2021 4:33PM UTC . 3 min read

The Coach calls up his favorite handicappers, featured sports betting experts Mike McClure and Larry Hartstein on a deluxe edition of the Early Edge podcast, powered by SportsLine. Get your top plays for MLB, the NBA, NHL, MMA and Golf for Friday, May 21. 

Mike leads off with his highly detailed MLB weather report, focusing on great hitting environments in Philadelphia, Washington and Cleveland. He is expecting summer-like conditions that can boost run totals Friday. 

The Coach drops off a package of SportsLine Plays of the Day from the site models and experts. In the NBA Western Conference play-in game, he backs the pick of the Warriors -4.5 over the Grizzlies at 9 p.m. ET. Memphis is just not playing well enough to overcome Stephen Curry. In the NHL playoffs, he highlights the selection of the Blues +1.5 over the Avalanche at 9:30 p.m. ET, as St. Louis is nearing desperation mode. He also offers up the pick of the Oilers -170 over the Jets at 9 p.m. ET, as Edmonton will rebound from a bad outing. The Coach also shares the site play of the Tigers and Royals over 8.5 runs at 8:10 p.m. ET. 

The Coach then clears the stage for a featured Invicta FC 44 pick, going with Alesha Zappitella -145 over Jessica Delboni in an Invicta FC matchup. The Coach tells us that Zappitella is the more well-rounded fighter, and Larry then leaps in and proclaims that Delboni has no staying power. 

Mike brings us back to MLB, as he is on the White Sox -105 over the Yankees at 7:05 p.m. ET, as Chicago has been destroying left-handed pitchers. Jordan Montgomery is a respectable lefty, but is overmatched in this one. He is also taking Cleveland -121 over Minnesota at 7:10 p.m. ET. Triston McKenzie has significant strikeout upside, and that factor will be the difference. 

Ball strikers are the best plays in the PGA Championship, says the Coach, and he has three strong selections in that regard. He is going with Viktor Hovland over Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey over Louis Oosthuizen and Lee Westwood over Robert MacIntyre. 

Larry delivers his top MLB prop, pinpointing Boston's Martin Perez to go over 4.5 strikeouts in Red Sox-Phillies at 7:05 p.m. ET. "All week we have been targeting the Phillies in terms of strikeouts, and against left-handed pitchers, they have a 33 percent strikeout rate," he says. "Perez has had five, four, six and seven strikeouts in his last four. I think he gets to four and maybe more." In the NBA play-in game, he is looking for Kevon Looney to play a big role again for the Warriors and go over 7.5 rebounds. 

Early Edge is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Enable push notifications so you always know when the latest episode is available! Every episode is also available on YouTube. Follow @SportsLine on Twitter and Instagram  

Follow our crew on Twitter: @TheCoachrules, @LarryHartstein and @Mike5754. You can listen to Early Edge on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Early Edge podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Early Edge podcast." For more betting picks and analysis, visit SportsLine.com. To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit CBSSports.com/podcasts.

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