Today's sports betting picks: Why the Brewers will beat the Cubs, plus more MLB, UFC 278 and soccer best bets for Saturday
The SportsLine crew shares its expert bets for Saturday, August 20 on The Early Edge podcast
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Host Allan Bell is joined by sports betting experts Micah Roberts, Andrew Gombas and Jon "Buckets" Eimer on The Early Edge podcast. They give you their best bets for Major League Baseball, UFC 278 and soccer for Saturday, Aug. 20.
After the storylines and Andrew's rundown of Saturday's UFC 278 card featuring Kumaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards in a welterweight main event, Allan offers up the SportsLine Play of the Day. It's an NFL Preseason play on the Commanders vs. Chiefs (4 p.m. ET), and the pick is Under 44 points (-110). The host says the books have "juiced the totals up around six points or so" for the preseason, so the Unders have been hitting regularly.
Micah has two MLB picks, and with the first he is going with Milwaukee -120 in the Brewers vs. Cubs (2:20 p.m. ET). The pitching matchup is Freddy Peralta for the Brewers against Chicago's Marcus Stroman. The Cubs have lost 12 of Stroman's 16 starts, while Milwaukee has won all three Peralta has started for them against Chicago.
Roberts also likes the Orioles +110 against the Red Sox (4:05 p.m. ET). Kyle Bradish has been strong, winning his last four starts for Baltimore, and "it's kind of a stand-up moment" for the Orioles, Micah says. They are just a game-and-a-half out of the wild-card spot, so Roberts expects them to get rolling again.
Gombas has two plays from UFC 278, and he is going Over 1.5 Rounds (-180) in the Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov heavyweight bout on the preliminary card. "I think the Over/Under should be set at 2.5 not 1.5," Andrew says. "I think the books and the bettors are overrating Romanov's finishing ability here." Gombas expects some grappling, so he doesn't think it will finish early.
The MMA expert also is backing Lucie Pudilova -120 against Yanan Wu in a women's bantamweight fight on the main card. "I think this is short," Gombas says. "I think (Pudilova) is going to land her jab all night long. ...I think this is a good spot fo her to get a win in the UFC."
Buckets is all over Saturday's international soccer, and he says the Portuguese Primera Liga matchup between FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon (3:30 p.m. ET) could be the match of the day. "These are the best two attacking teams in all of Portugal," he says. He is surprised to see Both Teams to Score priced at -130, so he is jumping on that, saying "love that value."
His other soccer pick is from Union Berlin vs. RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga. The return of Timo Werrner from Chelsea has sparked the Leipzig attack, but Berlin is a tough team to beat at home and will do whatever is needed to get on the scoreboard. Buckets also is taking Both Teams to Score (-140) in this one.
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