Today's sports betting picks: Why the Rays will beat the Red Sox, plus more MLB and college football best bets for Monday, Sept. 5

Jonathan Coachman is joined by sports betting experts Allie O'Neill, John Bollman, Larry Hartstein and Allan Bell on The Early Edge podcast. They give you their best bets for Major League Baseball and college football for Monday, Sept. 5.

Coach starts things off with the SportsLine Play of the Day, which is courtesy of Max Gorenstein: Over 8.5 runs (-110) in the Nationals-Cardinals game (4:15 p.m. ET). "The last six games, the Nationals have averaged 5.8 runs," Coach says. "The Cardinals have averaged 6.3 runs in their last 12. We're flying to the Over."

O'Neill is up next with a play in MLB. She likes the Cardinals (-1.5 at -125) to cover against the Nationals. "(Washington's) Anibal Sanchez has been pretty good in his last couple starts, but earlier this season against the Cardinals, he gave up six earned runs in five innings," Allie says. "The Cardinals have won and covered the run line in four straight. I know the Nats are coming off a pretty good series against the Mets, but they haven't won three in a row but one time in the second half of the season."

Bollman follows with an MLB play of his own. He likes the Rays (-110) to beat the Red Sox in the opener of their three-game series (4:10 p.m. ET). "The Red Sox have the starting pitching advantage, but that's all they have going for them," John says. "The Rays are 6-1 against the Red Sox at home this season. The Red Sox are 18-36 against the AL East, they win one out of every three games. The Red Sox's bullpen is also very worked and they're ranked second-worst in the league since the trade deadline. … The Rays are 20-10 since the trade deadline and 12-4 at home, while the Red Sox are 15-16 and 6-9 on the road."

Coach returns with a pair of plays. The first is in MLB: The Orioles (+1.5 at +105) to cover against the Blue Jays in the first game of their doubleheader (1:05 p.m. ET). "I believe that when you travel and you've got to play in the afternoon, sometimes it takes you a little while to get going," he says. "And when the other team is motivated, like the Baltimore Orioles are, and you're going to give me a run line at home at +105, I'm going to take it."

His second play is in college football. He likes Over 37 for Clemson (-110) in its game against Georgia Tech (8 p.m. ET). "Clemson is coming off a very lackluster season," he says. "Their quarterback is back. They want to show the nation, when they're the only game in town, how good they can be. (Coach) Dabo Swinney wants to show the nation that Clemson is back. That means you score, you score, you score."

Hartstein jumps in with an MLB play. He likes the Angels (-0.5 at -125) to cover over the first five innings against the Tigers (9:38 p.m. ET). "The Tigers have the worst offense in baseball and they have to travel," Larry says. "(Los Angeles') Jose Suarez, the guy's been unbelievable - 2.12 ERA in six starts since the (All-Star) break. In four of those starts, he gave up nothing in the first five innings. When he did get hit, it was after the first five."

Bell wraps things up with The AB Pick 3. He likes Clemson (-13.5 at -110) to cover the first half against Georgia Tech, Over 3 runs for the Red Sox (-155) in their game against the Rays and Over 2.5 runs for the Diamondbacks (-150) in their contest versus the Padres (6:40 p.m. ET).

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