Top 3 Olympic Betting Picks for Friday, July 30th (2021)
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics progress, the headlines continue to swirl around the United States’ men’s basketball team. Today is no exception — the director of USA Basketball, Jerry Colangelo, tore into former team member Kevin Love in the Athletic.
Earlier in training camp, head coach Gregg Popovich had explained that Kevin Love was on the team to counter Rudy Gobert. Pop hoped that Love’s athleticism and shooting ability would keep Gobert honest, but alas, the big man never made it to the Olympics.
The United States will face the Czech Republic tomorrow at 8 a.m., but I’m pivoting away from basketball to highlight some baseball lines instead.
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Olympic Lock of the Day: Mexico and Japan u7.5 | Baseball | -110 at DK Sportsbook
Olympic Lock YTD: 2-2 -0.09u
Mexico’s baseball team started their Olympics off with a no-run loss to the Dominican Republic. They recorded just four hits in the loss against pitchers such as Angel Sanchez and Luis Castillo (no, not the Cincinnati Red). That doesn’t bode well for their chances against Japan, whose pitching staff boasts ex-Yankee Masahiro Tanaka and reigning Eiji Sawamura Award winner Yūdai Ōno.
Japan surrendered three runs to the Dominican Republic in the first round, but notably, neither aforementioned pitcher saw action in the win. While I’m unsure what that means for their placement on Japan’s depth chart, those two elite pitchers are fresh heading into tonight’s game against Mexico. The starting pitchers haven’t been announced, but even if the Japanese trot someone else out onto the mound, they should be able to limit Mexico’s offense.
My primary concern with this prop is that Japan’s offense could cause this to bust. However, they scored only four points against the Dominican Republic on nine hits. They also lacked power, as singles accounted for eight of those hits. And to its credit, Mexico’s pitching staff held the Dominican Republic to a single run in their opener.
Other Olympic Betting Picks
Other Picks YTD: 4-5 +0.5u
#1. Mexico F5 u1.5 | Baseball | -125 at DK Sportsbook
I might wait until Japan announces their starting pitcher before committing to this prop, but I have faith in most of their staff’s ability to limit Mexico’s offense. Japan held the Dominican Republic scoreless through five (starter Yu Yamamoto pitched a scoreless opening six), and Mexico recorded just two hits in the first five of their last outing. While Mexico has a talented offensive playmaker in Adrian González, their batting order lacks depth. The fact that their team had to quarantine instead of practicing right before the Olympics began surely isn’t helping, either.
#2. Tomáš Satoranský o8.5 Assists | Men’s Basketball | +120 at DK Sportsbook
Am I really betting against Team USA again? Yup — but for one specific reason. Because of how seeding works, the Czech Republic can earn a bid to the quarterfinals if they keep things close against the United States. They currently have a point differential of -14, which is good enough for them to get the nod over Argentina (-28) at the moment. However, Argentina has an easier opponent this round, Japan, so the Czechs will need to do everything in their power to hold onto the advantage. Enter Satoranský. He recorded eight assists in 34 minutes against Iran and ten in 35 against France. He averaged 8.5 assists per game in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, too. I don’t think that this line belongs in the plus money, so get in on it while you can.
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Isaiah Sirois is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Isaiah, check out his archive and follow him @is_sirois.