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Morning Coffee: Will Alcaraz deliver as the US Open favourite?
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The final grand slam on the annual tennis calendar is underway in Flushing Meadows, New York.
The start of the US Open marks the unofficial arrival of the early fall season, which means a couple of things are now imminent.
The NFL regular season is right around the corner.
Additionally, it’s that time of the year when we’ll need to be prepared to ignore the buzz around the return of the various pumpkin-spiced beverages at coffee shops.
After all, I’m already sweet enough without the dessert disguised as a drink.
I don’t want to be a downer, but I’ll stick with my black coffee as I continue my fantasy football draft prep.
We’re exactly 10 days away from the NFL regular season kick-off game between the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.
Kansas City remains a three-point favourite at FanDuel.
I’ve already locked in my first wager for Week 1 of the NFL season.
Stay tuned for a full breakdown later this week.
Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stayed hot with another win after I recommended them as a value pick to win the Grey Cup not once, but twice in this column.
The college football season got underway with an electric Week 0.
Plus, I didn’t even mention that the NL MVP favourite Shohei Ohtani became the fastest player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.
Or that the AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season when no other player in baseball has hit more than 41.
Or that the Chicago White Sox lost again with Chris Flexen on the mound.
Based on how their season has gone so far, it’s going to take a miracle for the White Sox to avoid the MLB record for the most losses in a single season.
This is the Morning Coffee for Monday August, 26th, 2024.
Will Alcaraz Deliver As The US Open Favourite?
Carlos Alcaraz could become the youngest player ever to win five majors at the US Open.
In fact, it’s more than just a possibility, it’s an expectation.
Alcaraz got the nod as the favourite to win the US Open men’s singles title at +220 at FanDuel.
Novak Djokovic is a close second choice at +250.
Jannik Sinner (+330) and Alexander Zverev (+800) round out the list of contenders with shorter than 10-to-1 odds to win the men’s title at FanDuel.
If he wins the US Open, Alcaraz would become the first player to ever win five Grand Slams before turning 22-years-old.
The men’s field is absolutely stacked.
The fact that the 21-year-old Alcaraz is the betting favourite to win the title is a testament to his remarkable talent and perseverance.
Meanwhile, Felix Auger-Aliassime is the top Canadian contender at 110-to-1 odds.
Denis Shapovalov is a 420-to-1 longshot to win the title.
Aryna Sabalenka is the favourite to win the womens singles title at +220.
Iga Swiatek is a close second choice at +380.
Nobody else is shorter than +950 to win the title.
Leylah Annie Fernandez is the top Canadian contender at 80-to-1 odds.
Bianca Andreescu is a 110-to-1 longshot to win the title.
Our guy Luke Bellus previewed the US Open and gave out a couple of longshots to win both the men’s and women’s title over the weekend.
I’ve copied over the link to his column below.
Ohtani Becomes The Fastest To Join The 40/40 Club
Shohei Ohtani is -2300 to win the NL MVP at FanDuel.
At this point, he should be -10000 to win that award.
Ohtani hit a walk-off grand slam on Friday night to become the fastest player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.
He needed just 126 games to accomplish that feat, which means he still has plenty of time to establish an exclusive 45/45 club this season.
Meanwhile, the AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season on Sunday.
Judge has hit seven home runs and 11 RBI in his last six games.
The New York Yankees lead the Baltimore Orioles by 1.5 games at the top of the AL East and are now -180 to win their division at FanDuel.
Baseball’s biggest stars have delivered, and the result is a pair of MVP awards that have already been decided with more than a month to go in the season.
On the flip side, the Chicago White Sox lost all three games against the Detroit Tigers over the weekend.
At 31-100, Chicago is the second-fastest team to lose 100 games in a single season.
The White Sox will need to go 12-19 the rest of the way to avoid the single season record for the most losses in MLB history.
I don’t know anybody who thinks that can happen.
Their in-season adjusted win total at FanDuel is 40.5, and it’s juiced to the under at -148.
Anybody who jumped on the White Sox to stay under 44.5 wins with me a couple of weeks ago is in a pretty good spot right now.
Georgia Tech Stuns Florida State In Week 0
There was a lot of talk about a potential redemption story for No. 10 Florida State with the expanded College Football Playoff this offseason.
It didn’t take long for that bubble to burst.
Georgia Tech was bet down from +13.5 to +10.5 at FanDuel.
The Yellow Jackets went on to upset the Seminoles 24-21 as a +375 moneyline underdog at FanDuel.
Georgia Tech snapped a 15-game losing streak against AP top 10 opponents.
Meanwhile, Montana State could be found as high as +2000 live trailing New Mexico by 10 points with four minutes left in regulation.
They rallied to stun the Lobos 35-31 with 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
If Week 0 is any indication, we’re in for another electric college football season.
Bombers Stay Hot With A Week 12 Win Over TiCats
CFL favourites went 4-0 straight up but just 2-2 against the spread in Week 12.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers didn’t cover as a 10.5-point favourite against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but they did what they needed to do to secure a 26-23 win.
After an 0-4 start to the season, the Bombers could be found as high as +1000 to win the Grey Cup at FanDuel.
I recommended a play on Winnipeg to win it all at +1000 and then doubled down with them at +600 on Friday.
The Bombers have now won five of their previous seven games but could still be found at +700 to win the Grey Cup at FanDuel.
Once again, I’ll recommend a play on Winnipeg to win the Grey Cup at +700 as a strong value pick.
The Bombers are my pick to come out of the West Division, and I expect their Grey Cup odds to be much shorter by the time we get to the CFL playoffs.
Have a great day, everyone!