Morning Coffee: Will March Madness favourites continue to roll in the Sweet 16?

The Los Angeles Dodgers roll into MLB Opening Day as an obvious favourite to repeat as World Series champions.

After sweeping a two-game mini-series against the Chicago Cubs in Japan last week, the Dodgers already have a head start on their competition in the standings.

LA is in the books as the largest pre-season favourite to win the World Series since the 2003 New York Yankees.

Will they live up to the hype as a massive favourite?

The Dodgers are +240 to repeat at FanDuel this morning.

For perspective, the Atlanta Braves (+850) and the New York Yankees (+900) are the only other teams in baseball with shorter than 10-to-1 odds to win the World Series.

I locked in the Dodgers to win the World Series at +290 a couple of weeks ago and rolled the dice with bets on a pair of American League teams in the Baltimore Orioles at +1600 and the Texas Rangers at +1900.

If the Dodgers deliver as chalk, I’ll be fine with it.

If the Orioles or Rangers or both go on to make a deep postseason run in the fall, I should be able to parlay it into a decent profit.

We’ll get another look at the Dodgers when they host the Detroit Tigers tonight on TSN.

As if MLB Opening Day isn’t fun enough on its own, we’ve also arrived at the March Madness Sweet 16, while NHL playoff races continue to heat up.

With so much to get to this morning, let’s skip straight to the FanDuel Best Bets.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday March 27^th, 2025.

Will March Madness Favourites Continue To Roll In The Sweet 16?

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I’m on Duke to reach the Final Four and ultimately win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

I went full chalk with Duke over Florida in the title game.

So far, so good as the Blue Devils have cruised into the Sweet 16 as the only No. 1 seed to win and cover in each of their first two tournament games.

On Sunday, I locked in Duke -6.5 versus Arizona.

On Monday, I added a two-team moneyline parlay with the Blue Devils and Houston Cougars to advance at -160.

Duke is up to -9.5 versus Arizona at FanDuel this morning.

The two-team ML parlay is up to -186.

This morning, I’ll round out my best bets with the following selections for the Sweet 16:

BYU +5.5 vs. Alabama

Michigan State -3 vs. Ole Miss

Duke Team Total over 81.5 points

Texas Tech -5.5 vs. Arkansas

Kentucky vs. Tennessee under 144.5

Purdue vs. Houston under 132.5

Hopefully, we can go 8-0 in the Sweet 16 with Duke inching closer to the championship game with a win and cover versus Arizona tonight on TSN.

Meanwhile, the NHL Wild Card races will be in the spotlight tonight with the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens both in action on the network.

I’ll start my NHL best bets with Brady Tkachuk to record 1+ point and the Senators +1.5 on the puck line against the Detroit Red Wings as a Same Game Parlay at -116 odds.

Next up, I’ll lock in an SGP with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield to both record 1+ point against the Philadelphia Flyers at -114.

I’ll also take the Habs to beat the Flyers at -120.

Here is my full card for tonight’s NHL action as of 10 AM ET:

SGP (-116): Tkachuk 1+ point | Senators +1.5

SGP (-114): Suzuki 1+ point | Caufield 1+ point

Canadiens ML -120 over Flyers

SGP (+109): Thomas 1+ point | Blues ML

SGP (-110): Hyman 2+ SOG | Nugent-Hopkins 2+ SOG

SGP (-110): Marner 1+ point | Maple Leafs win in 60

As for the MLB Opening Day card, I like the Seattle Mariners against the Oakland Athletics but that number is up to -164 this morning.

The good news is that there are several NBA teams tanking so I have some options for a cross-sport parlay.

I’ll go with the Mariners and Cleveland Cavaliers to win outright tonight at -130 odds.

Hopefully, we can start a long MLB season off with a winner.

With so much going on across the TSN network tonight, it there’s a little bit of something for every sports fan to enjoy.

Have a great day, everyone!