Johnny Football Opens Week of Sports Betting

Sports bettors should have more than enough action to keep them busy this week with the third round of games in the NFL preseason, baseball betting odds for a few key series surrounding the chase for this year’s playoff spots, and some early betting odds for Week 1 of the college football season.

Week 2 in NFL preseason betting will close things out on Monday night with Washington playing host to Cleveland as a 2.5-point home favorite on the 5Dimes NFL odds. The total line for the game has been set at 41.5 points.

While the expectation level for these two teams is not all that high when it comes to their odds to even win their division this season, they have captured the attention of the betting public with two high-profile quarterbacks.

All eyes will be on Cleveland rookie Johnny Manziel as he continues to battle for the team’s starting nod on opening day. Robert Griffin III is firmly in place as the Redskins’ starter, but he is trying to bounce back from a sophomore slump after posting a brilliant rookie campaign in 2012. (See Comeback player of the year odds at Bovada).

A pair of National League playoff hopefuls will square off against one another this week in baseball betting action when Atlanta goes on the road to face Pittsburgh for a three-game series starting on Monday night. The Braves trail Washington by six games in the NL East title race and they are a game and a half back in the wild card race.

Pittsburgh is tied with Atlanta at 64-60 and sitting 5.5 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central. 5Dimes has opened the Pirates as -125 home favorites for Game 1 at TopBet with the total set at 7 runs.

Jumping ahead to this weekend in the major leagues, the biggest series on the slate is an AL West showdown between Los Angeles and Oakland. The two teams are currently tied for first in the standings with the Angels (72-50) having two games in hand over the Athletics (73-51).

Los Angeles will be on the road against Boston this week for four games before returning to the west coast, while Oakland will host the New York Mets for two games this Tuesday and Wednesday.

The college football betting slate kicks off next week and the game at the top of everyone’s list is Texas A&M on the road against South Carolina in an early battle in the SEC. The Gamecocks have been opened as 10.5-point home favorites for the contest, with the betting line for the total set at 57 points.