Betting Picks

The race to grab a spot in the 2018 Kentucky Oaks is picking up the pace, with three US-based races this coming weekend offering 50 points to the winner. Just over two months to go until the fillies meet at Churchill Downs, here's a look at some of the top contenders with Bovada future bet odds.

The Los Angeles Clippers have rediscovered their mojo since the multi-player trade that sent power forward Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons. The Clippers are 8-3 in their last 11 games, and are 4-2 on their current road trip. But they are just 1-2 on this trip against teams currently holding playoff spots, and Tuesday's opponent, the Denver Nuggets, fall into that category as eight seed in the West.

Everyone knew the race for medals would be wide open in Olympic men's hockey minus the participation of NHL players in Pyeongchang, but even at that, nobody expected this - Germany in the gold-medal game for the first time in Olympic history. The Olympic Athletes From Russia were the favorites entering the tournament, and that's who the Germans will face off against in Saturday's gold-medal game.

All good things come to an end, as do bad things, which the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils were happy to recently discover. Boston ended a six-game losing streak against the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the Devils got the better of the New York Islanders for the first time in five games. As these match ups arrive once more on the NHL schedule, will they revert to old form?

As Monday's 3 p.m. EST NHL trade deadline fast approaches, the talk is beginning to heat up. Originally, the speculation was that none of the big name types would be moving because the prices being asked were simply too high. But that scenario seems to be changing as the deadline draws closer, and some major stars could find themselves heading to new homes by the time the dealing is done.

The Boston Celtics made their first appearance at Little Caesars Arena earlier this season and picked up right where they left off, whipping the Detroit Pistons 91-81. The Celtics have won three of four and five of seven from the Pistons, and are especially successful in Detroit. Boston has won four straight in the Motor City. The Pistons haven't vanquished the Celtics on their home court since Dec. 16, 2015.

While the Boston Bruins get most of the love for heating up after a slow start to the NHL season, don't sleep on Philadelphia. The Flyers have gone 23-8-3 since Dec. 4, but suddenly, they are hurting. Philly lost both goalies, Brian and Elliott and Michal Neuvirth, to lower-body injuries, leading to them acquire Petr Mrazek, But now goal-scoring machine Wayne Simmonds is out 2-3 weeks.

Now it gets real. Over the next six weeks, the races on the 2018 Kentucky Derby qualifying schedule take a big jump up on the points scale, with six races awarding 50 points to the winner, and seven awarding 100 points, meaning a win in any of those races will lock up a spot in the Derby gate.

Before you go racing off to the sportsbook to place your bets on the Philadelphia Eagles winning Super Bowl LIII, repeat after me: Super Bowl champions no longer repeat the process. It's happened once since 2000, when the New England Patriots captured Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX. But faced with the opportunity to do so against the Eagles in Super Bowl LII, the defending champion Patriots dropped the ball.