The parlays were a close shave last week, but thanks to the Steelers passing up a chip shot, we survived and cashed for a solid Three-Play Thursday at the start of August. The calendar is starting to fill up again, and we’ve got preseason football on the docket along with baseball to give us multiple options to try to make some smart moves.
Here are my picks for August 12 in parlay form.
CONSERVATIVE PARLAY: CARDINALS ML, BLUE JAYS ML, ORIOLES ML, +415
This might as well be the Bird Parlay, and it’s actually pretty good value for a conservative play. The Cardinals get to play the Pirates, and J.T. Brubaker has had no success as of late, with the Pirates coming up losers in nine of his past 10 starts. John Means just faced the Tigers in Detroit and controlled the game for the entire time that he was on the hill, and he’s unquestionably the one pitcher the Orioles can count on to do the job. Jose Berrios shouldn’t have too much trouble shutting down the Angels after Toronto’s bats came to life on Wednesday, so this offers strong value.
AGGRESSIVE PARLAY: ROCKIES +1.5, CUBS ML, ATHLETICS -1.5, +800
There’s only so aggressive you can get when all you have is baseball, but there’s still good value here. Colorado has faced Logan Webb twice, and each game was decided by a run in favor of the home team, making the runline a solid play. Kyle Hendricks has done his job well at Wrigley Field, and even though the Brewers have been ripping the Cubs in this series, Hendricks should do enough to get outs. The same holds for Oakland’s Chris Bassitt, as he’s 7-0 with a 3.74 ERA on the road.
FOOTBALL PARLAY: WASHINGTON ML, EAGLES-STEELERS U35.5, CLUB AMERICA ML, +370
OK, I know I’m reaching here in calling this a “football” parlay, but there are only two NFL games on the slate, so if Ted Lasso can go from coaching college football to Premier League football, I can pair NFL football with Mexican futbol. For me, the logic here starts with the Football Team running a quarterback competition and coach Ron Rivera openly saying his starters will play. Washington’s more likely to care about the result than New England, making it the play here. The Eagles are under new leadership and haven’t seemed to jell yet, and we know now Mike Tomlin isn’t interested in scoring just to score. Finally, Club America should have no issues with Philadelphia at the Azteca. If you want to play the spread and get this to +550, I think you’ll be fine, but for parlays, I prefer to play a bit more conservatively, because they’re hard enough to hit.
