Why you should put an alternate line for Seahawks vs. WFT, along with other best bets for Monday

I don’t know about you, but I gained about 5 pounds this weekend. That is glory. Sure, I’ll pay for it in the coming weeks and spend more time working out for it, but I don’t care. If you are not willing to work for four days of food and football, what are you willing to work for? Money? Who are you? Max Scherzer?

Well, that’s the big news of the day. It turns out that Mets owner Steve Cohen, personally offended by Stephen Matz not signing with the team, may have been the best thing that ever happened to the Mets. He’s pouring his frustrations into his savings account, because it’s being reported Mets are signing Scherzer for three years worth $130 million. That gives the Mets two of the most dominant pitchers of this era in their starting rotation, as Scherzer will be paired with Jacob deGrom.

Of course, they’re still the Mets, so it’s safe to assume they’ll probably mess it up somehow, and in a hilarious fashion. Let’s see what else is happening in the sports world this beautiful Monday.

Okay, while you read these options, I’m going to get on my bike and trim that extra pecan pie.

All Eastern Times, and all odds through Caesars Sportsbook

🔥 Hot ticket

🏈 Seahawks at Football Team, 8:15pm | TV: ESPN
Choice of: Seahawks -2.5 Alternative Series (+100): Dear readers, we are making newsletter history today. For the first time, I’m using an alternate line. For those new to gambling, although points and totals exist for games, sportsbooks also offer different spreads and totals at different prices. As I write this Monday afternoon, the line at Caesars Sportsbook features the game as single picker, which means no spreads. You’re just picking a winner. That’s fine, but I see some value on the substitution difference of Seattle -2.5 at a uniform spread.

Why? Well, because I don’t think Washington is a good Team. Washington is leading 4-6 in the season, but three of those wins have come up against Giant, Eagle and Panthers. Sure, there was also the win over Tampa Bay, but that happened to me more like a game of lightning than a sign of anything. This is still the Washington team with offensive stats ranked 20th in the offensive EPA and 31st in the defensive EPA. Now, the Seahawks aren’t much better, but we can’t look past the time Seattle has gone without it. Russell Wilson.

Nor should we overlook how bad the Seahawks have looked to Russell Wilson since his return. My concern here, though, is that Wilson came back too soon as he watched his team’s season go by, and he’s not close to 100% yet. I don’t know if he’ll be there, but he’s getting closer, and Wilson has been healthy all season, I don’t think we’re looking for a picker tonight. I think the Seahawks will be favored by one goal on the field, that’s where I’m going to take them tonight. I can be a genius, or it can blow me in the face. Whatever happens, we’ve at least included the practice of alternate lines in the newsletter.

We are learning and growing together!

Main trend: Washington is 1-4 ATS in the last 5 home games and all 6 defeats this season have at least 4 points.

Here’s what SportsLine is saying about the game: SportsLine’s Mike Tierney was 24-11-1 ATS in his last 36 plays involving the Washington Soccer Team, and he also announced his picks for tonight’s match.

💰 Selection

NBA

Thunder at Rockets, 8 p.m. | TV: NBA League Pass

Latest rate:

Under 217

Select: Under 216.5 (-110) – What’s interesting about these teams is that even though they’re both bad and will miss out on the knockout stages, they don’t have lousy defense. Hell, Oklahoma City is actually pretty good. The Thunder are 14th in the league in defensive ratings, while the Rockets are in 20th. That may not seem like much, but it’s not bad given the youth and inexperience of these teams. Youth and inexperience manifest at the end of the attack.

The Rockets ranked 29th in the NBA in offensive rating. The only team they ranked first? Yes, it was Thunder. Find a key offensive stat, and the odds are these two could be found among the top five worst NBA teams out there, and that makes me think the total is way too high. Another factor that we cannot ignore is that Houston will not have a top pick in the draft, Jalen Green. Green injured his hamstring during Houston’s surprise win over the Bulls last week and has been sidelined since. He is the team’s second top scorer this season and a lot of fouling happens to him when he’s on the pitch. It usually doesn’t make the offense better when you take a terrible offense and take away one of its best players.

Main trend: Under is 6-2 in the last 8 encounters.

🏀 College basketball

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Illinois, 9 p.m. | TV: ESPN2

Latest rate:

Notre Dame Fighting Irish +4

Pick: Notre Dame +5 (-110) – It’s been a tough start to the season for my beloved Illini, and it’s going to get even tougher tonight. Illinois started the season with 11th place in the AP Poll but fell out of favor this week after starting the season 4-2. The team have been without star midfielder Kofi Cockburn for the first three games of the season and have also faced numerous other injuries.

Cockburn’s Naismith Award nominee Andre Curbelo is dealing with a concussion and is unlikely to play tonight. Defender Trent Frazier hurt his knee during the team’s win over Kansas State last week and will also be out tonight. Then there’s Jacob Grandison, who is dealing with the flu and will miss the game. Those are the three starting points from which Illini fell, which was the case Friday night when Illini played a certain team called UT Rio Grande Valley. They won that game 94-85 but couldn’t last much longer until the final minutes as they struggled to fight very hard on defence.

Tonight, they face a solid squad at Notre Dame, one of the few teams in the land of fog that is strong enough to face Cockburn effectively. While the Irish aren’t a great three-point shooter, they’re ranked 19th nationally on KenPom’s offensive efficiency and they care about basketball. Illinois does not, as its 24.2% turnover rate ranks 334th nationally. Illini could have won this bout, but even if they did, it’s hard to imagine they’d be able to pull away from the Irish for how skinny they would be. I’m taking Irish points and points, but I’m also strongly considering a money-flow game.

Main trend: Illini failed to cover four games in a row.

🔒 SportsChoice of the day: Looking to make some backing bets? SportsLine’s Projection Model shared all of its favorite backers for tonight’s Monday Night Football game.

Tonight skewers

This is a 4-stage college basketball bet pay +142.

• Appalachian State (-420)
• Boston College (-230)
• St. Mary’s (-475)
• Oregon (-800)