RADIO
Chris Wassel offers his favorite picks for the Olympic events on Sunday, July 25, 2021.
Hello everyone! Welcome to our betting coverage here for RotoBaller. This will be short and sweet at first but pick up as the Olympics often do.
There will also be some PrizePicks coverage coming soon. We do apologize for the delay as most of our picks were going out via our chat rooms and social media. The first few nights it was just easier that way.
So, the Tokyo time difference is 13 hours as most everyone knows. Live streaming coverage for the next day usually starts around 9 or 10:00 pm ET. That lasts for approximately 12-14 hours. It can be a bit to get used to and even somewhat confusing. Again, let's keep some of these simple at first and see what happens.
Future Pick: Netherlands Women's Field Hockey (-125)
Really? This low? Yes. Most tend not to believe this but the Dutch did only win silver in Rio. Since then, they have won every major title. That includes the World Cup, Champions Trophy, and the EuroHockey Nations Championship. Their first match in Group A included an easy 5-1 win over India.
The expectation is that they will not face much resistance until the semifinals of the knockout stage. It does seem Great Britain has dropped a notch or two since 2016. Also, the Brits already dropped a tough 2-1 match to Germany. That was unexpected. It does seem the main challenge could be from New Zealand or Germany this time around.
Either way, the Netherlands' run is nothing short of amazing and it appears no country can slow them down. The number is low because of what happened four years ago. The odds of that happening twice are rare enough to take some risk here.
Our pick: Netherlands (-125)
Longshot pick: New Zealand (+1500)
Future Pick: Great Britain 3m Springboard Men's Synchronized Diving (+350)
Again, there are times to take a risk and this may be the one event in the diving competition to try. In the last Olympics, Great Britain pulled off the seemingly incredible. Jack Laugher will be diving again for Great Britain but with Daniel Goodrow. Over the past couple of years, they have gained experience and medals.
While China is still the favorite at -330, they are far from automatic at this one event. Again with Laugher's experience and his return to form, Great Britain probably has closer to a 50-50 chance of winning gold once more. Now, unlike China, the British divers cannot afford to have any major missteps.
That is what makes picking events like this fun. No one quite ever knowis when the next upset is coming. However, there is that plus number to take a shot on.
Our pick: Great Britain (+350)
Betting Pick: Women's Softball -- USA (-145) vs Japan
Pitching wins gold medals and this is true especially in softball. Team USA can play just enough small ball to infuriate any team. However, they can also hit a few long balls as well. The risk is who they are up against.
Japan just throttled Australia 8-1 over the weekend behind three more home runs. The Japanese have six home runs in all and have allowed three runs in the tournament. The only problem is this. Do they let up a bit? Both Team USA and Japan have qualified for the gold-medal match on Tuesday.
There is a good deal of risk involved with this pick but consider that the Americans have yielded one measly run in the tournament so far. They have the reputation for winning the close games so far. Japan was tested by Mexico but only Team USA has come back from a late deficit (see Australia). Adversity and circumstance help the Americans in a very close affair.
Our pick: Team USA (-145)
Good luck tonight everyone and stay tuned for more as the Tokyo Olympics roll along.
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