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The WNBA playoffs roll on tonight with two big semi-final match-ups with the Phoenix Mercury playing at the top seeded Seattle Storm and the third-seeded Washington Mystics playing at the Atlanta Dream. The Mystics were able to pull off the road win in the first game of this series so the pressure is really on Atlanta here. A loss and their chances of making the Finals shrink to almost nothing, down 0-2 in a five game series with two road games on the horizon.
The WNBA awards came out and the Seattle Storm did very well with Breanna Stewart winning MVP, Natasha Howard winning Most Improved and Sue Bird winning the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award for the third time. It’s pretty easy to see why this team is such a big favorite in these playoffs as they are -150 to win the championship.
Speaking of Seattle, a big game and series for the Seattle Mariners kicks off as they face the San Diego Padres. After last night’s Astros win over the Athletics they are now 4.5 back of the Athletics for the Wild Card. Sweeping this two-game series against the lowly Padres and the Astros beating the Athletics some more is almost a must if they hope to have any hope of getting that Wild Card.
They actually have a pretty gpod path to the playoffs with series against the Padres, Angels, Rangers (twice), Athletics and Astros the rest of the way. That three-game series against Oakland could be huge.
MLB Betting Tips:
I like the Mariners quite a bit here tonight. Felix Hernandez has had a rough season, but so have the Padres who have just an 81 wRC+ against righties on the season. Petco Park is also very pitcher friendly so I can see Felix doing well here. This is clearly must-win territory for the Mariners and they definitely know that. I think the bats show up in a major way and the Mariners win this one.
The Diamondbacks offense didn’t show up yesterday, but I am going back to the well on them here. They had more hits than their opponent and just failed to score. Their match-up against Madison Bumgarner isn’t great, but they have hit lefties very well this season and the Giants offense is ice cold right now. At this number, I feel good about Arizona.
WNBA Betting Tips:
Another must win game is Atlanta over the Mystics. The key to this game for the Dream will be shutting down Elena Delle Donne who had a huge 32 point, 13 rebound performance in game one. That can’t happen again if the Dream want to make a series of this. Elizabeth Williams will draw that assignment and I see her having better success here. She is a strong defender who won the Most Improved Award back in 2016. Overall, they had a great defensive game holding Washington to a 38.9% from the field, but it was Delle Donne who was the difference.
Sadly, I don’t think the Dream will be able to have that kind of defensive performance again here. The loss of Angel McCoughtry was too much and I see an early exit for Atlanta. The Mystics should be on their way to the Finals with a win tonight.
