If 2020 has taught sports fans anything, it’s that no one should ever expect the expected. Across all major sports, there have been upset and surprise victories, as well as performances by teams and individuals that defied all possible odds. With the American League (AL) and National League (NL) Championship Series (CS) in full force, the hits keep on coming – especially for the LA Dodgers. Following some unbelievable performances yesterday, there’s now zero possibility of seeing a sweep this year.

The Tampa Bay Rays seemed to be on track to take down the Houston Astros with relative ease when they moved to 3-0 in the best-of-seven ALCS series. That changed last night when the Astros held on to win Game 4 and keep their World Series hopes alive. There’s no denying the fact that keeping veteran pitcher Zack Greinke on the mound was a big reason for the win, as he gave it everything he had to confuse the Rays. It worked, too. He recorded two key strikeouts, including one with bases loaded, to keep the Rays from finding home plate, holding Tampa to only two runs and striking out seven. 

Jose Altuve bounced back from an embarrassing field performance in Game 4 to give the Astros offense a boost. He picked up a homer – number 18 during playoffs – and brought home a runner after hitting a double in the sixth inning. George Springer also helped, scoring a home run in the fifth inning to capture his 18th career playoff homer, just like Altuve. 

In the NLCS, the Atlanta Braves and the LA Dodgers are going to have to wait a little longer to determine the champ after the Braves completely blew their chance at maintaining control of the series yesterday. The Braves already had two wins under their belt and could have added a third last night, but they decided to choke. That’s the only explanation for why the Dodgers, who were 0-2, could have scored 11 runs in the first inning – five from homers. The 11 runs in a single inning are an MLB postseason record, and marked a second-best performance by the Dodgers, as well. In 1954, they picked up a club-high 13 against the Cincinnati Reds.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

An argument can be made that Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are the top two regular-season quarterbacks in NFL history. They have combined for five NFL MVP Awards – Peyton Manning won five by himself, so he certainly has an argument – and both will be first-ballot, unanimous Hall of Famers five years after they retire.

One big difference in the careers of Brady and Rodgers is regarding the Super Bowl. Brady has reached the game a whopping nine times and won it a record six. Rodgers is 1-0 in the game. It’s almost amazing the two legends never played in a Super Bowl and they apparently never will with Brady now in the NFC.

When the Green Bay Packers visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET in Week 6, it may be the last time Rodgers and Brady face off barring a 2020 postseason matchup. They have split two regular-season meetings all-time. Brady is a very rare home underdog at +2.5 and the Bucs overall are 1-6-1 ATS in their past eight as dogs.

The Nations League sees hostilities resume this coming Tuesday and Wednesday as countries such as Italy, Germany, England and France all battle for supremacy. 

Who will come out on top? We’ve previewed the big games below, with our sportsbetting tips all able to be placed before each game kicks off. 

Let’s find out where the value is.

Germany vs. Switzerland (Tuesday October 13th, 7.45pm GMT kick-off) 

What is the bottom for U.S. President Donald Trump? Everytime we take a look at his election odds, we just assume he’s hit bottom, partly because he’s always hitting bottom, but also because his solid base of support has been so stable for 4 years. With updated odds from Bodog, that based may finally be slipping away.

When we last looked the election odds, Trump had slid to +150 in the sports book, with former Vice President 1Biden reaching a new high of -180. That shift was largely driven by a flailing Wall Street, thanks to a totally Trump-fumbled stimulus opportunity. But as had been predicted by Bodog representatives when he contracted Covid-19, he would eventually see a bounce of sympathy. Maybe recovering from the virus was all he needed to wait for.

Nope.

Trump has now hit a new low of +170, with Biden climbing to -200. With 22 days until the election is over, Biden’s lead has grown to the point that he’s a heavy favorite to win, and Trump a huge underdog.

If you’re familiar with Batman and Robin, you’d know that Robin’s job is to hand Batman the shark repellent spray. The golden rule of the dynamic duo is that Dick Grayson can never outdo Bruce Wayne, so it’s unthinkable that Anthony Davis can outshine LeBron James and claim the NBA Finals MVP in the process.

LeBron has had a relatively subdued series, compared with the exploits of AD and Jimmy Butler dragging the Heat to their only win of the series in Game 3.

LeBron scored 28-points in Game 4 with 12 rebounds and eight assists but it was the image Davis landing a 3-pointer down the stretch to seal the win that remains the defining moment. Davis had 22-points and nine rebounds and remains the Lakers most potent weapon at both ends of the court.

For the Heat to force a Game 6 they need someone to go the distance with Butler on offence. Tyler Hero has made an impact for the Heat, with 21-points in Game 4 but the rookie will be counting on some help from the more experienced players in the Heat line-up.

For the past two seasons, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been virtually flawless. Wrapping up last season’s title with a handful of games to spare, the Merseyside men had time to be beaten 5-0 by Manchester City and care not one bit.

This season, however, they have been well beaten with just four game of the season having taken place and have shipped an incredible 11 goals in those four games.

Are the wheels coming off the Liverpool bandwagon, or can Jurgen Klopp keep his all-conquering side on the straight and narrow, leading to their dominance of the division? 

To find out, we spoke again to a professional football coach in English football, who will remain anonymous. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the game, going through the coaching process, and is currently part of the team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. He’ll be honest each week about what he sees as he sees it. As ever, The Secret Coach pulls no punches! 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Another Saturday and another UFC Fight Night card from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, with it headlined this week by a bantamweight non-title bout between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen. The main card will start at 8 p.m. ET in the United States (4 a.m. in Abu Dhabi) and is available on ESPN+.

The 32-year-old Moraes, from Brazil, is 23-6-1 and the top-ranked contender in the division (Petr Yan is the champion). He is a former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion who actually never lost the belt in the Octagon. His last title defense was a victory by technical knockout over Josenaldo, but then Moraes vacated the belt by essentially hitting free agency. The UFC signed him not long after.

“Magic” has two losses in the UFC: His debut in June 2017 to Raphael Assuncao by split decision and then in a bantamweight title fight at UFC 238 to Henry Cejudo via third-round TKO (punches). Moraes bounced back from that with a split decision win over Jose Aldo in December 2019. Moraes has won 43 percent of his fights by KO/TKO, 30 percent by decision and 26 percent by submission. He is a +110 underdog for Saturday.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Another Saturday and another UFC Fight Night card from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, with it headlined this week by a bantamweight non-title bout between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen. The main card will start at 8 p.m. ET in the United States (4 a.m. in Abu Dhabi) and is available on ESPN+.

The 32-year-old Moraes, from Brazil, is 23-6-1 and the top-ranked contender in the division (Petr Yan is the champion). He is a former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion who actually never lost the belt in the Octagon. His last title defense was a victory by technical knockout over Josenaldo, but then Moraes vacated the belt by essentially hitting free agency. The UFC signed him not long after.

“Magic” has two losses in the UFC: His debut in June 2017 to Raphael Assuncao by split decision and then in a bantamweight title fight at UFC 238 to Henry Cejudo via third-round TKO (punches). Moraes bounced back from that with a split decision win over Jose Aldo in December 2019. Moraes has won 43 percent of his fights by KO/TKO, 30 percent by decision and 26 percent by submission. He is a +110 underdog for Saturday.

The French Open has been tarnished by allegations of match-fixing as authorities launch an investigation into suspicious betting activity involving a women’s doubles match.

Sports books reported a high amount of unusual betting activity in the first-round match involving Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig (Romania) against Madison Brengle (U.S.A.) and Yana Sizikova (Russia). French prosecutors have promised a full investigation into the allegations, believing that there’s merit in the case of ‘fraud in an organised group’ and ‘active and passive corruption.’

The individual players involved in the doubles match are not the focus of the inquiry as French prosecutors have probing gang activity over the suspicious betting patterns.

I was told by several sources that many bookmakers issued alerts for abnormal betting in Sizikova/Brengle match at Roland Garros, Set 2 Game 5, Sizikova on serve to get broken. She got broken to love. This is the video of the game (thanks to @UnArdeal for finding the video). pic.twitter.com/OPSO6hBjJj

The careers of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani aren’t just similar, they seem to run on parallel lines, appropriately enough given the duo have scored a collective 109 International goal in 229 appearances between them for their native Uruguay.

With both men on the move during the recent transfer window, we thought we’d take a look at their careers so far as the pair of 33-year-olds look to make one last major impression on the sport of football they’ve given so much to.

The Early Years (2001-2006)

“There was only one player I looked up to, and that was Batistuta, the Argentina No. 9.” 

The Esports industry has gone from strength to strength in 2020, proving as resilient as it is adventurous, and as financially stable as anything with regular and new fans watching, betting on and taking part in many tournaments from home during the recent pandemic.

One company who are set to launch in the esports industry are Espo, an esports community who offer unique Fan Perks for esports fanatics who want to get closer to their heroes, whether it’s their favourite teams or the players they love to watch play the game they love most.

We spoke to Henry James, founder and CEO of Espo ahead of the site launch later this month.

“We’re just finalising the details with existing team partners, who are each going to be running a campaign on the platform from launch,” he told us. “We’re working with them to finalise exactly what kind of Fan Perks they’re going to provide to users of our platform. Once we’ve got those details ratified, we hope to be able to start promoting those campaigns and solidify a launch date.”

The current NBA season is close to setting a record for the longest one ever – in a way. The 2019-20 season began just a little less than a year ago, and here we are, still waiting to find out who will be the 2020 champs. After the LA Lakers got off to a 2-0 start against the Miami Heat, it almost seemed like LeBron James, Anthony Davis and friends would sweep the best-of-seven NBA Finals. However, the Heat had a surprise waiting in Game 3 and managed to stay alive, despite dealing with injuries to key starters. That game saw LeBron be subdued for much of the 48 minutes of game time, but he made up for it last night. In a tight battle that saw the lead change several times, the King James and the rest of the Lakers pulled off a victory that puts them just one game away from a championship title. 

The Heat’s victory in Game 3 came from an outstanding performance by Jimmy Butler, who racked up 40 points and 13 assists. The Lakers knew that stopping him in Game 4 would be key to a win, and James and Davis played tag-team basketball on him, guarding him for most of the night. As a result, Butler was only able to bucket 22 points. However, that concentration on the Heat’s key playmaker cost LeBron some valuable time in the first half. 

The Lakers racked up 10 turnovers in the first half, of which six were committed by LeBron. Between him and Davis, they only gave their team 16 points in the half, allowing the Heat to take the lead, 52-49 heading into the break. Coming out of the lockers for the second half, however, found a reinvigorated Lakers team. 

The Heat were able to keep their lead as the action resumed, but only for about a minute. LeBron put up a three-pointer to push the Lakers into the lead, and it was almost as if a new LA team was on the court. The second-half battle was relentless on both sides of the ball and it would have been impossible to call a winner until the very last buzzer. A relative unknown, Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope put up 15 points to give the Lakers a 95-88 lead with just two minutes remaining, followed by a shot from beyond the paint by the Heat’s Jae Crowder to make it a two-bucket game. That didn’t last long, though, and the Lakers added more pressure to move ahead by nine with just 39 seconds remaining.

The latest gameweek produced plenty of entertaining games in the NFL, but perhaps the most surprising result of them all was the Eagles’ victory over many people’s pick for the Vince Lombardi trophy, the San Francisco 49ers.

The game itself was a topsy-turvy one, and not one that was finished until the 4th quarter as the Eagles came back to win in Philadelphia late on.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAZj4vQRleo]

Having edged the first quarter, a scoreless second was followed by the 49ers, currently 30/1 for the 55th annual Super Bowl going into the final quarter 14/11 up. That was flipped on its head in the final quarter, however, as the Eagles scored 14 points to just six from their more decorated opponents.

If you’ve ever gone to the shops on Christmas Eve on a do-or-die mission to bring back Brussels Sprouts only to find an empty green crate where the miniature cabbages once lived, you’ll know what it’s like, on a slightly smaller scale admittedly, to live the life of Ed Woodward during a transfer window.

For the Manchester United Chief Executive, the agony of a badly-timed transfer window is over, and to United fans’ relief, players have been signed. Good players, too, and potentially great players. But, after a summer linking United to Jadon Sancho of Borussia Dortmund, it still feels to many like a disappointment instead of a positive. 

The set-up didn’t help, of course. Two home defeats (a 1-3 reverse to Crystal Palace before a 6-1 mauling at the hands of former manager Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur) had created a negative atmosphere around the club, coming just weeks after indiscretions by captain Harry Maguire and Mason Greenwood cast a shadow over the side who surged to 3rd place in last season’s Premier League. 

Things change so quickly in football that there is no sport like it. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was 33/1 to be the first Premier League manager to leave his job at the start of the season, but the Norwegian is now a 2/1 shot few see the value in missing out on.