It’s hard to believe, but 2018 is fully in the books and the calendar has indeed flipped to 2019.
What did 2018 give us?
Well, the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and Alex Ovechkin didn’t stop partying until the puck dropped for 2019.
The Boston Red Sox essentially went wire-to-wire to win their fourth World Series since 2004, and it was never really close.
2018 was a FIFA World Cup year, and it was France who won it with a 4-2 win over Croatia in the final.
The Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl 52 in February and the Warriors won their third NBA Championship in the last four years in June.
So, what gives for 2019? What are the most anticipated betting events for this brand new calendar year?
To answer this, let’s take a look at all of the sports betting events we are most looking forward to, in chronological order.
2019 College Football Playoff National Championship
Date: January 7
The Clemson Tigers thumped the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl and Alabama got by Oklahoma in a high-scoring victory in the Orange Bowl.
Thus, we have a showdown between the heavily favored Crimson Tide and the Tigers of Clemson in the 2019 College Football National Championship which will take place on January 7 from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
At Bovada, Alabama is currently listed as -200 favorites in this one on the moneyline while they are six-point favorites on the spread at +100.
I’m not sure we could have asked for anything more than No. 1 and No. 2 going toe-to-toe for college football’s highest honor.
Super Bowl 53
Date: February 3
Will the Philadelphia Eagles be able to repeat after sneaking into the dance thanks to a Week 17 win? Or are we going to see some new faces in the Super Bowl with the Rams, Chiefs, Saints and even the Chicago Bears looking like contenders?
No matter how you slice it, Super Bowl 53 is going to be the single largest betting event on the 2019 schedule, just as it is every single year.
At Bovada, it’s the Saints who will enter the postseason as the Super Bowl favorite at +240 while the defending champion Eagles and the surprising Indianapolis Colts are the longest of shots at +2800.
The way I see it, this puppy is as wide open as we’ve seen it in a long time.
2019 NCAA March Madness
Date: March 19-April 8
We all love the College Football National Championship game and of course the Super Bowl is the most anticipated sporting event each and every year, but is there a more wild and entertaining time on the sports calendar than the first few days of March Madness?
Heck, last year we even got our first 16-seed beat a 1-seed when the UMBC Retrievers clobbered the Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of the tournament.
As it stands right now, Duke is heavily favored to win the 2019 NCAA Men’s National Championship at +180, as per Bovada. Next closest are the Michigan Wolverines at +900, followed by the Gonzaga Bulldogs at +1000. Gonzaga just so happened to beat Duke 89-87 this season and are undefeated at the moment.
The Masters
Date: April 11-14
We could include all of the PGA Tour’s four majors in this piece, but it would be hard to imagine any of them being more highly anticipated than the 2019 Masters.
Why, you ask?
Well, because Tigers Woods is good again. Very good.
Woods won the Tour Championship in September of 2018, and the 18th hole was an absolute zoo in the process.
There are no words. ?
We're witnessing history.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/B7ctiJNFkU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) 23 September 2018
While the overwhelming majority of eyes, to put it lightly, will be on Woods in this event, it may not be in your best interest value-wise to wager on Tiger. The bang likely won’t be worth the buck and the shear spectacle of a Tiger victory would bring more joy than the dollars earned.
2019 Kentucky Derby
Date: May 3
Hey, as far as big-hitters on this list go, don’t you go forgetting about the Kentucky Derby.
One of the best things about the Derby is that you simply do not have to even be close to a horse racing fan to participate. The crowd is littered with celebrities, the tailgate is off the hook and I know you’re lying if you say you didn’t bother to sit down and take in the fastest two minutes in sports.
Last year, it was the favored Justify to take home the crown, but this year it appears the race could be a little more wide open.
At Bovada, Game Winner is currently the favorite, but at +800 odds. Improbably, a name I like very much, sits second at +1000 while Coliseum is the final horse inside the +2000 barrier at +1600.
If anything, just tune in for the hats.
2019 NBA Finals
Date: May 30 – TBD
For once, it seems that the Warriors can be beaten.
Heck, they could have even been beaten last season had Game 1 not went awry on LeBron and the Cavs thanks to one of the biggest mental gaffes in NBA history.
It’s been back-to-back titles for the Warriors and three titles in the last four years, but there doesn’t seem to be much value for me in the Warriors at -150, as per Bovada.
The Raptors (+580), Celtics (+950), Rockets (+1400), Lakers (+1600), Bucks (+1600) and 76ers (+1700) all seem reasonable threats to a Golden State three-peat.
In a league that lacks parity at times, it seems like the 2019 NBA Championship could be one of the more contested titles in recent league history.
2019 NHL Stanley Cup Finals
Date: Late May – TBD
At about the same time that the NBA Finals are taking place, the NHL finals will be going on as well. The NHL schedule is a few games ahead of the NBA, however length of series’ can dictate the exact dates of this event.
That said, I’m pretty sure that Alex Ovechkin’s hangover will be over by the time this year’s finals get underway.
Ovechkin is on the greatest Cup bender of all time pic.twitter.com/cDHo40wQgT
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) June 9, 2018
The nice thing with the NHL is that the league is chock-full of parity. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the lone exception as they are miles ahead of everyone else at the moment and are +300 favorites to win the Cup as a result.
The Maple Leafs at +450 seems like a little bit of sucker bet designed to draw in Leafs Nation and the hockey-mad province of Ontario into wagers at poor value, although they will contend.
After that, it seems like this thing is wide open and there should be no shortage of value bets to be had here.
2019 UEFA Champions League Final
Date: June 1
Soccer fans get their most anticipated event of the season when the UEFA Champions League final takes place on the first of June.
This year’s event will be in Madrid, Spain at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
Real Madrid knocked off Liverpool in last year’s final by a 3-1 count, winning their 13th final in the process.
Wimbledon
Date: July 1-14
The world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, Wimbledon will take place on the first of July and will feature the game’s most electric players.
In 2018, the men’s side saw Novak Djokovic win his fourth career Wimbledon title, although he still had many more to go in order to catch Roger Federer and his eight career Wimbledon victories. We can only hope they clash at this year’s tournament.
On the women’s wide, Germany’s Angelique Kerber upset Serena Williams, denying the American her eighth Wimbledon title which would have put her into a share of second place on the all-time list alongside fellow American Helen Woods Moody, who last won way back in 1938.
2019 MLB World Series
Date: October 22-30
The Red Sox were the best team in baseball from start to finish last season, but will they be challenged this time around?
Well, the answer is yes if the Yankees have anything to do with it, and this article alone could drop the collective stomachs of Red Sox nation.
We will take MLB offseason rumors with a big grain of salt, but that would be something else, wouldn’t it?
At MyBookie, the Red Sox are once again World Series favorites at +550, but the Astros aren’t far behind at +600, followed by those Yankees at +650.
In the National League, the Dodgers are +700 to win the World Series and are the only club in triple digits. Of course, Harper and Machado’s free agent decisions could swing some of these odds.
