Morning Coffee: All Rise for Judge on MLB Opening Night

Cole Caufield has turned the month of March into his own personal highlight reel with nine goals in 10 games.

The good news is that Caufield’s brilliance a big reason the Montreal Canadiens are third in the Atlantic Division with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

The bad news for anybody who bet on Caufield to win the Rocket Richard Trophy at 75-to-1 at FanDuel is that he’s running out of time to catch Nathan MacKinnon.

With one goal apiece last night, MacKinnon remains two goals up on Caufield with 12 games to go for both teams.

MacKinnon is a -340 favourite to win the Rocket.

Caufield is +250 as the only other skater at shorter than 16-to-1 to lead the league in goals scored at FanDuel.

With the Habs fighting for a playoff spot and the Avs now seven points clear of the Dallas Stars for first place with a game in hand, I’m holding out hope that Caufield has a better chance to catch MacKinnon than the odds suggest.

The Avalanche cruised to a 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night to improve to 47-13-10.

While all eyes have been on MacKinnon, his teammate Martin Necas has been one of the hottest goal scorers in the NHL with 12 goals in 15 games since the break.

If you tailed the FanDuel Best Bets in Tuesday’s column, you ended up with a half-unit profit after we cashed with Caufield but came up short with Cutter Gauthier.

Hindsight is 20/20, but I had my eye on both Necas and MacKinnon on Tuesday morning and didn’t lock either in.

This Colorado lineup is absolutely stacked.

The fact that the Avalanche will add Artturi Lehkonen and Nicolas Roy to that lineup for the playoffs seems unfair.

While MacKinnon leads the NHL with 46 goals, Necas has scored a career-high 34 goals and registered 88 points.

Necas could very well end up with one of the quietest 40-goal seasons in recent memory.

Speaking of sneaking up on us, the MLB season is here.

With Opening Day on Thursday, we’ll get 11 MLB games, 13 NHL games, four March Madness Sweet 16 games, three NBA games, Miami Open quarters and semis, as well as the start of the Houston Open.

Can’t wait.

In the meantime, all eyes will be on Oracle Park tonight as the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants start things off with MLB Opening Night at 8 PM ET.

Will the reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge and the Yankees deliver as road favourites for the season opener?

Let’s recap some of our favourite MLB futures and lock in a FanDuel Best Bet for Opening Night in this Morning Coffee column for Wednesday March 25^th, 2026.

All Rise For Aaron Judge On MLB Opening Night

Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani enter the 2026 MLB season as obvious favourites to win their league MVPs.

The fact that both superstars have dominated the way they have in recent years has created an interesting dynamic in FanDuel futures markets.

Judge and Ohtani are both shorter than 2-to-1 to win their respective league MVP awards.

While they are considered obvious favourites, the lack of value combined with the risk of injury over a 162-game season has turned FanDuel bettors away from betting on them to win AL and NL MVP.

Judge, who has won three of the last four AL MVPs, is +185 to repeat at FanDuel.

No other player is shorter than +450 to win that award.

Judge hit a career-high .331 and blasted 53 home runs last season, becoming the third player in MLB history to hit 50 or more homers in the same year that he won the batting title.

Is 60 regular season home runs within the realm of possibilities this season?

Meanwhile, Ohtani is -140 to win NL MVP in a market where no other player is shorter than +700 at FanDuel.

Last season, Ohtani joined Barry Bonds as the only players in MLB history to win four or more MVP awards.

He also became one of five players in MLB history to hit at least 50 home runs in the regular season and then go on to win the World Series in the same year.

This season, Ohtani will rejoin the Dodgers rotation.

While Judge and Ohtani are the obvious favourites to win their respective MVP awards, FanDuel bettors haven’t been willing to bet on them at their current numbers.

Neither Judge nor Ohtani is among the five most popular bets to win their respective league MVPs.

Bryce Harper is the most popular bet to win NL MVP at +3500 as the 11^th choice on the board.

Elly De La Cruz (+3000), Ronald Acuna Jr (+1100), and Pete Crow-Armstrong (+5000) round out the most popular bets to win NL MVP.

All four players are 11-to-1 or longer to win the award.

Armed with a new contract and entering his third full

season at 24-years-old, I’m willing to throw some coffee money in Crow-Armstrong to win NL MVP at 50-to-1.

The most interesting part of the equation is that I can bet a quarter of a unit on each of Crow-Armstong, Harper, De La Cruz, and Acuna to win NL MVP, and if any of them go on to win the award I’d still make a larger profit than if I wagered the full unit on Ohtani and he won it.

I’ll go a half-unit on Crow-Armstrong at 50-to-1, and a quarter unit on each of Harper, De La Cruz, and Acuna.

Meanwhile, Roman Anthony is the most popular bet to win AL MVP at +2000 as the ninth choice in that market at FanDuel.

While that number has come down since my good friend and favourite baseball betting follow Uncut Gambit Gems on X locked him at +3000, I’m willing to throw some coffee money on Anthony.

Bobby Witt Jr. (+450), Vladdy Guerrero Jr. (+1600), Gunnar Henderson (+1700), and Julio Rodriguez (+1200) round out the top five most popular bets to win that award at FanDuel.

In case you missed it, our TSN MLB Insider Steve Phillips circled Rodriguez as his value pick to win AL MVP.

I’ll go with a half-unit on Anthony to win AL MVP at +2000, as well as a quarter-unit on Vladdy at +1600, and a quarter-unit on Rodriguez at +1200.

If you want to check out more of our favourite futures ahead of Opening Night, make sure you check out the MLB Season Preview Show powered by FanDuel.

In Monday’s column, I locked in the Dodgers under 103.5 regular season wins as a FanDuel Best Bet for the season.

I also tailed some advice from Tekeyah Singh and Ricky Romero by throwing some coffee money on the Blue Jays to win the AL pennant at +700.

As for MLB Opening Night, the Yankees are a -126 favourite against the Giants at FanDuel.

The NRFI remains a popular bet at -150 at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, I have my eye on the AL MVP favourite Judge as he returns to his home state for Opening Night.

Judge has dominated the Giants throughout his career.

He’s hit .484 with five home runs in nine career games.

He’s also registered 2+ hits in six of nine games and 2+ total bases in eight of nine games.

The Yankees captain should be motivated as ever after a disappointing result the last time we saw him at the World Baseball Classic.

Judge to hit a home run on Opening Night is +250.

Judge to record an RBI is +130.

As for a FanDuel Best Bet for Opening Night, I’ll run with Judge to record 2+ total bases at -135.

The reigning AL MVP might not need many opportunities to be a difference maker for the Yankees tonight.

Hopefully, Judge can register 2+ total bases and give us a FanDuel Best Bet winner on MLB Opening Night.

Have a great day, everyone!