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Morning Coffee: Will Riders extend perfect start in CFL Week 6?
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The Toronto Blue Jays are the hottest team in baseball.
Regression might be inevitable, but it hasn’t hit yet.
The Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 8-4 on Monday night to push their win streak to nine games in a row.
It’s Toronto’s longest win streak since August of 2015.
The Blue Jays improved to 53-38 – tied for the most wins in a season before the All-Star Break in franchise history.
The last time they won 53 games before the break they went on to win the World Series back in 1992.
Dare to dream big, people.
Toronto was 10-to-1 to win the AL East on Opening Day.
That number ballooned to 100-to-1 by May 28th, when the Blue Jays were two games below .500 at 26-28.
Since then, Toronto has gone an MLB-best 27-10 and is now 15 games above .500 – three games clear of the New York Yankees for the best record in the division.
The FanDuel traders cut the Blue Jays odds to win the AL East from +170 to +125 as a close second choice behind the Yankees following Monday night’s win.
Toronto to make the playoffs is -800 – an 88.9 per cent implied probability.
Can Canada’s baseball team stay hot and finish the first half off on a high note to pad its AL East lead?
The Blue Jays are -180 to double down in Chicago tonight and will be the betting favourite in each of their final five games before the MLB All-Star Break.
Meanwhile, Toronto’s pro football team will get a much-needed bye this week after falling to 1-4 following an ugly loss to the rival Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.
The defending Grey Cup champion Argonauts have been hit hard by injuries early on this season, and after stumbling out of the gates, their odds to win the Grey Cup have ballooned from +380 to +900 at FanDuel.
On the flip side, the top three teams in the CFL have been red-hot with a combined 10-2 record both straight up and against the spread this season.
The fact that all three teams play in the same division makes things that much more interesting with two of them set to meet on Friday Night Football in Week 6.
Plus, there’s a potential sleeper team from the East Division with an excellent opportunity to gain some ground in the standings over the next two weeks.
This is Morning Coffee for Tuesday July 8th, 2025.
Will Riders Extend Perfect Start In CFL Week 6?
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the last remaining undefeated team in the CFL at 4-0.
A Week 5 bye couldn’t have gone any better for them.
Trevor Harris got another week of rest and remains on track to return from injury on Friday Night Football.
The 39-year-old emerged as an obvious MOP candidate while leading Saskatchewan to a 3-0 start, and it is good news for Riders Nation that he’ll be back in time for this week’s game against the Calgary Stampeders.
Speaking of the Stampeders, a 37-16 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Stampede Bowl left Saskatchewan all alone atop the West Division standings.
Calgary and Winnipeg are both 3-1 entering Week 6.
With wins over the Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Stampeders will get their chance to prove they can hang with any team in the CFL when they visit Saskatchewan on Friday Night Football.
The Riders are a 4.5-point favourite at FanDuel.
Calgary is +176 to win outright.
If the Stampeders can pull off a second consecutive upset, they’ll move into a tie with Saskatchewan for first place in the West Division standings.
Not bad for a team that was +2600 to win the Grey Cup at FanDuel entering Week 1 – tied for the longest odds in the league with the Edmonton Elks.
Calgary’s odds to win the Grey Cup were cut from +2600 to +850 ahead of their Week 5 win over the Bombers.
Interestingly, the Stampeders are back up to +1200 to win it all at FanDuel after a lopsided win over Winnipeg.
Six teams have shorter odds to win it all than Calgary.
Don’t expect the Stampeders to be phased by the doubters with locker room vibes at an all-time high.
Meanwhile, it’s the Montreal Alouettes – not the Riders – that are the Grey Cup favourite entering Week 6.
The Alouettes are +230 to win it all at FanDuel.
Montreal is coming off a tough last-second loss to the BC Lions in Week 5 but remains alone in first place in the East Division entering its bye, with star QB Davis Alexander nearing a return from injury.
Saskatchewan is a close second choice at +320.
While the Riders are a perfect 4-0, they also have a tougher projected path to the Grey Cup in the same division as Winnipeg, Calgary, and the BC Lions.
Meanwhile, who will challenge Montreal for supremacy in the East Division?
The Argonauts and Ottawa Redblacks are a combined 2-8 to start the season.
Then there’s the Tiger-Cats, which went from +2000 to +1000 to win the Grey Cup following a comeback win over Toronto in Week 5.
Bo Levi Mitchell has emerged as a co-favourite to win CFL MOP along with Alexander, while Kenny Lawler leads the league in receiving yards and is the top non-QB in FanDuel’s MOP market.
Mitchell and Lawler just led a Hamilton offence that put up 51 points on the rival Argonauts in Week 5.
The Tiger-Cats can score points in bunches, and if their defence and special teams can perform at a high level they will be a tough beat for any opponent.
Our football guru Davis Sanchez flagged Hamilton as a potential sleeper Grey Cup contender ahead of Week 1.
Is there still value betting the Tiger-Cats at +1000?
Hamilton is a 4.5-point favourite for this week’s game against the visiting Redblacks.
With a home-and-home versus Ottawa on deck, there’s a chance the Tiger-Cats go 2-0 and their odds to win the Grey Cup are cut again by the FanDuel traders.
Montreal, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg are the obvious top three choices to win the Grey Cup this morning.
I’m interested to see whether a team like the Stampeders or Tiger-Cats can surprise.
Hamilton can position itself as a legitimate contender with a pair of wins over the Redblacks the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, Calgary has an opportunity to go back-to-back against two of the best in the West – and the CFL – in Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.
I’ll lock in the Tiger-Cats -3.5 as a FanDuel Best Bet for Week 6 in the CFL.
Hopefully, Hamilton can take advantage of a favourable situation and gain some ground on idle Montreal in the East standings in Week 6.
Have a great day, everyone.