The Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicked off a CFL season almost two years in the making with a 2019 Grey Cup rematch last Thursday.

After a long wait, the first four games of the 2021 season certainly lived up to the hype.

That is, unless you went full chalk.

CFL underdogs went 3-1 straight up and 4-0 against the spread.

There is always going to be a level of uncertainty entering Week 1 of a football season, but that unpredictability was amplified by the extensive amount of time off between games.

If you took the points, Week 1 was a treat.

If you went chalk, you’re not going to be happy with an 0-4 ATS start.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Monday August 9, 2021.

 

CFL Dogs Sweep Week 1 ATS

The defending Grey Cup champion Blue Bombers picked up right where they left off with a 19-6 win over the Tiger-Cats in the season opener.

If you followed the money, you were on the right side.

Hamilton opened as a 3.5-point favourite, but that number was steamed to -1.5 before kickoff.

Meanwhile, the total was bet down from 51.5 to 49.5.

The Blue Bombers and the under were your winners.

Just in case anybody forgot.

The Ottawa Redblacks and Toronto Argonauts pulled off Week 1 upsets with outright wins at +230 and +210, respectively.

The under hit in each of those two games and went 3-1 overall.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were the lone favourite to emerge from Week 1 with a win, but that victory over the B.C. Lions stole the spotlight for a very different reason.  

Talking to a few of the principals involved, I’m convinced that the decisions on star quarterback Michael Reilly playing were solely made by him, moments before kickoff in each half. I know it’s not what the conspiracy theorists want to hear.

Reilly was the projected starter for the Lions in the hours leading up to kickoff.

However, when the B.C. offence took the field for the first time, it was Canadian rookie Nathan Rourke at quarterback.

As reported by Farhan Lalji, Rourke took first-team reps for the Lions in practice all week.

I’m not a reporter.

I don’t know what happened internally when it comes to the Lions’ decision at quarterback.

However, I do know that if Rourke had been confirmed as the starter ahead of time over Reilly, the line wouldn’t have moved from Saskatchewan -7.5 to -6.5 on game day.

The Roughriders jumped out to a 28-0 lead and led 32-9 at the half before Reilly entered the game in place of Rourke in the third quarter.

B.C. outscored Saskatchewan 20-1 in the second half, covering as a 6.5-point dog and nearly pulling off the outright win.

The Lions are set to visit Calgary on Thursday Night Football this week.

Reilly’s playing status on a short week will undoubtedly carry over as a major topic of discussion in Week 2.

 

Blue Jays Shine In Return To Toronto

George Springer hit a three-run go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth to propel the Toronto Blue Jays (-220) to a 9-8 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Toronto took three of four from its division rival.

The Blue Jays wrapped up their return to Toronto with a 9-2 record in their first homestand since 2019

The Blue Jays are now three games back of an American League Wild Card spot and seven games back of top spot in the AL East.

As of this morning, Toronto is +900 to win the AL East.

The fact that the Blue Jays are stuck in such a loaded division doesn’t help their playoff chances, as the Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees all still have better odds.

Toronto can be found anywhere from +2100 to +3000 to win the World Series right now.

The Blue Jays open a nine-game trip on Tuesday in which they’ll visit the Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals. 

The Angels and Mariners are right behind them in the AL Wild Card race.

Fangraphs currently has the Jays' odds to make the playoffs at 47.5 per cent and their odds to win the division at 11.2 per cent.

If they can maximize their results against the teams below them in the standings on this upcoming trip, their playoff outlook will look much different by the time that they return to Toronto.

You can go ahead right now and circle Thursday night’s showdown against the Angels as a must-see matchup, with Jose Berrios set to get the nod opposite Shohei Ohtani.

Toronto’s series-ending win over Boston was part of a dominant day for MLB favourites, which went 11-4 on Sunday.

MLB favourites are a combined 35-11 over the previous three days.

That’s a 76-per-cent conversion rate.

Keep that number in mind if you’re betting baseball early this week.

 

NBA Rookie Of The Year Odds

2021 first-round pick Scottie Barnes made his Summer League debut for the Toronto Raptors in an 89-79 win over the New York Knicks on Sunday in Las Vegas. 

Barnes finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in 30 minutes.

I’m not betting on NBA Summer League, but it did inspire me to take a glance at the NBA Rookie of the Year futures.

First overall pick Cade Cunningham remains the obvious ROY favourite at +195.

Barnes is the fifth choice at +1300 – behind Cunningham, Jalen Green (+300), Jalen Suggs (+650) and Evan Mobley (+650).

You can watch the highlights from Barnes’ debut below.

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