The Hamilton Tiger-Cats need a win.

After opening the 2021 CFL season as the consensus Grey Cup favourite, the Tiger-Cats stumbled out of the gate with back-to-back losses before a bye in Week 3.

Sure, an 0-2 start isn’t the end of their season.

Plus, both of Hamilton’s losses were on the road and against quality opponents in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Still, the schedule doesn’t get much easier this week as the Tiger-Cats travel again to face the Montreal Alouettes in their home opener.

Hamilton is currently a 2.5-point favourite.

With an offence that averaged just 7.0 points in back-to-back losses, plus question marks on both the offensive and defensive lines, is the switch to Dane Evans as the starting quarterback and an extra week to prepare enough for the Tiger-Cats to turn things around as a small favourite on the road?

Based on what I have seen from them so far, I’m not inclined to bet on Hamilton.

Then again, just last week the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks both managed to avoid 0-3 starts with upset wins when it seemed like almost everybody was fading them.

Will the Tiger-Cats follow suit? Or will the preseason Grey Cup favourite remain the league’s only winless team?

CFL underdogs are 8-4 straight up and 9-3 against the spread through the first three weeks of the season.

While I’d lean towards Montreal tonight, there’s a good chance this is a stay-away game for me.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Friday, Aug. 27, 2021.

CFL Week 4

We saw a small uptick in scoring in Week 3, from an average of 36.3 points per game in the first two weeks to 43.3 points per game last week.

After seven of the first eight games of the season stayed under the total, it was an even split in Week 3 as the under went 2-2.

What can we expect in Week 4?

Tonight’s game between Hamilton and Montreal currently has the highest total on the board at 46.5.

Over the past two weeks, the under is 6-0 when the total is set at 46.5 or higher.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s game between the BC Lions and Ottawa Redblacks features the lowest total on the board at 43.5. BC is a 4.5-point favourite.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a 5.5-point favourite against the Calgary Stampeders with the total set at 44.5.

Baltimore streaking

The Baltimore Orioles (-110) beat the Los Angeles Angels 13-1 on Thursday afternoon.

After dropping 19 straight games, the Orioles have strung together back-to-back victories over the Angels by a combined 23-7 margin.

Baltimore opened as high as +140 at some spots but was bet down to -110 by first pitch.

Next up, the Orioles welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to town.

The Rays are currently -235 for tonight’s game with Shane McClanahan scheduled to start opposite Matt Harvey.

Baltimore is +195 on the money line and +115 on the run line.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens will have a chance to set the all-time record for consecutive preseason wins when they visit the Washington Football Team on Saturday.

The Ravens have won 19 straight exhibition contests, which matched the record set by Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers.

They are 17-1-1 against the spread over that span.

Head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that the streak “means a lot,” so it’s no surprise that Baltimore is a 3.5-point favourite at Washington.

A two-team parlay featuring the Orioles to lose tonight and the Ravens to win on Saturday would net +124 odds.

Champions League draw

The Champions League draw was held on Thursday, with the 32 teams divided into eight groups of four.

The top two choices to win the tournament ended up in the same group, with PSG and Manchester City paired together in Group A.

As if that wasn’t juicy enough, there was the news that Cristiano Ronaldo was close to an agreement to join Manchester City.

That means we could see Ronaldo and Manchester City clash with Lionel Messi and PSG in the group stage.

Last year, Ronaldo scored twice for Juventus in a 3-0 win over Messi and Barcelona in a Champions League Matchday 6 clash.

As of this morning, Manchester City is +350 to win the Champions League. PSG is right behind them at +360 to win the title.

The defending champions Chelsea (+750), Bayern Munich (+750) and Liverpool (+1000) round out the top five choices.

The group stage begins on Sept. 14.