Today’s top best bets to target: Top picks for Mariners vs. Tigers, Friday’s college football bets

Sports bettors will have to exercise a little patience on Friday, because after a week with earlier start times with the 2025 MLB playoffs or the opening slate of NHL games, there aren’t many online sports betting options until later today. But one of the biggest baseball games of the year takes place Friday when Tarik Skubal, the likely soon-to-be back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, starts for the Detroit Tigers against the Seattle Mariners in a winner-take-all Game 5 at 8:08 p.m. ET.

However, the SportsLine model shows that the best value in this matchup comes with the loss of arguably baseball’s best pitcher, with the Mariners at +113 winning odds being one of its best Friday bets. The model and a SportLine expert also sees value in Friday’s college football slate, including backing North Texas to win at 7:30 p.m. ET in his Friday best bets.

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Whether you are considering MLB betting, NFL bettingbetting on college football or any other Friday sports schedule, there are a number of online sports betting options and our team can help point you in the right direction. Our computer model and experts will weigh in on all the biggest events every day and offer their best sports betting picks now.

Here’s what we’re betting today

Tigers vs. Mariners best bets

• Game: Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners, ALDS, Game 5 (Friday, 8:08 p.m. ET)
• The choice: the sailors win (+108)

There’s no debate about Tarik Skubal’s greatness, but the Mariners have already won a game the elite branch started in Seattle in this series, and the model likes the importance of the Mariners doing it again. Seattle also hit Skubal well during the regular season, scoring four runs in five innings in a 12-3 Mariners win in July, so a Seattle offense with stars such as Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez shouldn’t be intimidated Friday. Mariners starter George Kirby held the Tigers to two runs in five innings with eight strikeouts in the opener. The model predicts that the Mariners will win in 60% of simulations.

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Best Friday College Football Bets

• Game: South Florida vs. North Texas (Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET)
• The choice: North Texas (-110)

“Although USF has just as much talent on both sides of the ball, the Mean Green has greatly improved since last season, especially on the defensive end,” said SportsLine expert Bob Konarski, who is 4-1 (+275) in his last five college football money line picks.. “Their level of competition hasn’t been as strong as USF’s and the defense has held their opponents’ passing attack to under 150 yards per game thus far. Drew Mestemaker has thrown 11 touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. USF’s offense can also be stagnant at times.”

• Game: Rutgers vs. Washington (Friday, 9 p.m. ET)
• The choice: less than 60.5 (-110)

Rutgers and Washington combined to exceed that number in five of their first six games, but those were non-conference matchups against inferior opponents where each team dominated offensively. That hasn’t been the case over the past two weeks in the Big Ten, combining to go under that total in three of their four games. They also went well below that total in last year’s meeting, resulting in a 21-18 Rutgers victory. The model expects the Under trend in Big Ten games to continue, projecting the Under to be achieved in 63% of simulations.

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