Build your bankroll with these Hump Day MLB bets

Who says it's got to be all about the NHL and NBA playoffs? That's why we're going to focus on some baseball here on Hump Day. There have been some noticeable trends early this season, and we plan on taking advantage of them to help you make some money. 

We're aware it's early, but a trend is a trend. Doesn't matter if it's 15 games into the season or 150 games into the season. And that's why we're trusting the data and our gut with these two bets.

Minnesota Twins/Boston Red Sox (under nine runs, -114)

The under would have hit in Tuesday's series opener if it wasn't for extra innings, but how does the phrase go ... it is what it is? Yeah, something like that, right? Anyway, Minnesota's offense has been bleak all year and Joe Ryan — 3-0, 2.84 ERA — has been awesome in his first three starts. And best of all, Minnesota is the second-best team in all of baseball against the under. 

Corey Kluber has had a rocky start to the year, but did you know Kluber is 10-7 with a 3.33 ERA in 24 career starts against the Twins? Yeah, we didn't know that either ... until we looked it up. And with Minnesota scuffling offensively and Kluber allowing just one run on one hit in his only start last year against Minnesota, we're confident the veteran pitches well on Wednesday. Maybe not quite as well as he did last year — 6 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 6 K — but don't be surprised if he records a quality start.

Both bullpens were solid until extra innings arrived on Tuesday, and as long as that doesn't happen again on Wednesday, there's no reason the under shouldn't come through. To be honest, we'd be surprised if the final score is north of seven, so trust us, and bet on the under cashing in. 

Chicago Cubs (-1.5, +104) vs. Oakland Athletics

We thought the Cubs would turn some heads this year, just not nearly this quickly. Don't look now, but Chicago is 10-6 on the season and has won three straight series and three straight games after shutting out the Athletics on Tuesday. 

And with workhorse Justin Steele starting for the Cubs, we're not only taking Chicago to complete the sweep on Wednesday over Oakland, but we're also taking them to win by multiple runs. Let's face it, Oakland is bad, like really, really bad. And give the A's credit, they play hard and do what they can with a super small budget, but they're just not on the same level as the Cubs. 

And even though it took all the way until the eighth inning for the Cubs to pull away on Tuesday, we see the same thing happening again on Wednesday. Marcus Stroman was pretty much unhittable, and Steele has been nearly the same so far this year. The southpaw hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in each of his first three starts and is 2-0 with an ERA of just over three. 

Meanwhile, Oakland has the worst starting staff in the bigs and has scored the third-fewest runs in the American League. The scary thing is this Oakland team might be worse than last year, and in case you forgot how bad they were a year ago, the A's finished with the worst record in the AL. 

To sum up, we like the Cubs on Wednesday. OK fine, we love the Cubs on Wednesday. And you should too, so bet on them to win by multiple runs. 

Outlier Trends of the Day

David Pastrnak — Assists
David Pastrnak has failed to record an assist in five straight games against Florida (0.0 assists/game average).

David Pastrnak under 0.5 assists (-128)

LeBron James — Rebounds
LeBron James has exceeded 8.5 rebounds in eight of his last nine games against Memphis (10.1 rebounds/game average). 

LeBron James over 8.5 rebounds (-114)

In the news ...

Kings' Fox wins inaugural Clutch Player of the Year Award — Kings guard De'Aaron Fox was named the NBA's inaugural Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year on Tuesday night. Fox led the NBA with 194 "clutch scoring points" and averaged a career-best 25 points per game in his sixth season. The first-year All-Star earned 91 of a possible 100 first-place votes and 460 of the possible 500 total points. 

Suns, Cavs both bounce back in Game 2 — Both the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers evened their first-round playoff series with wins on Tuesday night after losing the first game of their first-round best-of-seven series. Cleveland coasted past the New York Knicks, 107-90, while Phoenix held off the Los Angeles Clippers, 123-109.

Bills' Hamlin cleared by medical doctors — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin announced on Tuesday he has been cleared by medical doctors and plans to resume his professional football career just 3.5 months after commotio cordis caused him to collapse and suffer cardiac arrest during a "Monday Night Football" game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2. Hamlin (-650) is currently the runaway favorite to win this year's Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Jared Shlensky