Celebrate America with baseball, hot dogs ... and betting

What's more American than baseball and the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest? The answer: Nothing. That's why you need to start the Fourth of July weekend on Friday by betting on both. Start with my MLB Parlay of the Day for Friday and follow up by betting on how many hot dogs 14-time champion Joey Chestnut will eat on Monday. 

MLB Parlay of the Day: Atlanta Braves (moneyline) and New York Yankees (moneyline) +106 odds via DraftKings.

I promise I didn't intentionally try to include one of America's greatest sports teams ever in the New York Yankees as well as the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves in my parlay. It just happened. Cincinnati is the worst team in the National League, and the Braves dominated the month of June. I expect that to carry over in to July. Atlanta went 21-6 in June, and Braves starter Max Fried was one of the main reasons why. Fried went 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in five starts last month and has allowed two runs or less in six of his last seven starts. Meanwhile, the Reds have allowed the most earned runs in baseball, and Atlanta has hit the most home runs in the National League. Advantage Atlanta, and by a lot. 

When I do parlays, I try to focus on two games where both teams I like to win are playing really lousy teams. However, that's not the case for Friday's parlay. The Guardians are just one game back of Minnesota for first in the AL Central, which clearly shows they're not bad. However, Aaron Civale has been bad for Cleveland, and he's starting Friday. Civale has an ERA north of seven, and he's facing the best offense and the best team record-wise in baseball. That's not a good matchup for Civale or Cleveland. Plus, Gerrit Cole is starting for the Bronx Bombers. Cole is 6-2 with a 2.99 ERA in 15 starts and hasn't allowed more than a run in five of his last six starts. This is as close to a lock as there is for Friday's games. Take New York on the run line.

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest: No doubt baseball is America's pastime, but there's nothing more American than watching a bunch of adults stuff their faces with hot dog after hot dog after hot dog. If you can watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest without gagging, you might as well bet on it, too. 14-time champion Joey Chestnut (-3000) is the clear-cut favorite, but will he break his personal-best record of 76 and will he eat more than 74.5 (-140) or less than 74.5 (+110) on Monday? Seven-time champion Miki Sudo (-5000) is the consensus favorite on the women's side after sitting out last year due to the birth of her child. If you want to take a chance and bet on the field you can. BetMGM has the men's field (any man other than Chestnut) set at 10-1 and the women's field (any woman other than Sudo) at 11-1. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest takes place at Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., and will be televised on ESPN, starting at 10:45 a.m. ET.

In other news ...

Kevin Durant requests trade: NBA free agency started on Thursday, but who's signing where wasn't the main headline around the NBA. The 12-time All-Star and former league MVP reportedly requested to be traded from the Brooklyn Nets before the free agency period began. Per Adrian Wojnarowski, the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat are the two teams at the top of his trade list. Here's the betting odds for Durant's next team via DraftKings. 

Carlos Ortiz leads LIV Open-Portland after Day 1: Carlos Ortiz leads all golfers at -5 after the first day of the LIV Open-Portland on Thursday. Pre-tournament favorite Dustin Johnson and Hideto Tanihara follow in second at -4. Johnson still remains the consensus favorite at t 4-1 while Ortiz is 10-1 to win the title.  

J.T. Poston leads John Deere Classic through Round 1: Potson leads the field at -9 at the John Deere Classic heading into Friday and is now the outright favorite to win at +250 via DraftKings. Michael Gligic follows in second at -7 followed by Chris Gotterup and Vaughn Taylor in third at -6. Pre-tournament favorite Webb Simpson shot even on Thursday and is now 55-1 to win the classic.  

Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier highlights UFC 276: Adesanya (-450) vs. Cannonier (+350) for the Middleweight title might be the main event for Friday's UFC 276, but that's not the only title fight taking place. Alexander Volkanovski (-210) vs. Max Holloway (+175) precedes Adesanya vs. Cannonier for the featherweight title in Las Vegas followed by Sean Strickland (-120) vs. Alex Pereira (+100) at middleweight, Robbie Lawler (-120) vs. Bryan Barberena (+100) at welterweight and Pedro Munhoz (+240) vs. Sean O'Malley (-300) at bantamweight on the main card. Click here for the full UFC 276 schedule and betting odds.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Jared Shlensky