Sunday August 25 Best Sports Betting Picks & Predictions For NFL Preseason, MLB, WNBA | Deadspin.com

You’re not alone if you feel like the NFL preseason has flown by. Sunday marks the end of this year’s exhibition slate, so we’ll squeeze in one final bet before the real fun begins in Kansas City on September 5.

Meanwhile, if you’re a Dallas Wings or a Los Angeles Sparks fan, the WNBA season has likely moved at a snail’s pace. 

And if you root for the Seattle Mariners, you may be in for a long afternoon on Sunday if Giants left-hander Robbie Ray is on his ‘K’-game against his former team. 

Here’s a closer look at our best bets for Aug. 25:

ARIZONA CARDINALS AT DENVER BRONCOS. 4:30 P.M. ET

Bo Nix needed just two preseason games to earn Denver’s QB1 role, and the 24-year-old will become the Broncos’ first rookie quarterback to start Week 1 since Hall of Famer John Elway in 1983.

With Bo a no-go for Denver’s preseason finale, the Broncos will deploy a pair of veteran signal-callers in Jarrett Stidham (four career starts) and Zach Wilson (33 career starts).

Coach Sean Payton announced Friday that Stidham will take roughly eight to 12 snaps as Sunday’s starter before stepping aside for Wilson. 

Wilson has performed better than Stidham so far, completing 12 of 19 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over across Denver’s first two preseason games.

The Broncos’ defense, meanwhile, is coming off a shutout performance in last Sunday’s 27-2 home win over the Green Bay Packers. Denver’s ‘D’ welcomes an Arizona offense that has scored just 14 and 13 points, respectively, in its first two preseason games.

Even if Wilson doesn’t deliver an explosive audition for the top backup role, the Broncos’ defense should do enough to limit the Cardinals’ pedestrian offense and polish off an undefeated preseason for Denver.

The pick: Broncos -3 spread, -112 (DraftKings) 

LOS ANGELES SPARKS AT DALLAS WINGS, 4 P.M. ET

Not even Satou Sabally’s return has helped the Wings reverse what has so far been a tumultuous season.

A shoulder injury sidelined the 2023 WNBA Most Improved Player for Dallas’ first 25 games, which saw the Wings lose one more game (19) than they did throughout their 22-18 regular season campaign a year ago.

Dallas finally got Sabally back when the team returned from the Olympic break, yet the Wings are 0-3 despite their All-Star forward averaging 18.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists during that span.

There’s no reason to believe a dramatic turnaround is imminent, but Dallas (6-22) is in good position to pick up its first win since the break when it hosts the only team below it in the WNBA standings.

The Sparks (6-23) have lost six straight and are mired in a brutal stretch that has them playing their fourth road game in eight days. Los Angeles enters Sunday on one full day of rest following its 80-74 loss against the Mystics on Friday in Washington.

The Wings last played on Thursday at the New York Liberty in Brooklyn.

Given Sabally’s strong play and the benefit of an extra day of rest, we like Dallas to snap its three-game skid against a weary Sparks squad. 

The pick: Wings -6 spread, -112 (DraftKings)

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS AT SEATTLE MARINERS, 4:10 P.M. ET

Robbie Ray returns to Seattle for the first time since March 31 of last year, when he pitched just 3 1/3 innings in what ended up being his final appearance for the Mariners.

Ray missed the next month before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery, and he was later traded to San Francisco this past January.

He returned to the mound to make his Giants debut on July 24 and has gone 3-2 with a 4.88 ERA in his first six starts with San Francisco.

The left-hander has mostly been boom or bust in the strikeout department this season, tallying as few as two and as many as nine.

Ray has been dominant on the road, however, logging eight and nine strikeouts, respectively, in his two starts away from Oracle Park.

He also racked up nine K’s in his most recent outing against the visiting Chicago White Sox last Tuesday, and we’re expecting another punchout-packed performance against a Seattle squad that enters Sunday with the majors’ third-highest strikeout rate against lefties (26.9%).

The pick: Robbie Ray over 6.5 strikeouts, -150 (FanDuel)