Live Bet Sunday | August 2, 2026 | Hour 2

**Femi Abebefe** (0:01)
This is Live Bet Sunday on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network.
Welcome back, it is hour number two of Live Bet Sunday here on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network. Femi Abebefe, Joe Ceraulo, hanging with you guys here on this Sunday afternoon. As always, you can watch us, vsin.com/watch the VSiN Watch app, and you can listen live on SiriusXM channel 158 as we're in your ear 24 seven. Some breaking news at the NFL, by the way. Texans re-signing Jadavia and Clowney, or I should say signing, as it's a reunion, as they took them first overall way back when. We'll get some NFL news in about 30 minutes with our guy Lou Finocchiaro, our recent teammate, NFL and UFC betting analyst. But right now, Joe, we have to bring on another guest to talk about the Major League Baseball trade deadline and the betting ramifications because of it. Professional Sports Better, our buddy, you see him here each and every week on Live Bet Sunday. Rob Donaldson joining us via the Progressive Guest Line and he's on Twitter at RobDFB. Rob, thanks for hanging with us. It's been a fun 24, 48 hours in Major League Baseball. We'll see what tomorrow has in store with the trade deadline coming up at 6 o'clock Eastern time. But we have to ask you about the big blockbuster trade, Tarek Schubel going over to the Dodgers. It's doom and gloom. A lot of people saying it's over. What would you take from a betting standpoint, the Dodgers or the field to win the World Series?

**Rob Donaldson** (1:25)
Yeah, it's a great question and ultimately, this time of year, the trade deadline spells it all. It spells who's actually going to be making the World Series push.
On the flip side of the coin, you see a lot of prospects get called up that are top level guys. As a result of said trades, well, the Dodgers have both working for them. Not only did they acquire the best trade piece of the deadline, Tarek Schubel. Well, now there's talks about Jose De Paula or Jose De Paula rather getting called up from their minor league system who's a top five prospect in all of baseball. So, I mean, the rich just get richer, man. And even if we don't see a Blake Snell or a Tyler Glaz now, the rest of the way, they still have a dominant rotation, one of the best we've ever seen in major league baseball. And ultimately, I'm not going to be betting against that come October.

**Joe Ceraulo** (2:12)
Yeah, I'm right there with you, Rob. It's impossible to bet against that.
Tell us, though, how you approach betting the next few days, because I find the trade deadline to be interesting, kind of like the All-Star break, where maybe you want to go a little light in a couple of days leading into it, a couple of days coming out of it. You know, morale is going to change in clubhouses, guys are going to show up maybe with, you know, high hopes around them and then kind of take a little bit to acclimate. So this coming week with tomorrow being deadline day, do you find yourself making, you know, fewer bets or maybe lightening your units a bit? How do you approach betting around the deadline with all the changes that it brings?

**Rob Donaldson** (2:49)
Yeah, you know, it's almost like kind of the coach speak angle that I take of control the controllables. If you know, starting pitcher is not on the move and he's going up against another starting pitcher, not on the move, don't leave it up to the bullpen that, but it could very likely be on the move, right? Just take the first five angles, maybe take a first three, you know, in terms of over unders, money lines, run lines, really anything when you kind of know who's going to be in the game, because the truth is, to your point, I mean, we're going to see trades in the middle of some of these games today. We already have where it impacts the game of. And so that's my approach is I'm not going in too deep on guys who might be also on the potential deal right now. Like for example, George Kirby is about to make a start against the twins. Is he, or is he just going to get pulled in like the third inning because he gets on belt? I mean, that's a reality of where we're kind of sitting. So that's my ultimate approach is also, you know, one of the big things that I love post-trade deadline, fade the team that made the big slashy moves because sometimes they're without those pieces in the short term. So I love kind of kind of taking that approach post-trade deadline as well.