VSiN Primetime | August 17, 2026 | Hour 2

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is VSiN Primetime, live from the Circus Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network.

**Tim Murray** (0:12)
Alongside Matt Youmans, I'm Tim Murray. Baseball going on across many of our screens here. Red Sox have taken a 2-0 lead over the Diamondbacks. Phillies have a 2-0 lead as well. Orioles 6-4 trying to complete a four-game sweep of the Rays and about to get underway at Wrigley Field tonight, our Primetime game of the night, the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs. Right now at DraftKings, the Chicago Cubs, a $1.55 favorite, White Sox plus $1.45. And fortunately for us, we can get some insight on that game right now.
Where are the lines changing? And where's the money going?

**Jonathan Peterlin** (0:50)
Let's go behind the counter.

**Tim Murray** (0:53)
Johnny Avello joins us every Monday and he runs DraftKings Sportsbook and he joins us right now courtesy of our Progressive Guestline. Johnny, Cubs minus $1.55, White Sox plus $1.45. Massive series with the Cubs right now owning the top wild card spot, trying to chase down the Brewers in the NL Central. And how about the White Sox, five and a half game lead in the AL Central? How's the betting action been for you guys for White Sox, Cubs, and anything of note heading into this game just a couple minutes from now?
Yeah.

**Johnny Avello** (1:25)
Well, good evening, fellas. And it's been a while since the White Sox and the Cubs have played any games that have any meaning to them. But with the White Sox having the season that they're having, after having just a horrible couple of seasons prior to, game has some meaning to it. And the game was bet, White Sox was two or some on straight bets. White Sox took some money with the plus.
I see the Cubs are in some parlay. So for us, it's probably not that big of a decision. But it's nice to have both of those teams in contention.

**Matt Youmans** (2:07)
Yeah. Well, we were talking about that at the top of the show. Rarely do you see the White Sox and Cubs play games that mean something in August or September. But we have one of those spots tonight. That's why it's our game of the night here at Wrigley Field. Johnny, later in this hour, we're going to see Blake Snell on the mound for the Dodgers, minus 257 at DraftKings, minus 280 here at Circa. And right now, Dodgers plus 170 to win the World Series at DraftKings. We talked about this last week when you were on, would you bet the no on the Dodgers to win the World Series? And you said, yes, you would bet the no. And I'm thinking about betting the no as well.
The price has only ticked up 10 cents at one point, it was plus 160, now 170 What type of World Series future action have you seen in the last week or two?

**Johnny Avello** (2:54)
Well, we continue to see action on Red Sox and Yankees. Some teams that have had some pretty good, well, first of all, Red Sox, I should say, had a good run. The Yankees are just a popular team overall.
Phillies are seeing some action as of late.
Mets, who are usually a team, I can honestly tell you, will take action all year long. Just absolutely no eyes on the Mets whatsoever over the past three weeks to a month. Unfortunate, because you know me, I'm a Met fan. Dodgers, not taking a lot of money at this point at that price. Orioles, some flyers on them since they're playing a little bit of better baseball as of late. The betters are taking some shots here and there, some longer prices and thinking maybe the Dodgers are not the team this year. Now, with all that being said, Matt, the Dodgers could turn it around certainly when the playoffs began and they certainly have the horses to get it done. But my thinking is that the price is too short for them to win it. And if you can lay a no, which is a short price also, might be a good opportunity because you probably have an opportunity to get off of that too during the playoffs. I'm sure there's going to be a time where the Dodgers are down a game or two games to one at some point during the series, even if they won the whole thing.

**Matt Youmans** (4:28)
Yeah, you're right about that. And it's happened actually the past couple of years with the Dodgers in the playoffs. Things can change quickly in baseball. We got about six weeks until we get to October. And that Dodgers starting rotation is going to look pretty intimidating when we get there.