Parlay Airways

Welcome back to our weekly pick 'em game. Once again, we’re putting five $20 gift cards up for grabs for anyone who can correctly pick the winners of five games.  

Send this link to your fantasy group chat, work Slack channel, ex-girlfriend…. whoever you want. 

Click here to lock in your picks for this week. 

🎰 United Airlines now has sports betting as part of its in-flight entertainment. In case you're tired of watching movies or trying to sleep with your head bent over the tray table, you can now cook up a 12-leg parlay at 35,000 feet. There’s booze, gambling, live sports — planes have basically turned into an airborne casino. 

• If you’re a loyal Delta Airlines flyer, don't worry, they have their own partnership with Draftkings in the pipeline. 

⛳️ Ryder Cup rivalry heats up. The Europeans have been taking shots at Team USA for getting paid for playing in the tournament (and also how insufferable American golf fans are). Pair that with a brewing beef between Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, there could be some fireworks on the course this weekend. It’s still golf though, so don’t expect any brawls. 

• To prepare for the rowdy New York crowd, Team Europe has been training with VR headsets that have been programmed to scream insults at the players while they swing. Surely, these headsets have a Happy Gilmore “Jackasssssss” setting.
  

💔 The Giants-Russell Wilson era came to an ugly end. The veteran QB is being benched in favour of rookie Jaxon Dart. It’s the kind of demotion that tends to happen when you haven’t won a football game since December of last year.

• If you want to see how bad it really was, watch this four play sequence from the Red Zone on Sunday. 

🏒 A Sidney Crosby trade is feeling all the more likely. Crosby’s agent has been fueling speculation that the 38-year-old would waive his no trade clause for another shot at a Stanley Cup. The Athletic’s analysts pegged the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers as the most likely landing spots, though the Edmonton Oilers are also rumoured to be in the mix. (sorry Leafs fans). 

🏈 The NFL was all late game heroics on Sunday. A record-tying seven NFL games were decided by a scoring play in the final three minutes. It was a bad week to be a kicker (although, when is it not): three field goals got blocked in the final two minutes of three different games. Nothing like watching a 350-pound lineman outrun everyone to take it to the house.

💀 RIP to baseball ejections. MLB announced that its ball-strike challenge system is officially coming next season, bringing an abrupt end to one of the great joys of watching baseball: ejections like these.  

• How it works: It’s pretty simple. Each team gets two challenges, which can be used by pitchers, catchers, or hitters by tapping their hat right after the pitch. If you’re right, you keep the challenge. If you’re wrong you lose it. 

🐎 Daniel Jones suddenly looks like the best QB in football. His numbers are now somehow on par with last year’s MVP Josh Allen. Not to keep twisting the knife for Giants fans, but there’s a good chance Danny might not have been the problem in New York. Also, is there a better nickname in football right now than Indiana Jones? A match made in heaven. 

⚾️ We got the circus catch of all circus catches this week. Nationals outfielder Jacob Young made one of the most absurd grabs you’ll ever see on a baseball field. He might be the only player in MLB history to hacky sack a fly ball into his glove for the out. Gotta love the creativity. 

With three days left in the season, the playoff picture is still an absolute mess. 

The Detroit Tigers have coughed up a 15.5-game division lead, the New York Mets could miss the playoffs with a league-high $340 million payroll, and the Cincinnati Reds could somehow find themselves in a Wild Card Series. 

Welcome to (almost) October baseball. 

Nothing’s set in stone until Sunday, but here are some of the storylines to follow in the last few days of the season. 

The Tigers’ all-time collapse 

Detroit’s choke job could end up being the worst in baseball history. Just two weeks ago, they had a 99.9% chance to win the AL Central. Today, the Guardians hold a one-game lead in the division. 

• On September 1, the Guardians had a 2.9% chance to make the playoffs and a 0.2% chance to win the division. After snapping off an MLB-best 18-5 streak in September, they now have a 92.3% chance to make the postseason and 80.7% to take the division.
  

AL East is up for grabs

The Blue Jays have picked the worst time to start playing their ugliest baseball of the year. How bad has it been? In the last week, Toronto has posted its worst team OPS in 30 years. Thanks to those piss poor at bats, the Yankees have found themselves right there with the Jays at the top of the division. 

• Now, it becomes a three-game sprint for the division. Whoever loses the division will likely be playing the Red Sox in a Wild Card series.
  

• It wouldn’t be crazy if this one came down to the head-to-head tiebreaker, which Toronto holds over the Yanks. 

The Mets are blowing it again

The Mets are living up to their reputation as the league’s most expensive disappointment. On June 12, they had the best record in baseball (45–24). Since then, they’ve managed to go 35–53 with the exact same roster. We guess paying one player $765 million doesn’t win you baseball games. 

• The Reds, with a payroll one-third the size, are now just a game back of the Mets in the Wild Card race and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. The Diamondbacks are also just a game back.

The series’ to watch this weekend: Toronto will take on the Rays and the Yankees will face off with Baltimore with the AL East on the line. Cleveland can lock up the division with a few wins against Texas, while Detroit will have to beat up on Boston to avoid humiliation. Last but not least, the Mets will take on the miserable Marlins to try and hang onto their own playoff spot.

@risktaker had the biggest hit of the week, snapping off this five-leg MLB parlay on Wednesday night. Zero player props — all over/under’s. That’s one way to get it done. 

Check out the full parlay here.

🎞️ On this day in 2022, Roger Federer played in the final game of his career at the Laver Cup. Playing alongside his longtime rival and friend Rafael Nadal, Roger put a cap on a career that included 20 Grand Slams, 103 titles, and $130 million in total prize money. 

Nobody has ever — or will ever — look as cool playing tennis as Roger Federer.

Alright, that’s enough yelling for one Friday.

Got a hotter take? Think we missed something? Want to argue that the Leafs are actually cursed by a 1932 ghost?

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Forward it to a friend who lives for the group chat debate.