Sunday August 4 Best Sports Betting Picks & Predictions for MLB & Olympics

The title of “World’s Fastest Man” is up for grabs on Sunday to highlight the Olympic fun in Paris. The 100-meter dash is always a spectacular race to watch, and there’s no reason to think it won’t be this year with three top-notch American contenders.

The swimming pool has been the site of many exploits. One of the Paris stars, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, will be looking to win 50-meter freestyle gold to go with the 100-meter gold she already pocketed.

It is a typical Sunday loaded with baseball contests, and the national night contest is between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.

OLYMPICS MEN’S 100-METER DASH

Nearly everybody who isn’t competing in the race is forecasting Jamaican star Kishane Thompson (-160) to sail to victory. He has the fastest time (9.77 seconds) of the year, but his heat time on Saturday was just 10 seconds flat.

Perhaps Thompson is just conserving energy for Sunday’s semifinals and final after posting the sixth-quickest time. He might treat the semis the same way since this field is stacked with defending gold medalist Marcell Jacobs (+4000) of Italy rating 13th at 10.05 seconds.

Noah Lyles (+130) is considered the top American, but Kenny Bednarek (+1800) and 2021 silver medalist Fred Kerley (+1500) are surely saying they shouldn’t be overlooked. The duo shared the top time Saturday of 9.97 seconds, while Lyles clocked a 10.04 that rated 12th-best.

Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (+1100) is also a threat after a fifth-place time of 9.99 seconds. Lyles is in his first Olympics, while a guy like Kerley has lived the pressure of a final and could be the guy to press Thompson.

Fred Kerley, +1500 (DraftKings)

OLYMPICS WOMEN’S 50-METER FREESTYLE

Is there even a need to hold this event after Sarah Sjostrom (-2000) set the Olympic record in Saturday’s semifinals? The Swedish star clocked 23.66 seconds in her semi heat to break the mark of 23.81 set in Tokyo by Australia’s Emma McKeon.

Oh yeah, Sjostrom also holds the world record of 23.61 seconds. So I guess the big suspense will be whether or not she can improve on her world record. Then again, there are seven others who plan to jump in the pool.

One person who won’t be in the pool is American Simone Manuel, who didn’t qualify for the finals after posting the 18th-best time in 24.87 seconds. She won the silver medal in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro and now can’t crack the Top 16. That’s a career going underwater, pun intended.

That leaves Gretchen Walsh (+1400) as the American hope for an upset. And it would be one of the biggest shockers in swimming history. Realistically, Walsh is swimming for silver.

Sarah Sjostrom, -2000 (DraftKings)

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS AT CHICAGO CUBS

Perhaps the Cubs have gotten a head start on their collapse this season. A year ago, they fell out of the playoff mix with a September nosedive that included going 1-6 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who inched into the last National League wild-card spot and went to the World Series.

Chicago is in last place in the NL Central despite winning two of the first three games of this series. The Cardinals responded with a 5-4 victory on Saturday, helped by Nolan Arenado’s short fly dropping in for a two-run single in the eighth when Chicago center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong called off second baseman Nico Hoerner on a ball he couldn’t get to.

The Cardinals will take those breaks as the NL wild-card race is once again tight and St. Louis is two games behind the last spot. The Cardinals had lost seven of their past 11 games before getting that unrequested help from the Cubs.

St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas (8-8, 4.99 ERA) will face Chicago left-hander Justin Steele (2-5, 3.38). Mikolas served up four homers in a loss to the Cubs on July 14, with Crow-Armstrong accounting for two of the bombs, but stands 6-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 20 career starts against Chicago. Steele is 4-1 with a 3.47 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals. This is his first this season.

Cardinals moneyline, +130 (DraftKings)