St. Louis BattleHawks vs Tampa Bay Vipers Odds, Picks, and Predictions
- If the XFL doesn’t suspend its season, the Tampa Bay Vipers will host the St. Louis BattleHawks on Saturday, March 14th, at 5:00 PM ET
- The BattleHawks have won three of their last four games overall while the Vipers have won just once this entire season
- Get the odds and best bet for Saturday’s game here
While the MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS have suspended their seasons due to coronavirus, the XFL has been mostly quiet about their upcoming schedule.
As of now, we have heard that the plan is to proceed without fans. Maybe the XFL will be the last bastion, which hopefully will carry us through this tough time. For now, let’s take a look at the St. Louis-Tampa Bay matchup, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday without fans in the stadium.
BattleHawks vs Vipers XFL Week 6 Odds
| Team | Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis BattleHawks | -3.5 (-105) | -175 | 42.5 (-110) |
| Tampa Bay Vipers | +3.5 (-115) | +155 | 42.5 (-110) |
Odds taken Mar. 12.
BattleHawks Took A Big Step Back In Week 5
The BattleHawks had emerged as one of the favorites to win the 2020 XFL Championship as they were at the top of the East Division at 3-1. However, they had one of their worst outings of the season when they faced the DC Defenders last week. They scored a season-low six points in their 15-6 loss on the road.
What’s bizarre is that all of the momentum was with St. Louis as the Defenders had lost two in a row by a combined score of 64-9. The BattleHawks defense actually played well – in some respects – holding the Defenders to just 2.4 yards per pass. However, they couldn’t stop the run as the Defenders racked up 229, which proved to be the difference.
Vipers Have Shown Signs Of Life
Tampa Bay has been a bit of a surprise of late. Sure, they’re still dead-last in the East Division with just one win but they’ve shown signs of life lately. They started the year with two straight bad beats, not looking very competitive. They’ve had much more fire in their bellies of late.
After giving the league-leading Houston Roughnecks a run for their money in Week 3, the Vipers stomped the DC Defenders 25-0 in Week 4. In Week 5, they suffered a tough 41-34 loss against the LA Wildcats. They outgained Tampa Bay 434-345 and played pretty well, but came up just short in the end.
Quarterback Taylor Cornelius continues to both give the Vipers a chance to win each week and hurt their chances as he had two more interceptions in Week 5. He’s now thrown at least one interception in every week he’s played, totaling six picks in total.
What’s The Best Bet?
The Vipers are a home dog in this spot but I view them as a live home dog. After all, they have been playing better of late and they’ve been running the ball well, which should be the key to a win here. They had 142 rushing yards last week, 266 in Week 4, 129 in Week 3 and 141 in Week 2. According to the XFL team stats, they lead the league in rushing yards per game.
The St. Louis run defense has been shaky as they’ve allowed 120.4 rushing yards per game, which is the third-worst number in the XFL. On the other hand, Tampa Bay allows a league-low 75.8 rushing yards, so that’s a good matchup for them.
The other factor here is St. Louis has been good at home, winning their two games by a combined score of 52-25. They’ve been much worse on the road, going 1-2 in away games and are averaging just 15.0 points per game on the road. Take a shot with the Vipers in this spot to cover.
For over 15 years, Dave has been working in mainstream media and sports betting. He hosted a station on Sirius Satellite Radio for four years, and is currently a senior writer for AskMen. He's interviewed hundreds of hundreds of high-profile sports stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Floyd Mayweather.
