With the winding down of live sports due to the coronavirus, the sports betting community has taken a greater interest in eSports, including the various professional League of Legends leagues. The Korean league (LCK) consists of ten teams, competing in a double round-robin group stage. The five teams with the best records will go on to the Spring Playoffs. The bottom two teams are at risk of relegation in the Summer Promotion. Let’s check the League of Legends Odds
eSports: League of Legends LCK Matches: April 16
Standings (through April 15)
Gen.G 14-4 T1 14-4 DragonX 13-4 KT Rolster 10-8 DAMWON Gaming 9-9 Afreeca Freecs 7-11 APK Prince 6-11 Hanwha Life Esports 6-11 SANDBOX Gaming 5-13 Griffin 4-13Griffin (2.36) vs Hanwha Life Esports (1.59) (4:00 am ET)
Griffin comes in as the underdog here despite the fact that they have beaten Hanwha Life Esports six times in their seven meetings and Griffin is just a match behind Hanwha in the LCK standings. Hanwha Life Esports did win the last matchup, prevailing 2-1 when the sides met for the first time in Spring 2020.
Griffin fell to Afreeca Freecs on April 9, 2-0, ending a two-match winning streak that saw victories over APK Prince and DAMWON Gaming. So while Griffin is in last place right now, there are only 2 ½ matches of difference between last place and sixth. Hanwha Life Esports beat Afreeca Freecs three matches ago but lost to APK Prince before taking down Gen.G, 2-1, on April 12. That win over the league leader is an impressive one, but given the value that I can get from Griffin in what looks like a toss-up, I’m taking them here.
Prediction: Griffin wins, 2-1.
APK Prince (4.68) vs Kingzone DragonX (1.18) (7:00 am ET)
DragonX comes in as a big favorite as they are just a half-match behind the two leaders in the LCK standings, while APK Prince would be on the outside looking in as far as postseason hopes go, if the season ended today. They have only played each other once, with DragonX taking that victory on February 28, when the teams met for the first time in the LCK Spring 2020 schedule.
DragonX has won five matches in a row, including taking down Afreeca Freecs on April 12. They have only lost three games in that stretch, sweeping the other two wins. APK Prince has won three of their last five matches in LCK Spring 2020, beating Hanwha Life Esports, KT Rolster and Afreeca Freecs while falling to Griffin and Gen.G. Given DragonX’s recent domination, it’s hard to argue against them here.
Prediction: DragonX wins, 2-0.
