This is a 10* on PORTLAND

Houston is 2-0 since the restart with wins over Dallas and Milwaukee. Impressive as that sounds, the Rockets trailed by double digits in both games. They were down 11 entering the 4th quarter vs. the Mavericks and needed all of James Harden’s 49 points to pull out a 152-149 overtime victory. Against the Bucks, the much maligned defense once again stepped up late. It is impressive that the Rockets could beat the Bucks despite shooting below 40% but we also don’t think they can keep winning in the manner we’ve seen the first two games. Portland has also played two close games, but split the pair. They were down big to Boston on Sunday, but fought back to make it only a 4-point loss. That was after they beat Memphis in overtime in the first game. Currently in ninth place in the Western Conference, the Blazers are well within the four-games of 8th place Memphis to force a play-in series. Still they really could use the win here as they neck and neck with San Antonio for ninth place. Portland beat Houston twice in the regular season so they’re capable of winning outright again.They are healthier now than they were back then. The Rockets are 2-5 ATS this year coming off an upset win.  Play on PORTLAND

AAA

This is a 10* on COLORADO

The Rockies are off to a fine 6-2 start. After a bit of a slow start at the plate, they’ve scored at least five runs in each of the last six games. Over the weekend, they took two of three from the Padres and are now in first place in the National League West. They’ve gotten quality starts the last two days as their starters shockingly lead MLB with a 2.00 ERA. On Monday they are hoping Chi Chi Gonzalez, who will be making his first start of 2020, keeps the trend going. He faces a Giants team that had been hitting the ball well prior to a 9-5 loss to Texas on Sunday. That snapped a two-game win streak for them. We still don’t trust San Francisco despite the respectable 5-5 start. Johnny Cueto wasn’t good against the Padres last week, lasting only 3 ⅔ while also giving up four runs, and we don’t expect him to pitch well at this tough venue Monday. The Rockies have won 56 of their last 76 games as a home favorite. Play on COLORADO

AAA

This is a 10* on VEGAS

Dallas and Vegas will be the last teams from the Western Conference to restart the season. They are part of the round robin qualifying as they finished in the top four prior to lockdown. Vegas was leading the Pacific with 86 points while Dallas was third in the Pacific with 81 points. The Stars were also ice cold before the season got shut down as they were on a six-game losing streak. So they’re a bit lucky to have made this round robin format. Winner here will tie Colorado, who defeated St. Louis yesterday. While Dallas gave up the fewest number of goals among teams out West, they also had difficulty scoring. During that six-game skid, they were shut out twice and never scored more than three goals in any of the games. Vegas averages 3.15 goals/game. While they’ll miss playing at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights are in good shape in the bubble at Edmonton as Robin Lehner will be in goal. Before shut down, Vegas had won 11 of 13 games overall and eight straight against foes with winning records. Play on VEGAS

AAA

This is an 8* on NEW ORLEANS

Two teams that are 0-2 since the restart will go at it Monday in Orlando. Memphis faces the more uphill climb here. They played yesterday. It was a 108-106 to the Spurs, a bit of a “double whammy” as that result allowed the Spurs to move within two games of the eighth place Grizzlies. Many thought the Pelicans were going to be the team to chase the Grizz down, but obviously they’re trending in a different direction. It’s a case of Zion Williamson not playing much and going against two good teams. The Pelicans blew a double digit loss vs. Utah, then were embarrassed by the Clippers. Still those are both top four teams in the Western Conference. The teams Memphis lost to are 9th and 10th. This is a must win for the Pelicans, who are 3.5 back of the Grizzlies. With Memphis just 24 hours removed from a tough 2-point loss, they’re in a tough spot. They also played an overtime game Friday. The Pelicans beat the Grizzlies both times they played in the regular season. Both wins were by double digits. The Pelicans have covered 13 of their last 16 vs. teams with winning records. Look for Williamson to be more of a factor today.This team was embarrassed Saturday and will want to make up for that. Play on NEW ORLEANS

AAA

This is a 10* on HOUSTON

Houston needed every bit of James Harden’s 49 points on Friday to overcome a terrible defensive effort in what ended up being a 153-149 overtime win over Dallas. The Rockets trailed by double digits entering the 4th Quarter, but were then able to hold the Mavericks to just 30 points over the final 17 minutes. The fact Houston played so poorly on the defensive end and had to overcome a late deficit should not bias you here though. While they’re facing Milwaukee, the Bucks won’t have guards Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton, so there is a depth issue. The Bucks looked good against Boston Friday, winning 119-112, though Giannis Antetounkmpo probably should have gotten ejected. Also the Bucks raced to a 17-2 lead out of the game, which was the difference in the game. Houston won’t shoot as poorly as the Celtics did (40.7%) and an offensive team like this getting points is a great opportunity. Play on HOUSTON

AAA

This is a 10* on TORONTO

It wasn’t a sure thing that Toronto would have made the playoffs under “normal circumstances.” But the Leafs were third in the Atlantic when play stopped and were three points clear of fourth place Florida. We imagine they would have gotten in. Columbus also had 81 points (same as Toronto) but was a more precarious fifth in the tougher Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets occupied what would have been the last Wild Card spot in the usual playoff format, though the Islanders were just one point back and had two games in hand. For this first game of the qualification round, the Leafs are favored (as they should be), which makes sense since the Eastern Conference “bubble” happens to be Toronto. But it’s more than just the venue. The Leafs scored 52 more goals than the Blue Jackets did. Both played 70 games. The flip side is Columbus gave up a lot fewer. But while the road team won both regular season meetings, the favorite remains on a 5-1 run in this head to head series. Toronto was actually a -153 favorite at Columbus early in the season. 10* on TORONTO

AAA

This is a 10* on the DODGERS

This series finale sees the Dodgers looking for its third win in four games and they’ve got Clayton Kershaw starting for the first time in 2020. Saturday’s game wasn’t competitive as the Dodgers homered four times en route to an 11-2 victory. There were three big innings and note the fact that last year’s MVP Corey Bellinger wasn’t even in the lineup. Kershaw is 16-10 with a 2.84 ERA in 33 starts vs. Arizona. He’s backed by a bullpen that has posted outstanding numbers thus far. Overall, the Dodgers are giving up the third least runs per game in the league right now while scoring the fifth most. Add it up and they’ve got the best run differential in all of baseball. As for Arizona, well, they are struggling. They are scoring the third fewest runs per game in baseball while giving up the eighth most. We wouldn’t look for Merrill Kelly to reprise the effort he gave in his first start of 2020 as that came against a Texas team that’s struggled to hit. Speaking of struggling to hit, the Diamondbacks could only manage five singles Saturday. They have not had more than eight hits in any game to date. Play on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is an 8* on BOSTON

So the top four teams in each conference will be engaging in round robin style play, similar to a “Group Stage” in the World Cup, to determine the order of seeding (1-4) in the Round of 16. The Bruins had the most points in the league (100) when play stopped in March and what’s crazy is that they were 0-7 in shootouts, so they probably should have even more. We like them in this first game against Philadelphia. The Flyers were a hot team when lockdown hit. From January 8th on, they were tied with the Bruins for the best record in the league. But goalie Carter Hart is new to the playoffs. Boston’s Tuukka Rask had the best goals against average in the league at 2.12. The Flyers are unproven and we’re skeptical if they can regain the form of the two months that preceded lockdown. It was a shorter time frame of dominance compared to Boston’s season-long dominance. Remember that it was the Bruins that ended the Flyers’ win streak on March 10th with a 2-0 victory. 8* on BOSTON

AAA

This is a 10* on OVER

We look for this fight to go longer than expected and possibly all the way to the cards. Vicente Luque aka “The Silent Assassin” has won seven of his last eight fights. Four of the last five have hit the third round including each of the previous three. May’s win over Niko Price saw the doctor step in and call the fight with just over one minute remaining. Before that, Luque’s two previous fights both went to decision. A win here would be the biggest of Brown’s career. It would also be a third straight win overall. Interestingly, none of his nine UFC fights have ended in Round 1. All we’re looking for here is to get past the midpoint of Rd 2 and that’s something that seems likely. 10* on OVER

AAA

This is an 8* on UNDER

The Giants are being rather coy with their starting pitching, often not naming the official starter until late in the day. Drew Smyly will end up getting the baseball on Saturday. He was okay in his first outing, only giving up a run in 3 ⅓ innings. Even more impressive is that the Giants won the game 3-1 as a +260 underdog against the Dodgers. What Smyly and the Giants are up against tonight isn’t nearly as formidable. Texas has scored 2 or fewer runs in all but one of its games. But don’t look for San Fran to score nine runs again as they did last night. They’ll face Jordan Lyles, who ended 2019 with an 8-0 TSR over his final eight starts. In addition, he threw two hitless innings of relief on Tuesday. 8* on UNDER

AAA

This is a 10* on the CUBS

The Cubs took care of business Friday night, beating the Pirates 6-3. The Cubs are now 5-2 on the young season while the Pirates are 2-5. We see no reason why things won’t go “according to script” this evening. Pittsburgh came into last night’s game hitting a MLB-low .171. Five of their seven hits came over the final two innings against what has admittedly been a shaky Cubs bullpen. Saturday starter Mitch Keller posted a 6.75 ERA in two starts vs. the Cubs last year. Despite winning his first start of 2020 (5-1 vs. St. Louis), Keller had more walks (3) than strikeouts (2). Tyler Chatwood looked a lot better in his first start for the Cubs as he not only went six innings, but only gave up one run. He had eight strikeouts vs. just one walk. Though he’s never beaten the Pirates, Chatwood has 19 strikeouts in 28 innings against them. 10* CHICAGO

AAA

This is an 8* on MONTREAL +1.5

Anything can happen in these best of five qualification series, including this one where Montreal meets Pittsburgh. We’re taking the Habs +1.5 on the puck line, meaning they can either win or lose by one goal and it’s still a winning bet. The one edge Montreal has in this series is in goal. Carey Price is better than whomever Pittsburgh goes with (either Tristan Jarry or Matt Murray). Jarry was having the better season, but Murray was more playoff tested. At the same time, Jarry seemed to be slumping before the season stopped as he was 0-4 and allowed 18 goals. Montreal played Pittsburgh three times this year, beat them once and another time took them to overtime. Also, after the All-Star Break, the Canadiens had the third most scoring chances in the league (per 60 mins) when at even strength. They are more than capable of “stealing” Game 1 on Saturday. 8* on MONTREAL +1.5

AAA

This is a 10* on OKC

The Jazz have already played once, a 106-104 come from behind win over the Pelicans. That preserved their status as the West’s 4th place team for the meantime but a lot can change over the next seven games as they are part of a five-team mess separated by just 3.5 games. Also in that group is Oklahoma City, who has not played yet. The Thunder are 2-0 ATS vs. the Jazz this year, part of an overall 39-24-1 mark at the betting window that is the league’s best. Most impressive of all is that the Thunder are 23-8 ATS on the road. Utah winning that game Thursday night should not make you forget that they trailed by as much as 16 points or that they are without second leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic, whose 41.4% three-point shooting will sorely be missed. 10* OKLAHOMA CITY

AAA

This is a 10* on the OVER

The Rockies started the season by taking two of three in Texas. They held the Rangers to a grand total of five runs in the three games and there was some chatter about whether or not that had something to do with the new ballpark in Arlington. But then the Rockies went to Oakland and won both games while allowing only four runs total. How much this pitching staff has actually improved remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain. We’re likely about to see a dramatic turn as the team plays at home for the first time in 2020. Coors Field is a “whole different ball game” as the Rockies allowed 6.7 runs/game here in 2019. On the bright side, they also scored 6.2, which led all of baseball. Their opponent this weekend is San Diego, a team that has opened 5-2 and scored 44 runs (leads league in those seven games. We don’t expect the Padres to slow down a bit offensively in this series,  Starters Jon Gray and Garrett Richards will not be able to contain the respective offenses here. 10* on OVER

AAA

This is an 8* on CWS

We like the White Sox chances quite a bit here. Pitching hasn’t been great so far, but Dallas Keuchel was the exception to that rule when he kept the Twins to two runs in 5+ innings. The Twins are obviously one of the league’s premier offensive teams. The Royals are not. So Keuchel should turn in a second straight good start for his new team. Kansas City played yesterday in Detroit (they won 5-3) while Chicago had off. Only eight games into the season, the Royals are sending a second starter out to make his big league debut. Brad Singer was the first (pitched yesterday) and that went well. But again, that was versus the Tigers. Kansas City hasn’t played a home game yet, but it’s not like they’ve been very good at Kauffman Stadium the last two years. Their record here is 62-99. Look for Keuchel to lead a talented White Sox team to victory tonight. 8* on CHICAGO

AAA

This is an 8* on ATLANTA

40% of the NL East has been “put on ice” due to COVID-19 concerns, however the Braves and Mets have each played their full complement of games. Atlanta is 4-3 while outscoring the opposition by a total of nine runs. The Mets are 3-4 and have been outscored by six runs. This weekend will be the second go-around for the division rivals as last weekend saw Atlanta take two of three in Citi Field. The lone loss was Opening Day and by a score of 1-0. So the Braves easily could have swept. The final game of that series saw them clobber Rick Porcello on their way to a 14-1 win. They again get to face Porcello tonight. Porcello was tagged for seven runs in just two innings last Sunday night and while he might not be that bad again here, we’ve got little reason to believe he’ll be GOOD. He’s now allowed six or more runs nine times since the beginning of last season. Atlanta is 2-0 at home having beaten the Rays 7-4 and 2-1 the last two days. Sean Newcomb will again oppose Porcello just like last Sunday. Newcomb wasn’t great last time, but didn’t have to be. He is 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA in two previous home starts against them. Atlanta has been better so far and Porcello is not to be trusted. 8* on ATLANTA

This is an 8* on CINCINNATI

This is the Reds chance at redemption after they shockingly dropped two of three to the Tigers last weekend. The series started out well enough with Cincy taking the first game 7-1. But the team wouldn’t win again until Wednesday when they beat the Cubs 12-7. The Reds are a team that came into the season with a lot of hype. The pitching staff did have 46 strikeouts in the three games vs. the Tigers. Even though this series is in Detroit, we like the Reds chances tonight. They had yesterday off due to a rainout while the Tigers played the Royals and lost 5-3. While the Reds made a pitching change today (originally was going to be Trevor Bauer), we’ve got no issue with Luis Castillo, who allowed just one run and struck out 11 Tigers last Saturday. Castillo was originally set to pitch yesterday before the rainout The Tigers were terrible last season, losing 110+ games. They are not to be trusted this year and this looks to be a really cheap price to go against a team that’s played seven straight days. Turnbull had four walks and lasted just five innings when he faced Bauer last weekend, so he was lucky to get a no-decision. No such luck this time against Castillo. 8* on CINCINNATI

AAA

This is a 10* on the OVER

The Wizards have just one goal over the next eight games. Finish within at least four games of either Brooklyn or Orlando and force a play-in scenario. Accomplishing that may be harder than it seems. They start 5.5 games back of the Magic and will be without their leading scorer Bradley Beal. Of the 22 teams invited to the bubble in Orlando, the Wizards are unequivocally the worst. They went 24-40 before the lockdown. Now Phoenix is in a similar boat to Washington as they are just 26-39 and face an even taller uphill climb to make the playoffs out West. Truthfully, neither of these teams come close to resembling a playoff-caliber club. What we expect Friday afternoon is a high-scoring affair between two teams that were defensively deficient all year. Though Washington is missing a lot of its offensive firepower, they are 2nd to last in defensive efficiency. Phoenix is gonna score plenty in this game, the question is can Washington? We believe so. In the last five games before lockdown, the Suns gave up an average of 121.4 points/game. These teams played one time during the year and it was a 140-132 final (won by Washington). This number has been bet way down, giving up some good value. 10* on OVER

AAA

This is a 10* on the DODGERS

While it doesn’t make up for losing the 2017 World Series, it sure had to feel good for the Dodgers to take both games against Houston this week. Last night’s game went 13 innings, with LA winning 4-2. The Dodgers are the best team in baseball in our estimation and should continue to roll tonight in Arizona where they’ll face the division rival Diamondbacks. Arizona has yet to score more than four runs in any game. That’s a problem period, but especially when up against arguably the strongest lineup in MLB. Don’t expect things to change for the D’backs today against Ross Stripling. Stripling gave up one run in seven innings his first start, a 9-1 win over the Giants. While this is Arizona’s first home game, that’s not enough to overcome a much better ballclub. They’re going with Robbie Ray, who actually has good career numbers vs. LA but he didn’t look all that impressive last week. Ray lasted only 3 ⅔ innings and walked three batters in a game Arizona lost 5-1. 10* on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is a 10* on the OVER

The Jazz and Pelicans will be the first official game of the NBA’s restart, which takes place in the “bubble” of Orlando, FL. New Orleans seems to have been given a pretty manageable 8-game schedule, making it a possibility they could slip into the playoffs as an 8-seed in the West. Utah is in much better shape (they’re in 4th) and is just hoping for the best possible first round matchup. So much of tonight’s focus is on the Pelicans’ Zion Williamson tonight and whether or not he plays. As of this writing, he’s being called a “game-time decision.” While it would obviously hurt New Orleans if Williamson didn’t take the court, we think they will still find ways to score. Note that the Pelicans scored at least 120 points against the Jazz in all three meetings this year and none of those were with Williamson. Unfortunately, they also gave up an average of almost 130 points in those three contests, all of which went Over. New Orleans was allowing 117.0 points/game this year, which is the most of any team still playing. 10* on the OVER

AAA

This is an 8* on SAN DIEGO

San Diego is off to fast start as they are now 4-1 after beating San Francisco 5-3 on Tuesday. With Chad Paddack starting tonight’s game, it would seem likely that the Padres are going to move to 5-1. Paddack tossed six shutout innings last Friday and held the Diamondbacks to just four hits. The Padres won 7-2. Paddack got off to a hot start last year, posting 1.91 ERA in March & April. He also had a 2.65 ERA in three starts vs. SF across the entire 2019 season. The Giants weren’t going to be a good team this year regardless, but their curious management of the pitching staff all but ensures they’ll finish way off the pace in the NL West. Starters aren’t going beyond the 6th inning, which becomes an issue when your bullpen has an ERA of 4.15 already. Granted that’s just five games, but no one expects the Giants’ pen to be anything special this year. Same as last year, the Giants are awful offensively as they are batting just .217 as a team so far. Johnny Cueto starts tonight and he’s getting up there in years. He went just four innings in his first start. 8* on SAN DIEGO

AAA

This is an 8* on MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee seemed well on its way to a second straight win in Pittsburgh last night. They led 6-2 going into the bottom of the 7th, but then the “script was flipped” on them from the previous night when they rallied back from four runs down to win. The Pirates tied it up in the bottom of the seventh and then Adam Frazier’s two run blast in the 8th proved to be the difference maker. Both teams are 2-3 coming into tonight where the Brewers are again favored and for good reason. Both teams are going for their first series win and will turn to their respective Opening Day starters. But whereas Milwaukee has yet to lose two in a row, Pittsburgh hasn’t won two in a row this season. Woodruff seems like a solid bet for Milwaukee after he gave up just two runs in his first start. We have much more concern over Musgrove for Pittsburgh as he allowed a pair of home runs on Opening Day. Musgrove also has a 6.46 ERA in four career starts vs. the Brewers. 8* on MILWAUKEE

AAA

This is a 10* on WASHINGTON

This series was originally set to take place in Toronto, but when COVID-19 made that an impossibility the series was moved to D.C. Homefield didn’t help the Nationals last night, who fell to 1-4 with a 5-1 loss. The Blue Jays scored three unearned runs Tuesday night, which was a big part of the difference. But tonight Washington has Max Scherzer starting and that should ensure the World Series champs get back on track. Obviously the current situation has to be a huge distraction for the Jays as they are still working on setting up a “permanent” home in Buffalo (where their “home games” will be played this year). Scherzer did struggle on Opening Night vs. the Yankees, though he did have 11 strikeouts. Expect him to settle down and pitch even better on Wednesday. In addition to having a 2.99 career ERA here at Nationals Park, Scherzer also boasts a 2.24 ERA in nine starts vs. Toronto. The fact that Toronto is the designated “home team” for the next two days obviously means next to nothing. Tonight’s starter Nate Pearson is a touted prospect, but won’t be enough to get the job done. 10* on WASHINGTON

AAA

This is a 10* on OVER 

The Rockies didn’t do a ton of scoring in Texas during the 1st series of the young season. In fact, all three games stayed Under as they managed just eight runs total. But the bigger story was their pitching, which held the Rangers to only five runs. As a result, Colorado won two of the three games. That was a new stadium the Rockies were playing in and it remains to be seen if they can keep up that level of pitching prowess as they move to Oakland Tuesday. The A’s posted a 3-0 shutout here yesterday, making it a 3-1 start for them. The A’s bullpen was really good against the Angels, but may not be able to keep that up vs. a NL team playing with a DH. Daniel Mengden had a 4.94 ERA at home last year and only one of the five starts was a quality one. Colorado starter Senzatela may have bigger problems as his ERA was 7.29 away from home in 2019. We “smell” an Over here as neither pitching staff is likely to perform as well as they did over the weekend. 10* on OVER

AAA

This is an 8* on the DODGERS

What many would consider a potential World Series matchup goes down Tuesday in Houston as the Astros host the Dodgers. It says a lot that the road team is favored so definitively in this spot. While the Dodgers shockingly split their four-game series with the Giants (lost the last two days), they are the consensus best team for 2020. Houston had quite the offseason with the franchise’s reputation forever tainted due to the cheating scandal. Despite this, they’ve opened 3-1. But that was against the Mariners. It’s a big jump in class for them here (as it is for the Dodgers). For Tuesday’s opener, the starting pitching matchup decidedly favors the Dodgers. They go with Walker Buehler who had 215 strikeouts in 182 innings last year. Buehler allowed 1 or 0 runs 16 times in 2019. For the Astros, Framber Valdez is someone with a 5.25 ERA in 13 starts. The Astros starting rotation is simply not as strong as it's been in past years and that’s an issue facing a Dodgers lineup that is as strong as any in the league. It won’t make up for the 2017 World Series, but LA wins here. Play on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is a 10* on MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee may very well have “broken” Pittsburgh’s spirit with a four-run rally in the ninth Monday. The road team would go on to win 6-5 in 11 innings and for a Pirates team that’s not very good, that result is likely to be a “backbreaker.” It was somewhat remarkable that the Pirates went into the 9th with a 5-1 lead as they’d collected only four hits the entire game. So maybe what happened late was a case of “just desserts.” Regardless of WHY it happened, the rally last night by the Brewers is likely to carry over to this game. The Pirates pitching staff is in rough shape as Derek Holland (8.10 ERA last year for the Giants) gets the start. The bullpen struggles were on full display last night as closer Keone Kela is out because of COVID-19 concerns. Josh Lindblom gets the start for the Brewers after spending the last two years pitching in Korea where he was that league’s best pitcher. Yesterday was the Bucs chance to “steal” one and they failed. Their offense has been unable to score more than five runs in any game so far. 10* on MILWAUKEE

AAA

This is a 10* on SAN JOSE

Group stage is complete in the MLS is Back Tournament leaving 16 teams in a traditional tournament-style play to determine the 2020 Cup Champion. San Jose won Group B thanks to two wins and a draw. They kept two clean sheets in the Group Stage, one of them a scoreless draw against last year’s champ Seattle in the opener. Since then the Earthquakes have found the back of the net a total of six times, an impressive number for sure. In all three Group stage matches, the Quakes had more scoring opportunities than their opponents and they did an excellent job at dictating the play. Real Salt Lake is a “Wild Card” qualifier out of Group D, meaning they finished third. They were 1-1-1 and scored only two goals the entire Group stage. On the bright side, they only allowed two goals. But the loss of Albert Rusnak has clearly hurt them in terms of creating scoring opportunities. We’re a little shocked at this line and are backing SJ all the way! 10* on SAN JOSE

This is a 10* on DETROIT

Taking Detroit, you ask? The Tigers put forth one of the more hideous seasons in recent memory last year, however, they are 2-1 so far in 2020. Furthermore, the team they took two of three from was the heavily hyped Reds and they did so on the road. Now the Tigers actually find themselves favored to win a game, something that was only the case 26 times in all of ‘19. The key is that they are facing the Royals at home. Kansas City is also a team you shouldn’t expect much from in this abbreviated 60-game season. They lost two of three at Cleveland in their first series and scored only five runs in the three games. Monday’s starter for the Royals will be Mike Montgomery and he allowed two home runs in his final exhibition outing, which isn’t a good sign. The Tigers are going with an opener for their home opener and it will be Michael Fulmer, who has not pitched in a major league game since 2018 due to undergoing Tommy John surgery. Fulmer was AL Rookie of the Year back in 2016 though and it speaks volumes that he and the Tigers are favored in this spot. 10* DETROIT

AAA

This is an 8* play on TEXAS

This is Corey Kluber’s debut outing for the Rangers and we anticipate it will go well. While the Rangers did lose yesterday, their first loss in their new home ballpark, it was a close affair (3-2) that saw them actually outhit the Rockies. There hasn’t been much offense so far in this series as Texas took the first game 1-0. Kluber keeping Colorado in check should not prove difficult as this is a lineup that hit just .230 on the road last season, which was the worst average in all of the majors. Kluber has something to prove here in his first start in almost 15 months. It was only a couple seasons ago that he was regarded among the best pitchers in all of baseball. Colorado’s Kyle Freeland was pretty lousy last year as his 3-11 record will tell you. The Rockies have just nine hits so far. Texas stranded 12 runners in Saturday’s game including multiple in four consecutive innings. 8* on TEXAS

AAA

This is an 8* on ST LOUIS

We had the Cardinals yesterday (our Game of the Week!) and are going back to that well again Sunday. The Pirates aren’t going to be very good in Derek Shelton’s first season on the bench. Even with the DH, their lineup hasn’t managed much in the first two games. They had three hits yesterday and scored only one run. Remember that the Bucs are beginning 2020 with a somewhat depleted lineup. They’ve had little luck beating St. Louis these last couple seasons. They’re just 13-26 against the Redbirds since 2018 including 5-15 the last 20 games. Keller, their top pitching prospect, will start Sunday. St. Louis has never faced him but we expect another strong effort at the plate from the home team. Keller was just 1-5 with an ERA above 7.00 in 2019. He’s being opposed by Dakota Hudson, a pitcher that has won five straight starts against division opponents. Hudson also won 16 games last year. 8* ST LOUIS

AAA

This is an 8* on HOUSTON -1.5

Seattle is clearly no match for Houston as they’ve lost the first two games of the series by scores of 8-2 and 7-2. They are now a pathetic 1-19 against the Astros going back to last season. We cashed the Under in yesterday’s Astros romp. Here we will play the ‘Stros, but since that obviously comes at a high price we’re playing the run line of -1.5. We don’t see any reason why Houston shouldn’t win this game by at least two runs as they send Greinke to the hill Sunday. In 14 career appearances vs. Seattle, Greinke is 7-1 with a 1.85 ERA. Believe it or not, he faced them just one time last year. But it was a dominant start which saw him give up just two hits in 8+ innings. Kikuchi would have to pitch out of his mind for the M’s to even have a chance today. That’s probably not going to happen seeing as he faces a lineup that has scored 15 times in two games. Kikuchi’s numbers were not good last season (5.46 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) and he only had 12 quality starts in 32 tries. Easy money here. 8* HOUSTON -1.5

AAA

This is a 7* on OLIVEIRA

These two Welterweights come to “Fight Island” at the crossroads of their respective careers. Oliveira had a poor 2019 by losing a couple decisions. “Cowboy” had actually lost three straight fights when he stepped back into the Octagon in March. But he won a split decision over Max Smith, seemingly giving him new life. The win over Smith improved his career record to 21-8-1, so take away that three-fight losing streak and it’s been a solid run. Sobotta has been far more embattled as he’s never really proven himself on this kind of stage. He was signed by the UFC mainly because he’s German and that was a country the company wanted to expand into. After turning in a decent effort in a loss to Leon Edwards in March of ‘18, Sobotta has been inactive due to injuries. Coming into this fight off a two-plus year layoff is difficult and a 17-6-1 career record against not that strong of competition is hardly inspiring either. We don’t see Sobotta as being strong enough to stay in this thing for 15 minutes. 7* on Oliveira

AAA

This is an 8* on TRINALDO

We’re going with Trinaldo in this fight as it comes down to a massive edge in experience inside the Octagon compared to his opponent. Herbert is making his UFC debut Saturday night. Trinaldo has 22 fights for UFC. He’s coming off a win in March against Makdessi, which was the second straight victory for the Brazillian. Both were by decision by Trinaldo can certainly finish. He’s won 13 of his fights by either KO/TKO or submission. Meanwhile, he’s never been knocked out in his career and only three times has he ever submitted. Herbert last fought in October so there could be some “rust,” hardly an ideal scenario to be making your UFC debut. The likely result here is Trinaldo by decision but he very well could end the fight early. Either way, look for him to get his hand raised on “Fight Island” this Saturday. 8* on TRINALDO

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This is a 10* on the UNDER

With no fans in attendance, the Astros don’t have to worry about being booed out of stadiums. Not that such a thing would have transpired yesterday. They were at home and beat the Seattle Mariners as expected, 8-2. The Astros went 18-1 against the Mariners this year so they’re expecting to sweep this first start of the season. Of course, they’ll be priced accordingly. So look at the total instead. Seattle has scored two or fewer runs 8 of the last 10 meetings with the ‘Stros. We can see that trend continuing here. Both runs yesterday came on solo home runs. On the other hand, Houston’s five-run inning that propelled them to victory last night likely won’t be replicated here. Lance McCullers will likely shut down the weak Mariners lineup while Seattle starter Taijuan Walker should pitch okay. Another issue for the Mariners last night was a sloppy defense. Assuming they clean up the fielding, the Astros won’t be getting as many chances at the plate.The Under is 13-5 the past 18 times when Seattle’s opponent scored 5 or more in its last game. 10* UNDER SEATTLE/HOUSTON

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This is a 7* on PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia was one of the few favorites on the board that lost last night. We don’t see them losing again to the Marlins and thus are playing accordingly. A 1-1 game turned into a 5-1 Marlins’ advantage thanks to one big inning last night. However let us not forget how horrible Miami has been on the road these last few seasons (53-109 record!). Five Phillies hitters, including Bryce Harper, combined to go 0 for 19 at the plate last night. That won’t be happening again. There was some debate over whether Zach Wheeler would be able to make his scheduled start for the Phillies. He will and figures to pitch well considering his 7-3 career record vs. Miami that comes with a 1.91 ERA. Wheeler should also be inspired by the fact that his wife just gave birth (which is why there was some debate if he would make this start). Chris Smith pitched okay down the stretch last year for the Marlins, but we just don’t see this team winning two days in a row on the road. 7* on PHILADELPHIA

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This is a 10* on ST. LOUIS

While the NL Central is definitely “up for grabs,” the Pirates still figure to finish in last place this year. St. Louis had the Bucs number last year, taking 14 of 19 overall and they are 25-13 against them the last two years. They opened the 2020 season with a 5-4 win, never trailing in the process. Three Pittsburgh players testing positive for COVID-19 and two more being out for the season due to injuries doesn’t help the cause. St. Louis’ starter for Saturday (Wainwright) has faced the Pirates many times in his career. He faced them five times last year and the Cards won four of those games, the only loss coming by a score of 2-1. Wainwright also had much better numbers at Busch Stadium compared to the road in 2019. Trevor Williams starts for Pittsburgh. Last year he went 7-9 and finished with a 5.44 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. Those are not good numbers, we don’t expect him to pitch well in this spot and you should definitely back the home team in this one. 10* on ST LOUIS

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PICK IS FOR TOMORROW'S GAME

pick is for TOMORROW'S GAME

This is a 10* on MINNESOTA

Seems to be a lot of fanfare surrounding the White Sox coming into the season. But we’re not yet ready to put them in the same class as the two top teams in the division. The Twins are the favorites to win the AL Central this year, as they should be, based on last year’s results. Minnesota was 13-6 vs. Chicago in 2019 and 12-7 head to head the season prior. Friday starter Lucas Giolito was strong for the White Sox last year, but he did have one terrible start against the Twins where he gave up four home runs and seven runs total. If that’s not rough enough, Minnesota’s offense should be even more productive this year. Josh Donaldson is now part of a lineup that set the single season home run mark a year ago. How about Jose Berrios? The Twins starter for Friday pitched quite well in 2019 including FOUR wins over the White Sox in five tries. The Twins are 37-15 their last 52 games as a road favorite, so watch the line. They are also 60-27 their last 87 division games.  10* on MINNESOTA

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This is an 8* on TORONTO +1.5

Now that the playoff field has been expanded to 16 teams, Toronto certainly has a fighting chance. There’s a fairly clear delineation of “haves” and “have nots” within the American League. The Blue Jays were really the only team considered “in between.” Realistically they had little chance of making the playoffs under the normal format (five teams per league). Now with eight, they’ve got a shot. Also in the AL East, Tampa Bay has high hopes for 2020. They believe they can compete with the Yankees. There seems to be a lot of hype going around and thus we believe the Rays enter this first series of the year slightly overvalued. We’ll back Toronto at +1.5, using the run line. All Star outfield Austin Meadows, who last year led the team in both on base percentage and home runs against right-handed pitching, has the coronavirus. Lefty reliever Poche is also expected to miss the 2020 season. We like Ryu starting in Toronto. In case you forgot, he had the lowest ERA in the National League last season (2.32). He's a quality addition. Don’t let the current nomadic nature (no home stadium) of the Blue Jays fool you. They’re a great value Friday. 8* Toronto +1.5

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This is a a 10* on GASTELLUM

This is a middleweight bout (185 pounds) scheduled for this Saturday’s Fight Night 175 card in Abu Dhabi. It’s the semi-main (event), so it’s a big deal for both fighters, both of whom are coming off losses. Gastellum was actually 0-2 in 2019, losing a “Fight of the Year” caliber bout to current MW Champ Adesanya followed by a loss to Darren Till at UFC 244 in November. Both fights were decided by the judges with the Till fight resulting in a split verdict. Hermansson saw a four-fight win streak come to an end last September when he was TKO’d in the second round by Jared Cannonier. He was supposed to fight former 185 pound titleholder Chris Weidman on May 2nd, but that was scrapped due to COVID-19. This will mark the first time in his career that Gastellum comes in on a losing streak, so look for him to come out as the more aggressive fighter. He’s better on the ground than Hermansson. He’s also never been KO’d in his career, an impressive line on the resume. The back to back losses are of little concern considering the caliber of opponents that he was facing. 10* on GASTELLUM

This is an 8* on DIAKIESE

A three-round bout at lightweight (155 pounds) goes down at UFC Fight Night 175 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi. We’re backing the favorite Diakiese, who comes in with a 14-3 record after defeating Lando Vannata last September by unanimous decision. Something that is crystal clear (upon review of the statistics) is that Diakiese’s takedown game is far better than Fiziev’s. Diakiese averages roughly 2.5 takedowns per 15 minutes while Fiziev averages less than a single takedown (0.91) per fight. Fiziev is 7-1 after defeating Alex White last September, also a unanimous decision. But his issue remains taking far too much punishment. We believe Diakiese is going to be able to take Fiziev down with regularity here in this fight and that’s likely enough to earn him a victory on the scorecards. 8* on DIAKIESE

This is a 10* on GORDON

The UFC’s run at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi continues with Fight Night 172 on Wednesday, July 15th. The entire fight card can be viewed on ESPN+ with this particular matchup taking place on the “main show.” It’s a featherweight bout (145 lbs), scheduled for three rounds, between Jared Gordon (15-4-1) and Chris Fishgold (18-3-1). Our money is on the former as despite a 3-3 record in his previous six fights, Gordon is someone known for landing lots of strikes. While he was KO’d in his last fight (November 2019 by Charles Oliveira), Fishgold is a far better matchup here for Gordon, who will have the striking advantage and has adequate takedown defense. Fishgold has dropped two of three fights since coming to the UFC and it’s thought his future with the promotion will be in jeopardy with yet another loss. Unlike Gordon, Fishgold prefers to take the fight to the ground. Unfortunately for him, we don’t see that happening here. The fact Fishgold has been stopped twice doesn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence on his end. 10* on GORDON

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10* on LAFC

The MLS season was just two weeks old when lockdown happened. Now the league is back with an interesting format that is similar to the World Cup. The 25-team league has been broken down into six four-team groups (FC Dallas not competing) with the top two from each (as well as the next four highest ranked teams) advancing to the knockout stage in what is being called the “MLS is Back” Tournament.The entire event takes place in Orlando. It’s round robin play within each group and here we’ve got a Group F matchup between LAFC and the Houston Dynamo. LAFC had a win and a draw to its credit prior to the lockdown while Houston had a draw and a loss. LAFC is considered the favorite to win this entire tournament even with star Carlos Vela staying home to be with his pregnant wife. They are coming off a record-setting 2019 in which they won the MLS’ “Supporters Shield” with 72 points. Now it's about redemption after last year’s playoff failure. We like them to open group play with a ‘W’ as Houston simply lacks the talent to compete with the top teams in MLS. The Dynamo have missed the playoffs in six of the last seven MLS seasons and are simply overmatched in this one. While it was four months ago, a 4-0 loss to Sporting KC in their last match was an ugly sign. 10* on LAFC.

This is an 8* on SANTOS

UFC 251 will be the first of four consecutive fight cards to emanate from “Fight Island” (in Abu Dhabi) in the month of July. For the pay per view event, we’ve decided to focus on an undercard bout that takes place at 155 pounds (lightweight). You will actually be able to watch this fight on ESPN as it is part of the prelims. It puts the undefeated Russian (Bogatov) against the veteran Santos. Despite the former’s perfect 10-0 career mark, he checks in as the decided underdog for this fight. That’s not all that surprising seeing as this will be his UFC debut and thus this fight is a tremendous step up in class from what Bogatov has dealt with in the past. Meanwhile this will be Santos’ 8th UFC fight and so far he’s gone 6-0-1. In fact, going back to 2010, Santos owns a 12-0-1 record in all fights with seven of the wins coming by either submission or knockout. Santos is a pure striker and will look to keep this fight standing while Bogatov is more of a submission expert and will want to get things to the ground. We believe Santos will avoid getting taken down. In his last fight, he outstruck his opponent 12-2 and ended it in only 2:17. It probably won’t be that quick this time around and he may not even be able to finish Bogatov. But look for Santos to get his hand raised.  8* on SANTOS

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This is a 10* on WATFORD

Watford is still looking to avoid relegation. Right now they’re only three points clear of Bournemouth, who played to a scoreless draw (thus getting a point) with Tottenham earlier in the week. It was Tuesday that a spectacular bicycle kick from the foot of Danny Welbeck lifted Watford to a 2-1 decision over Norwich City. Now they go for two in a row, something they have not done since January 1st. Tuesday’s win was actually their first since the return from lockdown. But we like their odds against a Newcastle side whose general interest can certainly be called into question right night after taking an ugly 5-0 loss against Man City earlier this week. That was the second time being held scoreless in the last four matches and they’ve got just one win during that same span. With this being the easiest of Watford’s remaining fixtures, they badly need a win in order to avoid falling into the bottom three of the table. 10* on WATFORD

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This is a 10* on Inter Milan

The top four in the Serie A table are pretty well set. Internazionale is fortunate enough to say they are included in that group as they currently stand third but they’ll be looking for a little redemption on the pitch here after losing 2-1 to Bologna last Sunday. Luckily for Inter Milan, the top two teams in the league also just both suffered surprise upsets. The hopes of catching Juventus for the top spot seem dim, however, the four point gap that exists between Inter Milan and Lazio is certainly attainable. Gaining the maximum number of points here, at the expense of Verona, doesn’t exactly seem like a tall order either. After all, Verona has won just once in its previous four matches. Results for them have been rather pedestrian throughout the campaign and they’ve been held without a goal twice in those last four while also routinely fading in the back half down the stretch. Last week’s 2-0 loss to Brescia may have been the breaking point. On the other hand, off their own loss last week, Internazionale should come out inspired on Thursday. 10* on Internazionale 

This is an 8* on TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Despite keeping a clean sheet for the second time in three matches, Tottenham’s form since the lockdown ended just hasn’t been good enough to make any ground up in the chase for Champions League qualifying. They currently sit 8th in the table, meaning they’d need to make up an 11 point difference and pass four clubs. It’s obviously not looking good in that regard but Thursday’s tussle against Bournemouth certainly looks promising. Bournemouth is inching dangerously close to relegation as they are tied with Aston Villa for second to last in the table. A win is something they desperately need right now, but even with one they wouldn’t be safe. Victory is something this side has tasted only seven times this entire campaign and the last one came all the way back on Feb 1st. Since that time, it’s been seven defeats and one draw. They’re 0 for 4 since lockdown ended, having been kept scoreless in the first two and then giving up nine goals in the last two. Bournemouth is clearly a side you want to be fading whenever you get the chance. This is a really cheap price on Hotspur! 8* on TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

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This is a 10* on BARCELONA

Barca played to yet another draw (2-2 against Atletico Madrid) on Monday. That was the third draw in six matches since returning from the lockdown. "It's a real shame and the league title is looking much harder for us with each game," said Barca coach Quique Setien. That said, Barcelona is still only one point behind Real Madrid, though the table leaders do have a match that’ll take prior to this one, that being Thursday vs. Getafe. It was quite the strange draw for the Catalans Monday as there were three goals converted from the penalty spot while there was also an own goal. This came on the heels of Barca twice throwing away the lead in a 2-2 finish vs. Celta Vigo last week. Our expectation is that the side will come into this one very focused and ready to roll. Villareal has not lost since La Liga resumed (4W 1D), but has been beaten 11 times during the campaign. Two of the clean sheet victories came against teams at the bottom of the table. We love Barcelona in this one. 10* BARCELONA

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This is a 10* on the OVER

Realistically, Man City was not going to catch Liverpool for the top spot in the Premier League. But last Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea (where we hit the Over 2.5) ensured this Thursday’s matchup would be rendered rather meaningless. Liverpool has now clinched its first outright title in 30 years. Man City is going to finish second. As we said in our analysis for the battle with Chelsea, Man City was bound to concede a goal or two after keeping FOUR consecutive clean sheets against lesser foes. Not surprising is that these are - by far - the two highest scoring teams in the EPL. Expecting a good number of goals here seems like a formality. In City’s last 15 competitions, they’ve scored in all but three. Liverpool has notched a goal in 11 of its last 15 matches including four times the last time out. Similar to what happened to Man City last week, Liverpool's streak of two straight clean sheets since the return from lockdown is due to end. These sides have a history of going Over including a 3-1 result the last time they met. 10* on the OVER.

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This is an 8* on CHELSEA

Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Man City (where we cashed the Over) last Thursday had a “ripple effect” throughout the Premier League. The result not only gave Liverpool its first EPL title in three decades, it also ensured that the Blues would preserve a top four spot in the table. Chelsea is unbeaten since returning from lockdown (2-0) and flashing some fine form with five consecutive wins across all competitions. While still only two points clear of fifth place Wolverhampton, Chelsea could find itself third in the table with a win today. We like their chances against a side at the opposite end of the table. West Ham is in serious danger of relegation as they’ve won just one time in the last six matches. The Hammers are currently in a three-way tie for second-to-last in the table and it’s pretty difficult seeing them coming out on top here. Since returning, they’ve been kept scoreless in two matches and you would have to go back to February to find the last time this side found the back of the net. 8* on CHELSEA

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This is a 10* on Wolverhampton

Having delivered a pair of clean sheets (2-0 over West Ham and 1-0 over Bournemouth) since lockdown ended, the Wolvers are currently 6th in the table (technically tied for 5th) with 49 points on the campaign. If Chelsea fails to gain any points from Thursday’s match with Man City (result incomplete as of press time), which is a definite possibility, then the Wolves will find themselves having a chance to leap all the way up to 4th by the end of the day. Being on the cusp of qualification certainly should have them properly motivated for what looks to be another easy matchup. Incredibly, this will be the third consecutive matchup where the Wolves face a club in danger of relegation. Aston Villa is currently tied with the Wolves’ two previous opponents (each at 27 points), only ahead of Norwich. Since returning to the pitch two weeks ago, Aston Villa has authored two draws and a loss to Chelsea. But this is a side that’s tasted victory only seven times in the current campaign, the last coming back on Jan 21st. They’ve scored just twice in three matches played since lockdown ended with one of those coming late against Newcastle to earn the draw. This should be an EASY one for the favorites. 10* Wolverhampton

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This is a 10* on OVER Man City-Chelsea

This top four battle Thursday night at Stamford Bridge features a pair of sides that have been flawless since the lockdown ended. Host Chelsea was victorious over Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday as they are now without a loss in four straight Premier League matches. They are 4th in the table (51 pts), but just two points clear of 6th. So it is imperative they continue the recent trend of winning. Unfortunately Man City is paying a visit and the Reds are not only 2nd in the table (63 pts) but coming off a commanding 5-0 effort Monday against Burnley. Though they have zero chance of catching Liverpool for the top spot, Man City’s two showings since EPL play resumed showed they aren’t about to “phone it in” here. In addition to the clean sheet Monday, they also beat Arsenal 3-0 last Wednesday. Now 20-3-7 on the campaign, they’ve kept FOUR consecutive clean sheets going back to pre-lockdown. But don’t be surprised if they concede a goal Thursday. Chelsea has scored at least two goals in four straight EPL matches. At the same time, Man City is the highest scoring away team in the league. 10* OVER

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This is a 10* on Real Madrid

Real Madrid kept alive its hopes for finishing atop the La Liga standings with a convincing 3-0 win over Valencia Thursday night. As of press time, Barcelona’s fixture with Sevilla FC is not complete, but when this Sunday match kicks off, Madrid is guaranteed to be no more than five points back of 1st place. It was a strong second half showing at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium Thursday night as all three goals were scored after halftime. The quick turnaround Los Blancos are facing here doesn’t bother us in the slightest as they are in fine form plus you have their opponents facing the same turnaround. Real Sociedad is off a 2-0 loss to Alaves, a somewhat crushing blow to their hopes of finishing in the top four. Real Madrid has put together the best away record in the league this year, picking up 25 points in 14 total matches while netting 22 goals, which is the most of any club. They’ve won both matches since La Liga play resumed. Real Sociedad coming off a draw and a loss doesn’t inspire much confidence in their side.  10* REAL MADRID

This is an 8* on VFL Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg currently sits 6th in the table. However, their push to even qualify for the Europa League remains very much in doubt due to some recent poor form (WLWLWDL). As you can see, they’ve won only one time in the past four matches. They are off a “bad” draw vs. SC Freiburg followed by a somewhat miserable showing vs Borussia Monchengladbach where they were soundly beaten by a score of 3-0. Sloppy play doomed them in that poor mid-week effort, but it’s not as if Wolfsburg didn’t have their own scoring opportunities. It’s just that they ended up flying either wide or high over the crossbar. With no chance of finishing in the top five of the table, a win on Saturday is a MUST for Wolfsburg to preserve their chances of Europa League qualifying. Fortunately they are drawing FC Schalke, whose chances of qualifying are long gone and their recent form has been ever poorer. Schalke has not tasted victory inside of 90 minutes going back to January 17th! Their last six matches have produced four losses and two draws. Their nine total winsis tied for the 4th fewest in the entire Bundesliga and the club could finish 14th for a second straight campaign. A “must” win here for Wolfsburg and we think they get the job done. 8* VFL Wolfsburg

This is an 8* on HARRIS

This will be an emotional fight for Harris, who is returning to the Octagon for the 1st time since his stepdaughter tragically passed away last November. That situation (rightfully) resulted in Harris pulling out of a scheduled bout with Overeem on Deember 7th. Overeem still fought that day and looked to be on his way to victory before getting KO'd with four seconds to go. Overeem has now lost three of his previous five fights. Meanwhile, Harris is unbeaten over his last four fights and has been incredibly impressive in the last two, winning Performance of the Night bonuses both times. Considering the emotion involved, we can't help but side with Harris, whose two wins last year both came by first round knockout. 

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This is an 8* on Jotko

This middleweight bout pits two fighters that were once on three-fight losing streaks, but have since bounced back with two straight wins. Eryk Anders stopped Vinicius Moreira last June to improve to 13-4 in his MMA career and he's KO'd 2/3 of his UFC opposition. Krzysztof Jotko may not posses the "stopping power" of his opponent (65% of wins have come via decision), but he's 21-4 overall and looked impressive in defeating Alen Amedovski and Marc-Andre Barriault in 2019. This is a fighter that went 19-1 over his first 20 pro fights. The keys for Jotko are experience and ground game. Anders simply has never demonstrated any kind of comfort level on the ground. Don't be surprised if that's where the majority of this fight takes place. That favors Jotko, who gets our nod of approval.

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This is a 6* on Yadong

Two top ranked featherweights meet here with Song Yadong (15-1-1) meeting Marlon Vera (15-5-1). Yadong has yet to taste defeat since coming to the UFC (4-0-1 record) while Vera is on a five-fight win streak himself. But prior to that win streak, Vera had been just a .500 fighter inside the Octagon with a 4-4 WL record. Yadong had to settle for a draw against Cody Stamann back in December, which ended his own seven fight win streak. Five of those saw him finish the opposition. Three of those five finishes came in the first round! Yadong is an exciting fighter that can't be ignored right now. He's our call to get his hand raised Saturday.

AAA

This is an 8* on Anthony Smith

The headliner for Wednesday’s UFC card in Jacksonville, Florida is a light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith (32-14) and Glover Teixeira (30-7). Teixeira did go 3-0 in 2019, two of the wins coming by submission. But we’re siding with his opponent in this five-round affair between two veterans of the sport. Smith has won four of his last five bouts and last July saw him prevail by rear naked choke over Alexander Gustafsson. Just like Teixeira, he’s known as a finisher. He’s also knocked out Rashad Evans and “Shogun” Rua, two former champions of this division. Smith is nine years younger and Teixiera can’t hold off father time forever. Smith has won as an underdog several times in the past. As a favorite here, look for him to emerge victorious. This fight was originally going to take place last month before the sports world was turned upside down. It’ll be worth the wait for Smith. 

This is a 10* on Ovince Saint Preux

Neither of these two veterans head into Wednesday in what you’d call “fine form.” The 38-year old Ben Rothwell (37-12) has dropped three of his previous four fights. Ovince St. Preux (24-13) is moving up a weight class after going just 2-2 his last four fights. Both are off a win though with Rothwell KO’ing Stefan Struve in December while St. Preux choked out Michael Oleksiejczuk back in September. Even with Rothwell having a significant weight advantage here, we like St. Preux to deliver in his move up to the heavyweight division. Rothwell has a nasty habit of absorbing far too much punishment, getting hit twice more than he delivers on significant strikes. Additionally, St Preux is the more skilled grappler and should be able to take Rothwell down with great regularity, even facing a weight disadvantage.

AAA

The pick is on Greg Hardy

Hardy is off a loss, but it was a fight he took on short notice against Top 10 heavyweight Alexander Volkov and it went the distance. We're not about to dock Hardy for that result. His oppponent this time around will be Yorgan De Castro, who is 6-0 with five knockouts. But the level of competition has hardly been stellar. Only one of De Castro's fights has been under the UFC banner and it October's lucky KO of Justin Tafa. De Castro was on the proverbial ropes in that one before landing one big punch. Normally De Castro is larger than his opponent. Won't be the case here. Hardy is a decent sized favorite for a reason.

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This is a 10* play on KEVIN LEE

UFC Fight Night 170 IS on. The card will take place in an empty arena in Brazil, bucking the trend of most  major sporting events either cancelling or postponing in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. Adding to the complexity of this show is the fact that Kevin Lee missed weight (155 lbs), which means he’ll have to forfeit 20% of his purse to opponent Charles Oliveira. This isn’t the first time in his career Lee has missed weight. We still like him to get the job done in Saturday’s main event. He looked very impressive in his last fight when he used a striking advantage to defeat former NCAA wrestler Gregor Gillespie via 1st round knockout. Lee is also a takedown artist and getting this particular fight to the ground could be to his advantage, despite how effective Oliveira is with submissions. We look for Lee to impress the judges with his takedowns and think he’s smart enough to avoid the submission. Oliveira’s recent form is such that he figures to be a VERY popular underdog. We’ll fade that mentality.  Play on KEVIN LEE

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This is an 8* on LA

The Kings can’t be stopped right now! They’ve won a season-best six games in a row and that streak figures to continue this evening when they host one of the worst teams in the league. Now LA has spent a good chunk of this season in last place. But they are now close to escaping the Pacific Division’s basement. Now you’d be correct in pointing out that as hot as the Kings have been, they still only have the same number of points as the Senators. But this situation is very bad for Ottawa. It’s the end of a three-game trip through Southern California and they lost 5-2 last night in Anaheim. The fact the Kings have allowed just seven goals in their six-game win streak is difficult to ignore. Play on LOS ANGELES

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This is an 8* on COLORADO

Colorado just got dealt its third loss in the last four games. Prior to that, the Avalanche had won eight in a row. But after playing the last three games on the road, they go back home tonight to face a Rangers team that was just in action last night. That’s kind of a sensitive subject for us as we had their opponents. But credit New York for winning on the road 4-2. But NY had won only one time in the five games before that and has had an issue with giving up goals lately. They also are missing Chris Krieder, whose absence from ice seemed to begin the current downturn. Colorado hopes the same thing doesn’t happen with Nathan MacKinnon’s injury, though that is a more short-term deal. There are others in the Avs locker room nursing injuries, but this is a much better team than the Rangers and being back home is just what they need right now. The Avalanche have won two-thirds of their non-conference games this year. Play on COLORADO

AAA

This is a 10* on OVER

Washington and Arizona were the Pac 12’s biggest underachievers for the 2019-20 season. Washington finished in last place with a 5-13 conference record and while Arizona ended up a more modest 5th in the standings, that was also well below expectations. This first round tournament matchup is a rematch from the last regular season game for each. Washington won 69-63 in Tucson, which was certainly an upset as the Huskies were 10-point underdogs. We expect this rematch to feature a lot more scoring - from both sides. Prior to upsetting Arizona, Washington’s last four games had all gone Over the total. They’d just scored 90 points in an upset of Arizona State two days prior to winning in Tucson. Arizona had scored 83 in its previous game. They also beat Washington 75-72 in Seattle back in January. What’s interesting about the two games vs. the Huskies is that Arizona made only 26 two-point baskets on 72 attempts. That’s 36%! You have to figure they’ll shoot better today. Play OVER Washington-Arizona

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This is a 10* on GMU

The Atlantic 10 Tournament has a clear favorite in Dayton and everybody else probably needs to win this thing in order to make the Big Dance. The longest “road to hoe” belongs to the bottom four, a group which both St. Joseph’s and George Mason can claim to be a part of. These two squads have combined for a total of five wins going back to late January. George Mason has three to St. Joe’s two, the difference being a 62-55 head to head win back on February 22nd. The Patriots just missed out on covering that day as they were 8.5-point favorites. But we like them with a small number attached to them today. Regardless if it’s a true road game or on a neutral court, St. Joe’s has just two wins away from home all season. They give up almost 80 points/game as well. George Mason has won and covered all three of its games in a neutral setting this year. They held St. Joe’s to 33.9% shooting in the regular season game. Play on GEORGE MASON

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This is a 10* on DALLAS

Despite a five-game losing streak, Dallas is still in third place in the Central Division. But that lead is shrinking (down to 4 points) and their recent play obviously leaves a lot to be desired. They were just shut out twice in a row by Nashville, a division foe. Scoring shouldn’t be that difficult tonight however as the Stars get to face a Rangers team that has allowed 11 goals in its last two games. The Rangers also seem to have hit a “wall” with losses in four of their past five games. They’ve allowed 5 or more goals in all of those losses. The Stars have averaged more than 35 shots per game during this losing streak. So they are very likely to start converting more of those opportunities into goals. At the same time, they give up only 2.2 goals per game here at home. That’s the best average in the league in home games. Play on DALLAS

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This is a 10* on MEMPHIS

Perhaps no team in the entire NBA has defied expectations more than Memphis Grizzlies have. Projected to win only 27 games this season, they’ve already surpassed that number (they’ve won 32 games) and seem poised to make the playoffs as the 8-seed in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies aren’t favored very often, but be sure to take them when they are. Not only do they boast a 14-4 straight up record in the chalk role, they are also 13-5 against the spread. Tonight they host an Orlando team that is 7-1 ATS its last eight games and off a big upset win in Houston. But considering that was only the sixth time the Magic won as an underdog this year, we will gladly lay the short number in this game. Tonight marks the Magic’s 4th road game in the past 7 nights. Play on MEMPHIS

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This is a 10* on UNC

North Carolina has endured one of the worst single season free falls that we have ever seen. After starting the 2019-20 season 5-0 and ranked in the Top 10, they ended up losing 18 of their final 26 regular season games and in a three-way tie for last in the ACC. But now the ACC Tournament begins and that gives the Tar Heels a “clean slate.” Before losing the final regular season game at Duke, UNC had won and covered its last three games. So there were some signs of a potential breakthrough. The first round tournament opponent is Virginia Tech. They lost to the Hokies 79-77 in January, but did cover the 7.5-point spot. This time UNC is favored as the game isn’t in Blacksburg. Since it defeated UNC, Va Tech has won just twice in 12 games. They are 3-8 straight up and against the spread as underdogs. This spot screams “Tar Heels!” Play on NORTH CAROLINA

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This is an 8* on OVER

St. Mary’s and BYU split their two regular season meetings. Each won a close game at home. The rubber match takes place Monday night in Vegas. For two teams that have spent the season battling it out for “who’s #2?” in the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga obviously #1), a win here all but clinches a NCAA Tournament berth. Both teams ended the regular season at 24-7 overall. But BYU got the #2 spot by finishing 13-3 in conference play while St. Mary’s was 11-5. So St. Mary’s had to play an extra game to get to this tournament semifinal matchup. They beat Pepperdine 89-82 on Saturday. The Gaels last four games have all gone Over the total with them averaging more than 80 points/game. Both games vs. BYU also went Over with the final scores being 81-79 and 87-84.  Look for another high scoring game tonight. All four times St. Mary’s has been an underdog this year, the Over has cashed. The Over is also 7-1 when they play on one or zero days rest. Play OVER St. Mary’s/BYU

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This is a 10* on TORONTO

Toronto won last night in Sacramento 118-113. Playing in the second night of a back to back should not prevent them from being able to win again tonight. The Raptors have won three straight on this road trip, previously winning in Phoenix and Golden State. It’ll be a tougher test tonight in Utah as the Jazz have won five in a row, the last four all coming on the road. But our view is that the better team is getting points and that’s something we can’t look past. Earlier in the year, they crushed the Jazz by 20. They led that game by 40 at halftime! While it was in Toronto, the Raptors are a strong 22-9 in their road games. Utah has been inconsistent this year, a point driven home by the fact this current 5-game run was preceded by a 4-game losing streak. They are just 5-11-1 ATS their past 17 games with only one cover as a favorite in the last eight tries. Play on TORONTO

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This is an 8* on WASHINGTON

The Capitals got a big win Saturday, beating the Penguins 5-2. But they are still tied with the Flyers for first place in the Metropolitan Division. A favorable matchup on Monday should allow them to break that tie. They face Buffalo, a team that has lost its last six games. The Sabres have only scored 12 goals in the last seven games (while going 0 for 17 on the power play) and that just won’t get it done here as Washington is one of the top scoring teams in the league. Buffalo is 3-10 this year after scoring one goal or less in their last game. Despite playing hard for two periods, the Sabres still lost 3-1 at Philadelphia Saturday night. The Capitals have scored 10 goals in just the last two games and are 14-2-1 vs. the Atlantic Division this season. Easy win for the road team. Play on WASHINGTON

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This is an 8* on TOLEDO

The MAC Tournament gets underway tonight. All four first round games are played on campuses before things shift to Cleveland for the quarterfinals on Thursday. Toledo is the home team for this matchup. While the Rockets are only 3-11 ATS at home this season, one of those covers came against Western Michigan, the team they’ll be facing here. They also won at Western Michigan a couple of weeks ago. That made it six straight wins over the Broncos and UT is 5-1 ATS in those same games. The Rockets closed the regular season on a strong 4-1 SU/ATS run, the only loss coming on the road. Western Michigan did not close strong as they’ve lost six of eight with the only two wins both coming in Kalamazoo. WMU is just 3-11 SU on the road. The Broncos scored only 59 points in both regular season matchups vs. Toledo and anything resembling that same defensive effort will bring home an easy ATS win here for the home team. We believe they get the job done as WMU drops to 1-12 ATS its last 13 Monday games! Play on TOLEDO

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This is an 8* on WRIGHT ST

The Horizon League Tournament moves to Indianapolis tonight for a pair of semifinal matchups. The one we’re targeting sees the top seed Wright State facing the #4 seed Illinois-Chicago. While Wright State did beat UIC pretty big (17 points) at home in the regular season, they did lose 76-72 as 6.5-point road favorites in the first meeting of the year. So don’t look for the Raiders to take this game lightly. Because they were regular season champs, Wright State got a double bye into the semifinals whereas UIC has had to win twice to get here. Both of those wins for UIC came at home. The Flames are going to have to figure out a way to defend a Wright State team that comes in averaging more than 81 points/game. If that’s not enough, Wright State has had nine days off. The Raiders have gone 5-1 ATS in Horizon League Tourney games the past two seasons and that includes a pair of semifinal victories. Look for them to easily move on to their third straight Final. Play on WRIGHT STATE

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This is a 10* on ORLANDO

Orlando has seen a recent surge in scoring, leading to their last 10 games all going Over the total. They just hung 132 points in a win at Minnesota Friday night and are now 6-1 ATS the last seven games. Tonight they are getting a generous number of points from a Houston team that’s moving in the WRONG direction. The Rockets were the hottest team in the league not long ago but have gone 0-3 straight up and against the spread in March. Two of those losses came to the Knicks and Hornets, teams far worse off than Magic right now. Despite giving up more points than usual lately, the Magic are still top five in the league in fewest points allowed for the season. They give up 107.2 per game. Orlando has covered its last five road games. Play on ORLANDO

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This is a 10* on DELAWARE

Quarterfinal action in the CAA here with Delaware taking on Charleston. The winner of this game is likely to play top seed Hofstra in the semifinals tomorrow. Delaware finished with a better overall record than Charleston this year (21-10 vs. 17-13). However Charleston is the higher seed as both were 11-7 in conference play and they had the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was of course head to head play. Charleston beat Delaware twice this season and is a perfect 6-0 the last six meetings. They are 6-0 ATS in those games as well. That sets this up to be a major revenge situation for the Blue Hens. Both games vs. Charleston this year saw Delaware shoot poorly. They made just over 40% of their FGA in each game. That’s irregular. For the season, the Blue Hens are shooting over 48%. We’ll say they shoot a lot better today. The Blue Hens are also 5-1 ATS in their past six neutral court games. Play on DELAWARE

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This is an 8* on PITTSBURGH

Carolina and Pittsburgh both played on Saturday but had different results. The Hurricanes were finally able to snap their losing streak (at four games) with an overtime win at the Islanders. The Penguins, who recently ended their own six-game slide, were not successful against Washington. However, the Pens did score 11 goals in their two games (both wins) prior to yesterday’s loss where special teams played a significant role. Not only was Pittsburgh 1 for 5 on the power play, including a failure to convert a 5 on 3 opportunity. They also gave up a short-handed goal. Look for them to get back in the win column today. The Penguins’ home record is 23-7-4 and they have a large edge in scoring over their opponents in those games. Carolina is 0 for 4 off their last four wins while Pittsburgh is 7-2 off their last nine losses that were by 3 or more goals. Play on PITTSBURGH

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This is a 10* on UNDER

Minnesota has basically played its way OUT of NCAA Tournament contention. They’ve lost six of their last seven games including three straight close ones. Losses to Maryland, Wisconsin and Indiana have all been by five or less points. All three games also went Over. It’s good deal then for the Gophers that they are getting Nebraska in the regular season finale. The worst team in the Big 10, the Cornhuskers are 2-17 in conference games and have lost 15 in a row. The Under 7-1 in Minnesota games this season when the total is 140 to 149.5 and they are keeping teams below 65 points per game at home. Therefore, look for a total reversal of fortune for the Gophers today. Besides Nebraska, there’s only one other “bad” team in the Big 10 this year and that’s Northwestern who Minnesota recently kept to 57 points. All three home games where Minnesota was favored by 12.5 or more this year have stayed Under. Play UNDER Nebraska-Minnesota

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This is a 10* on UNDER

A win tonight means Oregon finishes with no worse than a share of the Pac 12 title. At home they are favored to beat Stanford, but look for a low scoring game as the Cardinal are surprisingly one of the better defensive teams in all college basketball. They are 6th in efficiency. They give up 61.9 points per game but Oregon isn’t far behind allowing 64.2 at home. The Ducks lost 70-60 in Palo Alto back in January, a game where they were held to a field goal percentage of only 32.8. Oregon had a huge scoring outburst Thursday vs. Cal (scored 90) but also held the Bears to just 56.  Play UNDER Stanford-Oregon

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This is a 10* on the UNDER

Portland took a critical loss last night, 127-117 at Phoenix. They’d won two in a row before that to inch closer to Memphis, who is in 8th place in the West. The kicker is that the Grizzlies had already gotten blown out Friday (in Dallas) by the time the Blazers took the court last night. But the Blazers were completely embarrassed. They never led and were behind by as much as 26. Phoenix made 19 three-pointers as Aron Baynes had a career night. Look for a better defensive effort from the Blazers tonight. Sacramento has shot well in its last two games but has lost 12 straight times here in Portland. All three Kings road games this year that have had a total of at least 230 points have gone Under. So too will this game. Play UNDER Sacramento-Portland

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This is a 10* on MINNESOTA

Despite not scoring a goal in regulation (or overtime), the Kings extended their win streak to four games Thursday night as they outlasted Toronto in a shootout. During this win streak, which is a season best for the Kings, they’ve allowed just three goals. Don’t expect these winning ways to continue though. This afternoon Minnesota invades LA. The Wild have won 7 of their last 9 games and scored at least three goals eight times. They’ve scored at least four goals in five of those games. While the Kings season is all but over, Minnesota is fighting for a playoff opportunity. They are one point back of the two Wild Card teams. A win here obviously puts them ahead of both. Incredibly, Thursday was the first shutout win for Los Angeles all season. They are just 6-12 after scoring 1 goal or less the previous game. The Wild have won 8 of their last 10 tries against teams that have losing records. Play on MINNESOTA

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This is an 8* on CREIGHTON

This is the game that will determine the Big East’s regular season champion. It’s Seton Hall’s title to lose as the 8th ranked Pirates come into Saturday with a one-game advantage over #11 Creighton. But the Bluejays have the tiebreaker having already gone on the road and beat the Pirates 87-82 last month. Creighton has lost only once in its last seven games and that was when we played against them last Sunday at St. John’s. Consider that result to be an anomaly as the Bluejays quickly bounced back with a 91-point effort here at home vs. Georgetown on Wednesday. They’ve now won 10 of 12 overall and are 17-1 straight up at home where they are averaging a very healthy 83.5 points per game. Seton Hall can only blame itself for being in this position as they left the door open by losing to Villanova at home Wednesday night. The Pirates couldn’t stop Creighton from scoring a ton the first meeting. There’s no reason to believe they’ll be able to stop them here. Play on CREIGHTON

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This is a 10* on TENNESSEE

Tennessee rallied back from a 17-point deficit to stun #6 Kentucky on the road Tuesday. For them, it had to feel like “just desserts” given that they blew a 17-point lead and lost earlier this year. That was to Auburn, who they’ll face here in the final regular season game of the year. This is a great shot for the Volunteers to post their second straight win over a ranked opponent, although this one would not be considered an upset. For the third time this season, Auburn has lost two straight. They’ve yet to lose three in a row but have lost four of their last six including an 0-3 road record. Wednesday saw them lose at home to Texas A&M as a 12-point favorite. Tennessee has had an extra day to prepare here and with this being Senior Day, you’ve got to think they’ll come out as the more motivated side in this contest. Auburn is just 2-7 ATS on the road this year and will have to figure out a way to score against a team that’s giving up less than 60 points per game at home. We don’t think they figure it out. Play on TENNESSEE

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This is an 8* on TORONTO

Toronto let us down big time last night. Getting shut out by the Kings was obviously not in mind. But it’s worth pointing out the Leafs didn’t allow any goals either … at least until a shootout, which they lost. Anaheim, though they pulled off a huge upset in its last game (beat Colorado 4-3 as a +315 dog), isn’t a threat to score many goals tonight. The Ducks are just 6-12 this year if they scored four or more times in their last game. Toronto has beaten Anaheim five straight times including 5-4 at home last month. They had more shots on goal than the Kings last night. Play on TORONTO

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This is a 10* on VEGAS

Vegas is 9-1 its last 10 games. They’ve been big favorites each of the last four. Tonight they head to Winnipeg. The Jets have lost 4 of 6 but did beat Buffalo Wednesday. Whereas the Jets are in a 4-way tie for the last Wild Card spot, the Golden Knights are in a more comfortable position in first place in the Pacific. But don’t think that means a let up tonight. The Knights’ lead is only two points over Edmonton in the Pacific Division. Three of their last eight wins, the last one included, have been of the shutout variety. We liked them even at -1.5 Tuesday vs. New Jersey. They won 3-0. The Jets have won just 2 of the past 10 times they have been a home dog. Play on VEGAS

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This is a 10* on the Under

Two terrible defensive teams here, but that’s obviously factored into the total. Atlanta gave up 127 points in its last game, which was all the way back on Monday. But they only scored 88 so the game (with Memphis) stayed Under. Same for Washington its last game. They only scored 104 in a 21-point loss at Portland on Wednesday. This is one of the highest totals of the entire NBA season. The Under is 7-3 in Washington’s last 10 home games vs. teams that have losing road records. The Under is also 6-1 the last seven times they’ve hosted Atlanta. Play UNDER Atlanta-Washington

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This is a 10* on MIAMI

Not much on the line here in the final regular season game for Ohio and Miami, so we’ll defer to the home side on “Senior Night.” The teams have played well of late. Ohio is 9-2 ATS its last 11 games and 5-0 ATS the last five. But they still have a losing record in MAC play at 7-10 straight up. Miami is in last place at 5-12 SU, but they’ve won their last two home games. Tonight is a chance for the RedHawks to avenge their worst loss of the season, which took place in Athens on February 8th. Ohio won that day 77-46. But Miami is 6-1 ATS since that loss. While they are 1-11 SU on the road this year, they are 10-5 SU at home. Play on MIAMI

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This is an 8* on Akron

Rivals Kent State and Akron close out their respective regular seasons against one another here and there’s plenty at stake. Akron has surged to the top of the MAC East by winning seven of its last eight games and can clinch the top seed in the conference tournament with a win here. Seeing as they also have revenge for a one-point loss they suffered at Kent State on January 31st, the Zips’ motivation ought to be at a season-high tonight. We look for them to get the job done as they’ve gone an impressive 14-2 at home this year while allowing only 62.7 points per contest. Since beating Akron in the first go around, Kent State has a losing record and hasn’t posted back to back wins. They just beat Bowling Green at home on Tuesday. But on the road the Golden Flashes tend to struggle as their scoring average dips from 81.9 at home down to 68.1. They are also just 2-6 ATS off a league win this year. Play on AKRON

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This is a 10* on the UNDER

This is a first round game in the WCC Tournament. Both Portland and Santa Clara face a tall mountain to climb as they’ll have to win five times in six days to capture the championship, including needing to beat Gonzaga. Now that we’ve ditched that fantasy, let’s look at the actual matchup. Portland finished last in the WCC with a 1-15 record. They haven’t won a game since January 4th. They are terrible. Santa Clara is the 7-seed in the Tournament and just beat Portland 73-68 on Saturday. That game just finished Under. Look for this one to do the same as Saturday’s game saw the two teams combine to make 18 three-pointers. That won’t happen at a neutral site. Play UNDER Portland-Santa Clara

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This is a 10* on the WARRIORS

Steph Curry returns tonight to a Warriors team that is nothing like it’s been at any point in the last five seasons. The three-time NBA champs have the worst record in the league at 14-48. Golden State has won only five times in 2020, though two of those have come in the last three games. Perhaps motivated by the former MVP’s impending return, Curry’s teammates won in Denver two nights ago 116-110 as a 16-point underdog. Tonight, in a rematch of last year’s Finals, the Warriors face the Raptors. We expect this to be one of the high points of a lost season in Golden State. Yes, to expect Curry to play at an MVP-level right away would be foolish. But he doesn’t need to. The Warriors are still clear underdogs and only need to keep it close. Toronto has injuries as well with Fred Van Vleet and Serge Ibaka both expected not to play. Before beating Phoenix Tuesday, the Raptors had lost three straight and four of six. Play on GOLDEN STATE

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This is a 10* on TORONTO

Toronto is starting to feel a bit safer as it pertains to finishing in the top three in the Atlantic. The closest team to them is Florida, who is five points behind and lost three in a row. Just to be clear, a team needs to finish in the top three in its own division to be guaranteed a playoff spot. There are also two Wild Cards per conference. The Maple Leafs have been in third most of the year in the Atlantic Division and have almost no chance of catching second place Tampa Bay. But that has to feel like the Presidents Trophy compared to the Kings, who have spent the year in the basement of the Pacific. The Kings still have the least amount of points (56) in the Western Conference despite winning three straight games. That streak ends here, however. The only other time this season that LA won three in a row, they lost the next game… in shutout fashion. That was all the way back in November. Toronto has won 11 straight against California teams. Play on TORONTO

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This is a 10* on UNLV

UNLV hosts Boise State in the second of four Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals today. We like the tourney hosts for a variety of reasons here, namely that they come in hot. Five straight wins and covers have the Rebels primed to make a little noise this weekend and remember they are the only team to beat top seed San Diego State this entire season! The Runnin’ Rebels just beat Boise State here at the Thomas & Mack Center on Feb 26th, 76-66 as two-point favorites. They led by 12 at halftime and coasted from there. Boise State is just 4-8 on the road this season. The loss at UNLV was their regular season finale while the Rebels have since picked up a dominant 92-69 win at San Jose State. Their recent form can’t be ignored here and even if Long (knee) can’t go, they remain a safe bet. After all, they have covered 11 of the 16 times they have been a favorite in this season. Play on UNLV

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This is an 8* on CALGARY

Columbus and Calgary are in similar positions, just different conferences, when it comes to current playoff position. Columbus - despite recently enduring a pretty brutal stretch - is one of the two Wild Cards in the Eastern Conference. Calgary actually moved up to third in its division, meaning it’s safer in the West, but they’ve spent most of the last several weeks as a precarious Wild Card holder themselves. The Flames did just win 3-0 at Florida on Sunday, giving them a boost in the standing. Columbus also won its last game, beating Vancouver. But the Blue Jackets have not won a road game in a LONG time (over a month) and the Flames have won seven straight times when facing an opponent that scored five or more goals in its last game. Columbus beat Vancouver by a score of 5-3. Play on CALGARY

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This is a 10* on UNDER

Creighton was on a real roll before running into St. John’s on Sunday. We took the Johnnies in that one as they put up 91 points in a big-time upset. Creighton won’t be giving up nearly that many points tonight though. They are back in Omaha where they - on average - give up far less points per game. While their scoring also goes up, they happen to be facing a Georgetown team that has failed to crack 70 in three of its past four games. The Hoyas have lost all four as they most certainly won’t be joining the majority of the Big East in the NCAA Tournament, save for them winning the conference tourney. With so many players injured, we don’t look for Georgetown to do much offensively in this game. Creighton won’t have to either, which lends itself to a play on the Under. The Under is already 6-2 in Georgetown’s last eight road games. Play UNDER on Georgetown-Creighton

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This is a 10* on BROOKLYN

Brooklyn is off a huge win last night as they came back from a 17-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to upset Boston 129-120 in overtime. They were 6.5 point underdogs and led by Caris LeVert’s 51 points. Now they face a quick turnaround to host Memphis. Most will look at this as a bad spot for the Nets, but they are at home. The Grizzlies have a losing record away from home and while they are off 39-point road win, it was against Atlanta. They were actually an underdog in that game due to multiple players being injured. Those same players - Brandon Clarke and Jaren Jackson - are both out tonight as well. The Grizzlies were fortunate to get a very balanced offensive attack against Atlanta (9 players in double figures!) but can’t count on that every night. Nor can they count on every opponent shooting as poorly as Atlanta did (32.5%!).  Play on BROOKLYN

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This is a 10* on VEGAS -1.5

Vegas is a huge favorite tonight and for good reason. They’d won eight in a row prior to Sunday’s surprising 4-1 loss to the Kings. That loss was at home, but in our opinion it’s no reason to be concerned. Another last place team comes to their rink tonight and while the Devils just beat Anaheim 3-0, they’d previously two straight on this road trip which began more than a week ago. For Vegas, tonight marks the end of a four-game homestand. You know they want to end it on a high-note. What was so odd about that loss to the Kings is the Knights finished with a 43-17 edge in shots including 19-1 in the third period. They just couldn’t get anything past Calvin Petersen. The good news is that the Golden Knights have won five straight times after scoring two goals or less in their previous game. Our call is to play Vegas at -1.5 on the puck line here. Play VEGAS -1.5

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This is a 10* on the OVER

This looks to be one of the bigger NHL mismatches in recent memory. That’s not lost on the oddsmakers, who have basically made the money line “unplayable” from our perspective. But this game going Over seems like a safe bet, maybe even more so than Colorado winning. The Avalanche are on a season-high six game win streak right now. All six games have also gone Under thanks to the Avs allowing just eight goals total. That seems like an average that will prove difficult to sustain. The Red Wings, bad as they are, should be able to get at least two goals here. In fact, Colorado has given up exactly two goals in three straight games. But it’s very likely the Avalanche score more than just two goals here as Detroit is giving up 4.6 their last five games. For the season, the Wings allow almost four goals per game. Colorado averages nearly 4.0 and is one of the highest scoring teams in the league. This will be a higher scoring game than expected. Play OVER Colorado-Detroit

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This is a 10* on UTAH

Give credit to Cleveland for playing better since the firing of former coach John Beilein. They’ve even posted home wins against the likes of Miami and Philadelphia. But those teams seem to be unique in how much they struggle on the road. Utah, who finally ended its losing streak (at four games) Friday, should have little difficulty coming in here and winning. The Cavs have lost two in a row, to New Orleans and Indiana. They still rate as one of the league’s worst teams. Utah winning its last game 129-119 over Washington should jumpstart a nice run for them as they fight for position in the Western Conference. They are the more rested team here and should put up another big total like they did vs. Washington. The Cavs are last in the league in defensive efficiency (Wizards are second to last). Donovan Mitchell has scored 30 or more in the last four games for Utah and should continue that streak in a big win tonight. Play on UTAH

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This is a 10* on DUKE

Duke lost to Virginia Saturday, its second loss in a row and third in the last four games. But the one constant in those three defeats is that they all took place on the road. We were on the right side of that Virginia game Saturday with the Blue Devils getting held to a season-low 50 points. They faltered down the stretch yet again, just like they did against Wake Forest a few days prior. But back at Cameron Indoor, we look for the Blue Devils to make a statement tonight on ESPN. They are winning by more than 21 points/game at home this season. This is also a very big revenge spot. Duke lost to NC State by 22 two weeks ago in Raleigh. That was their worst loss of the season and something the players haven’t forgotten. This will be the first time this year that the Blue Devils take the floor with in-season revenge. They have won 10 of the last 11 times they’ve been seeking revenge for a road loss, covering the spread seven times. NC State is 0-3 ATS since the upset of Duke and lost at North Carolina. Play on DUKE

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This is a 10* on OVER

When these teams met in Boulder three weeks ago, the game flew Over with Colorado winning 81-74. Not only did the Buffaloes go 30 of 40 from the free throw line, they were 11 of 21 on three-pointers. In fact, they and Stanford combined to go 23 of 42 from three-point range. That was easily one of Stanford’s worst defensive games this season. While them getting to host the rematch will certainly lead to better play on that end, we look for this matchup to go Over again. It may not be as high-scoring as last time, but it doesn’t need to be. In fact, it doesn’t need to be close. The last one went Over by 25 points. Stanford has scored at least 70 points in its last three games with all of those being wins. Colorado just gave up 76 to a bad Cal team and that was at home. Stanford can really shoot the ball well. The Over is 4-0 the last four times they’ve been a home favorite. Play OVER Colorado-Stanford

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