This is an 8* play on CONNECTICUT

A quick note if you're wondering about last night's WNBA selection: It was suspended due to the earthquake felt in Vegas and thus obviously "no action." We expect no such problems this afternoon in Connecticut where the Sun host the Lynx on ESPN2. Connecticut is a perfect 6-0 at home this year and happy to be back at the Mohegan Sun Arena after being absolutely humiliated in their most recent game, a 102-59 loss to Conference-leading Washington. Look for the Sun to take their frustrations out on the Lynx, who are not the same team they once were. Connecticut has actually lost three in a row, obviously all on the road, but they're a much different team at home where they average 85.2 points/game and are outscoring teams by nearly 12 points/game. The Sun have had a full week to recover from the debacle in D.C. while the Lynx played earlier in the week. While the Lynx won by 17, it was at home against the team with the worst record in the league (Atlanta). We have no hesitation laying the number here as Connecticut has won six straight times over Minnesota, including one on the road last month. The Lynx are 1-6 ATS their last 7 road games. Play on CONNECTICUT

AAA

This is a 10* play on LAS VEGAS

The pointspread has treated these two teams quite differently of late. Washington has not only won, but also covered, five straight games. This has them on top of the WNBA standings and they are leading the league with 86.8 points/game. Over in the West, you'll find Las Vegas in first place despite the Aces failing to cover four in a row. They did win on Tuesday, 90-82 over Chicago, but were nine-point favorites in that game. This is a big revenge spot for LV as they lost by 23 here at home to Washington late last month. You can bet that result hasn't been forgotten. This now looks to be a great value play on the Aces in Sin City as they certainly deserve to be the betting favorite here as they've won the last four at home since the blowout loss to the Mystics. Washington can't possibly play as well as it did in a 102-59 beatdown of Connecticut last Saturday. We're laying the small number. Play on LAS VEGAS

AAA

This is an 8* play on MINNESOTA

It was a "bad day at the office" for the Twins on the 4th (of July) as they lost 7-2 to the A's. But your AL Central leaders are still in very good shape heading into the All-Star Break. They are guaranteed to have the division lead, no matter what happens this weekend, and that's something few would have predicted at the start of the season. Back home, we see them bouncing back today against Texas. The Rangers have been the other surprise in the American League, but they're simply not as good as Minnesota is. Prior to winning yesterday, the Rangers had dropped four in a row. A big problem for them today is Adrian Sampson's 0-4 TSR on the road. It comes with an 8.85 ERA and 1.80 WHIP as well. It just so happens that Minnesota is #2 in the league in runs scored. They are also 26-14 at home, including 13-2 when -175 or higher on the moneyline. Twins starter Perez is going to be really motivated here as he faces his former team for the first time. Perez has been much better than expected for his new team and has a 1.08 WHIP here at Target Field. Play on MINNESOTA

AAA

This is a 10* play on the OVER

The Angels made a pitching change as they'll now open with Ramirez, who will quickly give way to Felix Pena. The move had no effect on our read on the total for this game as the Angels figure to give up plenty of runs no matter who is on the mound for them. Houston seems to have found its stride again, winning five in a row. They'll send Justin Verlander out today, but before you mark this as an automatic 'W' for the Astros, be aware that Verlander has allowed at least three runs in each of his last five starts. He allowed 10 home runs in June. So don't be surprised if the Angels score more runs than expected Friday. Whether or not it's enough to win is a different matter altogether. Pena has a 4.92 ERA in the relief role this year and the Astros have scored 24 runs in just two games vs. the Angels this season. The Over is 14-6-3 in the Angels last 23 road games and it is 7-0-1 for the Astros if they allowed two runs or less in their previous game. (They are coming off a 4-2 win at Colorado). Play OVER Los Angeles-Houston 

AAA

This is an 10* play on OTTAWA

We are guaranteed at least one unbeaten team left in the CFL after Week 4 as both Winnipeg and Ottawa are 2-0 heading into this cross-division showdown. The Bombers have beaten both British Columbia (33-23 in Week 1) and Edmonton (28-21 in last week's home opener). This will be the first time they're playing without a bye. Ottawa happens to be coming off a bye here after downing Calgary and Saskatchewan by a combined seven points. A win here would give them an impressive 3-0 mark against the West, which would be very impressive considering it's perceived to be the league's stronger division. The Redblacks have put up 76 points in two games. That 38.0 point per game average is #1 in the league and a full 7.5 PPG more than #3 Winnipeg. QB Davis looked much better in his second start with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Plus, he connected on 6 of 9 deep throws for 176 yards. Ottawa didn't cover last week, but they are 13-6 ATS following an ATS loss and should prove to be too tough at home this week. We'll lay the short number. Play on OTTAWA

AAA

This is a 10* play on MONTREAL

"Hamilton is humming" they say and it's tough to disagree at this point as the Ti-Cats have started the year 3-0 and have outscored those three opponents 128-41. They're 3-0 ATS in those games as well. After an underwhelming performance in Week 1 where they scored only 23 points, the Taibbis have put up 105 points in just the last two games, beating Toronto 64-14 and Montreal 41-10. The Als are again the opponents this week and after they lost by 31 last week, this may seem like a "tough sell." But this is way too high of a number for Hamilton to lay on the road. They were only -3.5 in Toronto and last week's number was very similar, only that was at home. There's value to be had here, even though Montreal is 0-2. Hamilton is 0-6-1 ATS their last 7 July games. Play on MONTREAL

AAA

This is an 8* play on ATLANTA

The Braves are in control of the NL East right now and will look to make it two of three over the Phillies tonight. They go for the series win with Mike Soroka on the hill and they've won his last six starts. Soroka is 9-1 overall (14 starts) with a 2.13 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. He's given up more than three runs in just one of the 14 starts, that being June 12th vs. the Pirates. The Braves are 11-3 with him on the mound this year. The Phillies have not faced him. They've scored just four runs in two games off Braves pitching so far in the series. We're not sure Philly can count on Zach Eflin to keep them in this one as he has a 5.82 ERA and 1.71 WHIP his past three starts. The Phillies are 3-9 this season as a road underdog of +125 to +175 while Atlanta is 18-8 as a home favorite of -125 to -175. The Braves also average 5.8 runs per game at home, a really strong number. The only team scoring more at home this year is Colorado, who is always #1.  Play on ATLANTA

AAA

This is an 8* play on the UNDER

Not that many runs have been scored in this series so far. Nor do we expect many runs to be scored in today's early start between the Marlins and Nationals. The home team is 2 for 2 in the series thus far, winning 3-2 and 3-1. That's par for the course of late for both teams with Washington now winning 7 of 8 overall and Miami losing 6 of its last 8. That time has seen the Nationals go 5 for 5 head to head with the Marlins. This game sees the Fish having more of a chance due to Elieser Hernandez, who has a 0.985 WHIP after four starts. Hernandez has allowed three runs or less every time out so far. For the Nats, Sanchez has allowed 2 or less runs in 5 of his last 6 starts. He's 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA in those six starts. The Under is 8-2 in Miami's last 10 road games. This is of course a team that is last in the National League in runs scored. Play UNDER Miami-Washington

AAA

This is an 8* play on SAN DIEGO

San Diego hasn't done well in this series, losing the first two games 13-2 and 10-4. We had the Giants in the opener, but expect the Padres to avoid the sweep. Yes, San Francisco has won three straight and outscored its opponents 33-10 in that time. But there's a reason they are still in last place in the NL West. Prior to that, they were looking at a -95 run differential on the year, the worst in the National League. They are 1-4 this season following three consecutive wins. So we expect them to "slip up" tonight as the previous two days are not indicative of the matchup here. The Padres desperately need this game with a series in LA looming on the horizon. It's a battle of rookie right-handers with Anderson and Quantrill starting. The two have similar numbers. We view the difference being San Diego's motivation and the fact San Francisco simply isn't as good as they've looked lately. They come back down to Earth tonight. Play on SAN DIEGO

AAA

This is an 8* on the UNDER 

We missed with Minnesota yesterday as Oakland won its fourth straight. The difference was a grand slam from Chris Herrmann, who was suiting up for the A's for the very first time. Take that grand slam away and the Twins would have won 6-4. Tonight's game figures to be a lower-scoring affair as Oakland has made a pitching change from Anderson to Fiers and this should work in our favor. Fiers has a 0.93 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in his last three starts and his numbers at home are quite impressive for the year. Fiers has made seven straight quality starts and during that time you're looking at a 2.45 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. The Twins have lost four of five and the offense has started to taper off. Kyle Gibson was one of several starters overachieving for them early on, but he's definitely come back down to Earth his last two starts. But we expect Gibson to get back on track here as he's working on plenty of rest and the Under is 5-1 his last six starts vs. the AL West. Play UNDER Minnesota-Oakland

AAA

This is an 8* play on CLEVELAND

The Indians won last night's game 9-5. They're now eight games above .500 and would be a Wild Card team if the regular season ended today. They've won 7 of 10 overall and have the American League's best record since June 1st (18-9 overall). Kansas City is still last in the AL Central at 29-57 and they'll be a team firmly looking at the future after the All-Star Break. Last weekend saw Cleveland turn in some awful performances in Baltimore, so they won't be taking the Royals lightly. Starter Mike Clevinger is 6-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 10 previous appearances vs. KC. So this looks like a good matchup for him after the disastrous outing against the Orioles. Royals starter Duffy has not been successful in the past against Cleveland, going 2-10 with a 5.68 ERA. The Indians have won 8 of their last 10 games vs. lefties. The Royals have lost five of Duffy's last six starts and are just 2-6 their last eight games overall. Play on CLEVELAND

AAA

This is a 10* play on the OVER in New York-Seattle

Seattle has been hit with a ton of adversity this year, from injuries to coach Dan Hughes being diagnosed with cancer. Initially, the reigning WNBA Champs were able to persevere, but now it looks as if everything is starting to catch up with them. They just lost at home for the first time all year as Phoenix beat them 69-67 on Sunday. With starters Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart (last year's MVP!) still out, as well as guard Jewell Lloyd, things may only continue to get worse before they get better.  Defense has kept the Storm afloat, but don't be surprised to see them allowing more points moving forward. Today they host the Liberty, who come in averaging 79.2 points per contest. But if there is one silver lining for the Storm it's that the Liberty are also allowing a league-high 82.7 points per contest and that number jumps to 86.8 on the road. Play OVER New York-Seattle

AAA

This is a 10* play on MINNESOTA

Oakland comes into this series feeling pretty good about itself. They have won five of six, including the last three of a four-game set with the Angels this past weekend. But Minnesota is invading here and they check off a lot of boxes when you're scanning today's card for a big play. First off, the Twins average 6.3 runs/game on the road. That's tops in all of baseball. They also sport the American League's best run differential at +113. (Yes, better than the Yankees). Jake Odorizzi is starting Tuesday and while he's slowed down a little, there have still been six times this year where he didn't allow any runs and three more where he allowed just one. It just so happens that Odorizzi's 1.29 career ERA in Oakland (three starts) is his lowest at any of the 30 MLB parks. Daniel Mengden may have pitched well from the A's in his return from the minors last week, but we're still not sold. The Twins have won 12 of Odorizzi's last 13 starts. Play on MINNESOTA

AAA

This is a 9* play on the UNDER

While still technically "international," the Red Sox have to be thankful to be out of London where the runs kept coming in MLB's first ever series contested in Europe. They and the Yankees played two ridiculous games, one a 17-13 final that took nearly five hours to play nine innings. The dimensions of Olympic Stadium were way too favorable to the hitters and Boston took advantage by hitting six homers and scoring 28 runs in two games. But they still lost both! Canada should bring a sharp decline in scoring, not just on the Boston side, but the runs allowed side of the ledger as well. Toronto is hitting only .212 at home this season. That's the lowest team batting average at home in all of baseball. Being at home didn't stop the Jays from scoring 11 times in yesterday's win over the Royals, but tonight they are against arch nemesis David Price, who is 22-3 with a 2.37 ERA in 31 career starts vs. Toronto. Price is 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA his last eight starts overall. He's allowed more than two runs only twice in his last 10 starts. Toronto's Thornton faced Boston on June 21st and held them to two runs in 6 1/3 innings. Play UNDER Boston-Toronto

AAA

This is a 10* play on LAS VEGAS

With Seattle losing on Sunday, that means Las Vegas has moved into first place in the Western Conference. The Aces are 7-5 and just percentage points ahead of the Storm, who are eventually going to succumb to all the absences from their lineup. So LV is in a good spot right now. Something definitely worth mentioning here is that the Aces have been favored in all 12 games this season. Make it 13 here as they draw a Chicago team that has lost three straight, including a 25-point defeat out in LA on Sunday. Las Vegas needed OT to get by Indiana on Saturday, winning 102-97, and thus didn't cover as huge 13.5-point favorites. The Aces are now just 1-5 ATS their past six games. But the number isn't nearly as high as it should be for this tilt as LV has won six of eight overall and three in a row at home (straight up). Play on LAS VEGAS 

AAA

This is an 8* play on San Fran +1.5

Both of these teams have excelled in one-run games this year with the Padres going 18-9 and Giants at 17-9. Those are actually the two best records in the league in one-run affairs, so both teams have to be a little upset with where they stand currently. We won't be upset if this is a one-run game though as either way it would be a win for us as we're playing the run line. San Diego had a four-game win streak stopped yesterday by St. Louis. San Francisco won its game Sunday, 10-4 over Arizona. While Padres starting pitcher Allen has accounted well for himself in his first two starts, we're not ready to put our money on him. Jeff Samardzija has an 8-3 career record vs. the Padres with some of the best starts coming here in Petco. He's held the Padres to a .197 batting average in nine previous outings here. San Diego doesn't score enough at home (just 3.9 runs/game) to be trusted to win by multiple runs here. The Giants could very well take this game outright considering they have won six of their last eight series openers. Play San Francisco +1.5 on the RUN LINE

AAA

This is a 10* play on the ARGOS

The Argos lost their opening game 64-14, so oddsmakers set the line high for this first away matchup, which takes place at Saskatchewan Moday. It's actually comes down some though, showing that most CFL bettors feel the 50-point loss to Hamilton was more "blip" than "trend." We're inclined to agree. While it's never good to lose by that many points, especially after getting a Week 1 bye, we expect Toronto to play a lot better this week. The Roughriders have also yet to taste victory this season, losing their first two games by a combined nine points. So they'll take a win any way they can get it and we don't see this turning into a blowout. Recall that the Riders are without their starting QB Zach Collaros. A repeat of last week's 41 point effort seems unlikely today as WR Emmanuel Arceneaux is still not ready to return from an ACL injury. Play on TORONTO

AAA

This is an 8* play on the UNDER

Kansas City comes into Monday afternoon's contest with a chance to earn themselves a four-game split here in Toronto. They won Sunday, 7-6, thanks to one big inning as they scored five times in the 3rd. Such a big inning is unlikely to occur again for a team that is unaccustomed to delivering significant offense on a consistent basis. As for Toronto, while they have scored five or more runs in every game in this series, they also have a .211 batting average at home this year. No team has a lower batting average at home and the next lowest team (Giants) are actually at .226. So expect the hitters to struggle in this Canada Day matinee. That's even though neither starter is anything special. But at times, Glenn Sparkman has been quite good for the Royals. Two starts ago, he held baseball's top offense (Minnesota) to one run in seven innings. Clayton Richard turned in a quality start his last time out, allowing just three runs (all solo home runs) to the Yankees. We anticipate this being a low-scoring affair as the Under is 10-3-2 the L15 times KC has played the fourth game of a series while Toronto is 6-2-1 Under in that same role. Play UNDER KC-TORONTO

AAA

This is a 10* on NY METS

The Mets are wrapping up a three-game series with the Braves Sunday night. They'll send out Noah Syndergaard in the hopes of ending what is now a seven-game losing streak overall. The Mets have not won since 6.22 when they beat the Cubs as they've lost 6-2 and 5-4 to the Braves the previous two days. But having Syndergaard on the hill makes a large difference. While he didn't pitch well in his last start, he still has a 1.087 WHIP over his last seven. This is his return from the disabled list and it couldn't come at a better time for the Mets. They gave up back to back homers in the eighth yday to lose the game. It was Atlanta's 21st come from behind victory of the season. But we don't see them being able to pull another rabbit out of the hat tonight. Max Fried may have a 5-0 TSR his L5 starts, but his WHIP Is actually up during that time. Play on NY METS

AAA

This is a 10* play on the OVER

Seattle leads the Western Conference with an 8-5 overall record and they are 5-0 at home. They are giving up the fewest points per game in the league too (72.1), helpful because they actually haven't been scoring that much. Their last result, a 79-76 win over Chicago, snapped a string of five straight Unders. Tonight they face the team they opened the season against, Phoenix. The Storm beat the Mercury back on May 25th, 77-68. We look for this to be a higher scoring affair. The total for the rematch is several points lower than the first go around, which makes sense. Seattle is without several key players, but keeps trudging along. The Over is 7-2-1 the past 10 meetings here in Seattle. Phoenix is off a win in which it scoring 91 points. They are 8-3 Over off a straight up win. Play OVER Phoenix-Seattle

AAA

This is an 8* play on LA DODGERS

This Dodgers-Rockies has not been short on runs as the two teams have combined for 50 runs in three games. Now yesterday's game was a lot less low scoring than the first two as Colorado won 5-3. But the more curious thing to transpire is that after losing the first seven head to head meetings of the year, the Rockies have now won two straight. We look for LA to reassert its dominance Sunday behind Kenta Maeda, who just held Colorado to two runs over seven innings in his previous start. Maeda is 6-3 with a 2.30 ERA in his career when facing Colorado and has even fared well when pitching here at Coors, going 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA in nine games. Chi-Chi Gonzales goes for Colorado and not only did he not work in the last series with the Dodgers, this will be his first ever time starting in the thin air of Denver. The Dodgers last lost three in a row back in mid-April. Play on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is an 8* play on Joseph Benavidez

This shapes up as a really strong play on Benavidez, who has beaten just about everyone of substance in the UFC's flyweight division, even current champion Henry Cejudo. He's also previously defeated his opponent for Saturday's UFC Fight Night, that being Jussier Formiga. It was almost six years ago when Benavidez delivered a 1st round TKO to Formiga. Maybe it won't come as quick in this rematch, but the end result will be the same and that's Benavidez getting his hand raised. Also notable is that that first fight took place in Formiga's native Brazil. He won't have that "home field advantage" here in Minneapolis. Benavidez, who has won eight of his past nine fights, is certainly the better striker here as well as the better wrestler. Look for Benavidez to win again and potentially move on to a rematch with Cejudo for the 125 lb title. Play on Joseph Benavidez

AAA

This is a 10* play on ARIZONA

After winning Thursday's opener, Arizona fell last night to San Francisco by a score of 6-3. That was just only the third time in 11 matchups this year that the home team emerged victorious in this NL West rivarly. Such results may be irregular across baseball, but not to the Diamondbacks. They are just 17-22 at home and 25-20 on the road. Tonight they have a huge edge in starting pitching with Greinke facing Pomeranz. Greinke has a 3.08 ERA and 0.95 WHIP, the latter being one of the better numbers in the entire league. The WHIP gets even better on the road too as does the ERA. But perhaps the most important thing of all here is Greinke's career-long domination of the Giants as he's 12-3 w/ a 2.34 ERA in 19 career starts against them and has never lost here in San Francisco (5-0 with 1.37 ERA). Before last night, Arizona was unbeaten here in San Fran. Pomeranz is not having a good year as he's 2-8 with a 6.79 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. He's never beaten Arizona, going 0-4 with an 8.53 ERA in 10 starts and the last time he faced them was a disaster as he lasted only 2 2/3 innings before giving up five runs and eight hits in what ended up being an 18-2 loss for the Giants. Play on ARIZONA

AAA

This is an 8* play on MINNESOTA

Minnesota should make short work of the White Sox today in what shapes up to be a complete mismatch. The Twins did lose last night's game 6-4, so they're out for revenge here against a team they'd previously swept at Target Field, back at the end of May. The Twins continue to lead the AL Central by a wide margin and are 13 games in front of the White Sox. A major reason for the Twins' surprising amount of success this season is that they are getting unreal offensive production on the road. They average 6.3 runs/game as the visitors, which is the highest average in all of baseball. The rotation has also been much better than anticipated. Michael Pineda may be off a bit of a rough outing, but that was the first time since April he'd allowed more than three earned runs. Chicago's Ivan Nova has been terrible at home this year, going 0-3 in six starts with an 8.79 ERA and 1.81 WHIP. Play on MINNESOTA

AAA

analysis soon

This is an 8* play on PHILADELPHIA

The Phillies just completed a four-game sweep of the Mets, an extraordinarily fortunate result given that they had to come from behind to win every time. They'll take it though, considering the series before that saw them get swept at home by Miami. They go for revenge Friday against the Marlins, who were just swept by Washington. So the vibe is much different this time around as the NL East rivals get ready to play three game here on South Beach. The Marlins are still a last place team mind you and they've never hit Friday's starter for the Phillies, Vincent Velasquez, well. That includes last weekend's series when they got just one hit off him in five innings. Velasquez has a 2.90 ERA in 12 previous starts vs. the Marlins and the two times he's faced them this year have seen him allow only two runs and three hits in 11 innings. The Phillies obviously didn't win the last one as they were swept in the series, but don't blame Velasquez on that one. He'll again be opposed by Hernandez for Miami, who has yet to record a winning decision in seven career tries as a starter. Play on PHILADELPHIA

AAA

This is an 8* play on CLEVELAND

The Indians have quite the favorable schedule between now and the All Star Break. Having just wrapped up a successful 5-1 homestand against the Tigers and Royals, their next six games come against the Orioles and Royals. The Orioles are the worst team in baseball as they have won only 22 games and been outscored by almost 200 runs. Pitching for them tonight will be John Means. While Means has been their top starter, he alone cannot erase just how bad his team is. The price is still relatively high on the Indians tonight, but not as high as it should be considering how they've played of late. Earlier this year, they took three of four from the Orioles, outscoring them 29-13. Though Mike Clevinger's return from the disabled list didn't go all that well last week (gave up 5 runs), he still has a 2.70 ERA and 0.72 WHIP in three starts this year. Play on CLEVELAND

AAA

This is a 7* play on LA

Safe to say, LA has handled its business with Colorado this season. The Dodgers are a perfect 6-0 against the Rockies including a sweep just last week. It would definitely appear as if they're very likely to make it 7-0. The oddsmakers have them as huge favorites at Coors Field Thursday and we are inclined to agree. Not only do you have the head to head domination, but there's a clear edge in the starting pitching matchup that's in the Dodgers favor. Walker Buehler is 8-1 in his 15 starts, possessing great numbers, and they just continue to get better. In six of the last seven starts, Buehler has allowed 2 earned runs or less. His last start was a complete game effort and he didn't allow any runs in the two starts before that. Colorado's Peter Lambert has really struggled since a successful pro debut. He's got an 8.31 ERA and 1.692 WHIP since then, though a large part of that is one bad start. After winning six in a row, the Dodgers just dropped two of three to Arizona. They'll be motivated to take this series opener. Play on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is an 8* play on MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee lost again last night and must win here today to avoid a sweep. Getting swept by the last place Mariners would definitely be a "bad look" for a team that's already lost 9 of 13.  It's not like Seattle came in playing tremendous baseball either. Since starting the season at 13-2, the M's record is 24-45. The Brewers should have their chances this afternoon facing Mike Leake, who just gave up eight runs in his last start. Another edge the home team has is that they are 19-10 in day games. We'll admit that Chase Anderson hasn't exactly pitched great of late for Milwaukee, but he has a 5-0 team start record the last five times he's pitched the third game of a series. Seattle has lost the last seven times Leake has started on five or more days rest. Play on MILWAUKEE

AAA

This is an 8* play on WASHINGTON

Washington beat Miami yesterday 6-1, thanks to a dominant effort from Max Scherzer. They've now won six of eight and we project another strong outing today, this time from Patrick Corbin. The Marlins are the lowest scoring team in the National League right now. Before losing Tuesday, they had won four straight and swept the Phillies over the weekend. But they are still only averaging 3.1 runs/game at home and that simply will not cut it. Miami is 3-14 this year as a home underdog of +125 to +175. Corbin was outstanding in his last start, giving up just one run in seven innings. He also threw a complete game shutout at Miami's expense last month. Zac Gallen is still too unproven to trust in this spot for the Marlins. He was pretty good in his debut last weekend vs. St. Louis, but only lasted five innings. Washington is a team to keep an eye on right now. Play WASHINGTON

AAA

This is an 8* play on San Fran RUN LINE (+1.5)

The Giants evened up this series with a 4-2 win yesterday, getting a strong outing from Madison Bumgarner. It's been a low scoring series so far and armed with an extra run and a half in their pocket, I think the home team is the right call here. The last time Jeff Samardzija faced the Rockies, he shut them out for seven innings and the Giants won that game 1-0. Now the last time German Marquez (today's starter for Colorado) faced the Giants, he shut them out as well (it was the same series). But Colorado just isn't as potent at the plate when they're on the road and we don't see them scoring too many runs in this game. Then there is the matter that they are 5-14 the L19 times they've been off a game where they score two runs or fewer. They are also only 6-15 the L21 games at San Francisco, including 1-4 when Marquez is on the mound. Play SAN FRANCISCO +1.5 (RUN LINE)

AAA

This is an 8* on Boston Run Line (-1.5)

This should be a very easy win for Boston, so we're not hesitating to lay the -1.5, even at the unusually high price. The Red Sox have taken the first two games, 6-5 and 6-3, and now send out Chris Sale to finish the sweep. While one of the two prior wins did come by just one run, this should be the most lopsided game of the series. The last time Sale faced his former team, he shut them out for six innings in what ended up being a 6-1 Boston victory. It takes a heck of a pitching effort to beat Sale and quite frankly we don't think Chicago's Reynaldo Lopez is up to the challenge. He comes in with a 6.23 ERA and 1.57 WHIP, the kind of numbers you never see from Sale. Also, in addition to being 1-5 vs. the Red Sox this season, the White Sox are just 12-23 in day games. Sale has 106 strikeouts in his last 10 starts, a span of 65 1/3 innings. Chicago lost Tim Anderson to a sprained ankle in yesterday's game and he'd been one of the team's top hitters. No chance for the White Sox in this one. Play on BOSTON -1.5 (RUN LINE)

AAA

This is a 10* on the OVER

Seattle is 2-0 since coach Dan Hughes returned from cancer treatment. A third straight win here would be a season best streak. Las Vegas is the closest team to the first place Storm in the West, just two back in the win column. The Aces get to play host Tuesday night for what we figure will be a pretty high scoring affair. LV was a part of our *10* Total of the Week play on Thursday, which came through with flying colors as they allowed Washington to score 95 points in an ugly loss. They have since bounce back to defeat Dallas 86-68. The Aces trail only the Mystics in points per game. They've scored at least 80 in six of their nine games. Seattle games have been lower scoring on average as they've held the last two opponents to an average of 61.5 points/game. But those were also home games. The Storm have allowed at least 71 points the last five times they've played on the road (81, 71, 82, 78, 83). So look for them to give up the most points since Hughes' return. Play OVER Seattle-Las Vegas

AAA

This is a 10* on ST. LOUIS

After failing to sweep the Angels Sunday night, St. Louis gets a crack at another AL West foe here as Oakland comes to own. It's been awhile since the A's had to play on the road as their last 10 games all were played at home. They went 6-4 on the homestand after splitting four games with Tampa Bay over the weekend. If it seems like a number of Cardinals pitchers have been sharper at home, well, that's because they are. Jack Flaherty has a 2.49 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in his eight Busch Stadium starts. That gives him a big leg up on Bassitt for Oakland. Bassitt had a 5.88 ERA in his five starts previous to the last one. That last start came against Baltimore, so a bit of an asterisk there. Bottom line is Flaherty and St. Louis are better at home than Bassitt and Oakand are out on the road. The A's have lost 4 of Bassitt's last five interleague starts while the Cardinals are 8-2 their last 10 IL games vs. a right-handed starter. Play ST. LOUIS

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This is an 8* play on MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee had gone cold prior to winning Saturday and Sunday over Cincinnati. Before that, they'd dropped five straight and seven of eight. We look for them to continue the resurgence here vs. Seattle. Despite playing Baltimore and Kansas City, the two worst teams in the AL, the Mariners only went 4-3 on the recently completed homestand. The Brewers Zach Davies hasn't lost at home, going 4-0 in six starts. He'll be opposed by Marco Gonzales, who is unbeaten his last three starts. So something will have to give. Again, the Brewers look to be the correct call. Seattle is 0-4 vs. the National League this season.They continue to give up runs in bunches too. No team has given up more this season. They did win 13-3 Sunday (over Baltimore) but are 3-14 off their last 17 wins. Play on Milwaukee. 

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This is a 9* play on PHILADELPHIA

The Phillies beat the Mets Monday, quite easily in fact, as the final score was 13-7. It was a much needed win as they'd lost each of their previous six games and had been swept here at home by last place Miami over the weekend. The 13 runs they scored yesterday nearly matched the entire offensive output during that six-game slide (scored only 14 runs). We like them to make it two in a row at the Mets' expense this evening. Considering how Mets starter Walker Lockett pitched in his first big league start, it should be another big day at the plate for Philly. Lockett lasted only 2 1/3 innings last week in Chicago and gave up five runs. The Mets have lost six of nine and are a team we've been targeting (as a fade) quite frequently of late. Phillies starter Jake Arrieta should have his way with them as he's off back to back quality starts for the first time this season. The Mets are just 2-7 this year after allowing 10 or more runs in the previous game. Quite frankly, that's a lot times to be allowing 10 or more runs. Play on PHILADELPHIA

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This is an 8* play on COLORADO

Colorado heads to San Francisco for the opener of a three-game set. Monday's game is on ESPN, a rare chance for these NL West teams to play in front of a national TV audience. We look for the Rockies to make the most of the opportunity as the Giants simply aren't very good. We played against them yesterday, noting many of their deficiencies, and they lost 3-2 in extra innings. They don't score a ton (only two teams have scored fewer runs) and today's starter (Drew Pomeranz) has allowed five or more runs four times in his last seven starts, including the last one when he gave up three home runs to the Dodgers. It's a 10.58 ERA and 2.27 WHIP in those last seven starts overall. The Rockies go with Jon Gray, who allowed just two runs in his most recent start. That was a win over Zack Greinke in Arizona. Certainly then, Gray is capable of pitching his team to a win over Pomeranz and the Giants. Play COLORADO

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This is an 10* play on the CUBS

The Cubs are playing with revenge here as the Braves swept them back in early April. That was a long time ago obviously, though the Braves have actually never been hotter than they are right now.  Wins Saturday and Sunday brings them to an impressive 16-5 overall in June and they have opened up a pretty big lead (6.5 games) in the National League East. But Chicago is also a division leader (Central) and has a better run differential than Atlanta. They are also the home team for this series, which is a big deal because they've gone 27-14 at Wrigley so far this year, 14-5 as a favorite of -125 to -175. Has Jon Lester pitched all that well recently? Not really, but he is 6-2 lifetime against the Braves with a 2.95 ERA. Julio Teheran had been pitching well for Atlanta recently, but that was before he got beat up by the Mets last week, giving up six runs in four innings. Play CHICAGO

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This is an 8* play on BOSTON

Though the White Sox will send Lucas Giolito to the mound today, the Red Sox still are the better team and that's ultimately what will matter tonight. Boston won't be lacking for motivation. They lost two of the three games in their last series and that was to a bad Toronto team. Still they are 8-3 the last 11 games overall and 31-20 their last 51 games. It's surprising that Chicago is hovering around .500 (they lost 100 games in 2018), but they haven't been as competitive as you might think. They've lost two straight as well as five of seven and not one time during that stretch have they scored more than five runs in a game. Giolito is off his worst start of the season as he gave up six runs. Boston is going with Rodriguez, who has the best team start record on the staff at 11-4. Play BOSTON

AAA

This is a 10* play on ST. LOUIS

St. Louis is look to sweep here and we'll gladly take them at what appears to be a severely undervalued price. The Angels just haven't been able to muster much offense in the first two games. They've scored only three runs. Both of yesterday's came on solo home runs. Miles Mikolas is a lot better at home than he is on the road for the Cardinals with a 2.55 ERA and 0.88 WHIP at Busch Stadium. Tyler Skaggs has a 5.27 ERA on the road for the Angels. The Cardinals have been pretty strong at home overall, going 24-15. The Angels have not done well in the spot they are in right now as they've gone 3-13 the last 16 times they dropped the first two games of a series. They've also dropped 39 of their last 53 on the road to teams that have winning records. St. Louis has won 16 of the last 21 Mikolas starts against teams that have losing records. Play on ST. LOUIS

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This is an 8* play on ARIZONA

Arizona is facing the prospect of getting swept at home by a division rival for a second straight series. It was Colorado earlier in the week, now San Francisco has come to Chase Field and delivered back to back wins (11-5 Friday and 7-4 Saturday). The Diamondbacks losing streak has now hit six straight overall and they're now just 14-21 at home for the year. There's only a handful of teams with worse home records and all of them are buried at the bottom of the standings. So it doesn't make much sense to see Arizona struggling that much here. We think they bounce back today behind Merrill Kelly, who had really been delivering for them of late (prior to his last outing). Kelly's first three starts in June saw him go a total of 22 1/3 innings and he allowed just two runs on 12 hits. So you can write off Tuesday's subpar effort against Colorado, we think. The Giants are just 12-19 in day games this year while Shaun Anderson is not someone we'd really consider putting our money on right now. The biggest difference maker in the series so far has been recent call-up Alex Dickerson and we don't see that continuing either. Play on ARIZONA

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This is a 10* play OVER Cincinnati-Milwaukee

We had Milwaukee on Saturday and they were able to win a back and forth game over the Reds, 6-5, thereby snapping a five-game losing streak. The win also ended Cincinnati's six-game win streak. Including Yasmani Grandal's first career leadoff home run, the two teams combined for seven runs in the first inning alone yesterday afternoon. From there, the scoring did slow down considerably, but look for it to pick back up again for this final game of the series. Brandon Woodruff may have a 12-3 team start record for the Brewers, but you wouldn't know it by the way he's pitched lately. In his last four starts, he's surrendered 16 runs in 23 innings. Cincy's DeSclafani has much better recent numbers, but over the course of the season he hasn't been anything special. The Over is 5-0 his last five Sunday starts. This should be a high-scoring affair. Play OVER Cincinnati-Milwaukee

AAA

This is a 7* play on TEXAS

We may have lost with the Rangers Friday night, but expect them to bounce back in a major way tonight against the White Sox. They (the Rangers) let an early 2-0 lead slip away last night, eventually losing 5-4 in 10 innings. But it shouldn't be any problem putting away their visitors this evening. It starts with the pitching matchup where Lance Lynn takes on Omar Despaigne. Despaigne has been terrible for the White Sox as he's given up 10 runs and 16 hits in his two starts. Lynn has made eight straight quality starts for the Rangers, the latest coming Monday against Cleveland where he had nine strikeouts and allowed only one run in seven innings. Lynn's ERA is 2.92 during the eight straight quality efforts. Texas is 8-2 the last 10 times it has been off a loss. Play on TEXAS

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This is a 10* on SEATTLE

Seattle was set to be our 10* MLB Game of the Week LAST night, but a pitching change (by Baltimore) negated that. It's too bad as the Mariners ended up winning a wild one, 10-9, doing almost all of their scoring early. The Orioles are no better today than they were yesterday. In fact, they're obviously now a game worse in the standings. Their win percentage (.276) and run differential (-175) are both baseball's worst, which was also the case in 2018. They've now lost 10 in a row after dropping the first two games of this series. The Orioles actually have a winning record when Andrew Cashner is on the mound. But how long will that last? Saturday's starter doesn't have good numbers (ERA or WHIP) on the season. The Mariners will start Tommy Milone, who has made three decent starts thus far. He's allowed just five runs on 10 hits and has a 2.23 ERA in six previous games vs. Baltimore. The Orioles are just 2-12 their last 14 games in Seattle. Play on SEATTLE

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This is a 10* on Milwaukee

The Reds have played shockingly well of late. They've won six straight games, the last two of which have come here in Milwaukee. That also has the Brewers on a five-game losing streak and at the rate these teams are going Cincy may very well pass Milwaukee in the NL Central. But we think the Brewers "stop the bleeding" today. Now, only quickly glancing at the numbers, you may not think Jhoulys Chacin is the right starter for the job here. But Chacin has pitched relatively well at Miller Park this year and holds a win over the Reds. Luis Castillo, on the other hand, does have pretty sterling numbers for the Reds. But he has an 0-2 team start record vs. Milwaukee this season and one of those losses happened to be his poorest outing of the year! Even after losing the first two games of this series, the Brewers are still 39-19 their last 58 home games vs. teams with a winning record. Play on MILWAUKEE

AAA

This is a 10* play on TEXAS

Texas is our new 10* for today ("replacing" Seattle) as they host the struggling White Sox in the opener of a three-game set. The Rangers won yesterday, 4-2 over the Indians, as they remain a surprise player in the AL Wild Card race. Chicago should not be considered a postseason player, despite being within reach of .500 (currently two games under) as they've been outscored by 59 runs this season. The White Sox did have Thursday off, but that's not going to matter with Reynaldo Lopez on the mound. Lopez has a poor 6.75 ERA his past three starts and has really struggled for much of 2019. He has won only one of his previous six starts. The Rangers will turn to Ariel Jurado, who is off a rough outing in Cincinnati, but he should bounce back from that tonight. Jurado had made four straight quality starts before going to Cincy and the White Sox aren't exactly a premier offensive team. Texas is, as they average 5.6 runs/game, second most overall. Play on TEXAS

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This is a 6* play on CLEVELAND

Cleveland just swept the Tigers last weekend and that was in Detroit. Now they welcome this struggling division rival to Progressive Field and it's difficult to imagine this series going much differently. The Tigers are just plain bad. They were idle yesterday so that Miami passed them in runs scored for the season. That means Detroit has scored the fewest runs in all of baseball, leading to them being outscored by 132 runs this year. Cleveland is 5-1 vs. Detroit in 2019 and 31-13 against them since the start of 2017. The Tigers have just one win in the last six games overall. While the Indians did lose yesterday afternoon, that came after back to back 10-run efforts in Texas (won both games). Trevor Bauer is pitching for Cleveland tonight and when he faced Detroit last weekend he went the distance, allowing only four hits. It was his second straight strong start. Matthew Boyd goes for the Tigers. He's won just one of his past seven starts and lasted only 4 innings in his last one. Play on CLEVELAND

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This is an 8* Play on the CUBS

The Cubs were the right call last night, so why not come right back with them again on Friday? They hammered the Mets 7-4 in the series opener, making the most of their seven hits (same number that NY finished with). It was the sixth straight time the Mets lost a series opener and they've now dropped 7 of 10 overall. We have played against them three times in the last four days and won every time. The price is again way too low here on the Cubs, who are 14-3 this season as home favorites of -125 to -175. Meanwhile, the Mets are 1-12 as road underdogs of +125 to +175. Despite not factoring into any decisions, Yu Darvish has pitched a lot better for the Cubs lately with a 0.818 WHIP his last three starts. He had a season-high 10 strikeouts in a very impressive performance last Sunday in which the Cubs beat the Dodgers 2-1. The Cubs are 7-1 vs. the Mets since the start of last season. Mets starter Jason Vargas had to leave his last start due to cramping, which is worrisome. Play on CHICAGO

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This is a 10* play on the OVER

Both teams enter this game on long Under streaks. Washington has gone Under in four straight games while Las Vegas has done them one better with a five-game streak. But look for those streaks to end tonight even as the total is in the same range as most of the teams' recent games. Washington doesn't have any trouble scoring, that's for sure. They put up 81 points in their last game, a 29-point win over Los Angeles, who shot just 29.9% from the field. It was easily the Mystics best defensive effort of the season and won't be repeated here. They are giving up 75 points/game while at the same time scoring 84.4 points/game. That's tied for the highest scoring average in the entire league ... with Las Vegas! The Aces have scored at least 80 in five of their seven games, including 100 in their most recent game at home. Washington also hit 100 in a game earlier this year and has scored at least 80 in five of their games as well. Play OVER Washington-Las Vegas

AAA

This is a 7* play on MINNESOTA

It's a battle of first place and last place in the AL Central and there's no reason to overthink this one. The division leading Twins enter this weekend series at Kauffman Stadium averaging a MLB-high 6.6 runs/game on the road. They'll also be looking to bounce back from their last series, which saw them drop two of three at home to the Red Sox. But right before that, they'd taken two of three at home from these same Royals. Kansas City is not having a good year, which was expected. Only Baltimore has a lower win percentage. The Royals had actually won three in a row before losing last night in Seattle, but this is not a game or series likely to go their way. Tonight they have to face Jake Odorizzi, who has been one of the American League's top pitchers this year. Minnesota has won Odorizzi's last 11 starts with the last one coming against this very opponent. While Odorizzi wasn't at his best against the Royals last Saturday, allowing four runs, he should make them pay here for not taking advantage. In six of his previous eight starts, Odorizzi hadn't allowed a single run. Opposing him for a second time in less than week will be Glenn Sparkman. He allowed all five runs in that 5-4 loss to Odorizzi and the Twins last Saturday, lasting just five innings. Play on MINNESOTA  

AAA

This is a 10* play on the CUBS

The Cubs and Mets start a series on Thursday and we believe the latter's woes are set to continue. Twice in the past three days we played against the Mets. Both times we won (on Atlanta), only laying off the middle game when they had Jacob deGrom pitching. There's no deGrom to help them today, only Walker Lockett, who will be making his first start as a Met. He's a fill-in for Noah Syndergaard, so that's a tremendous break for a Cubs team that hardly needed it. Lockett was winless in three starts last year for the Padres with an ERA of 9.60 in 15 innings. The Mets have lost six of nine overall and their last five series openers. The Cubs are back in a first place tie with the Brewers, so they don't dare blow this opportunity. Tyler Chatwood will be making only his second start of the season tonight for the Cubs, but the first saw him throw six shutout innings back on April 21st against Arizona. He's been working in a long relief role, so it's not like he's unaccustomed to going long. The Cubs have won the last five times Chatwood has started at Wrigley Field. Play on CHICAGO 

AAA

This is an 8* play on the OVER

Saskatchewan and Ottawa experienced very different starts to their respective seasons. The Rough Riders lost 23-17 out in Hamilton while Ottawa pulled a nice upset of Calgary in a Grey Cup rematch. The Redblacks were nine-point underdogs in their 32-23 win over the Stampeders, a very impressive way to begin 2019. It was a bit of a wild game as there were seven total turnovers. Four were interceptions from Dominique Davis, the first time starter at QB for Ottawa. But Davis also scored the go-ahead TD with just over a minute left for the win. We think the Redblacks will again find plenty of ways to score this week against a Saskatchewan team that is hurting - literally. QB Zach Collaros was just placed on the six-week injury list, a big blow to start the season. But no matter who ends up starting this week - either Cody Fajardo or Isaac Harker - will likely perform better than in Week 1 when they were each called into surprise duty (Fajardo also left wiith an injury). The Over is 6-2 the last 8 times these teams have played. With the number dropping so much (Riders QB situation), there's now plenty of value in playing this game that way. Play OVER Saskatchewan-Ottawa

AAA

This is an 8* play on CLEVELAND

It's probably too early to start talking Wild Card, but this shaped up to be a pretty important series for Cleveland as they came in trailing Texas in that race by half a game. The Indians lost Monday's opener, 7-2, but have stormed back to take the last two games while scoring 20 runs in the process. Thus it is now them with a half game lead over the Rangers, although Boston has now passed both. For this afternoon, Cleveland sends out Shane Bieber who has won his last four decisions. He is sixth in the AL in strikeouts and has had 10 or more three times in the past six starts. He had 12 over the weekend in a 4-2 win over Detroit. Mike Minor of Texas has the fifth lowest ERA (2.63) in the American League, but we're not sure if we're buying him to be successful over the long-term. His success this year has been quite surprising and before winning at Cincinnati last weekend, he'd been without a victory since May 20th. His last four wins all have been against teams that were in last place at the time. Play on CLEVELAND

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analysis coming

This is an 8* play on ATLANTA

We smartly laid off the Braves last night as they were up against Jacob deGrom. That particular matchup didn't go well for them as they were beaten 10-2 with the only two runs scored coming in the bottom of the ninth when the game was well out of hand. But Atlanta was a winner for us on Monday and we're back on them again tonight. Despite losing Tuesday, your NL East leaders still have won 10 of their last 12 games. Going into yesterday, they'd scored 90 runs in 11 games. They should rediscover that offense today going against Steven Matz, who is certainly not deGrom. Matz has a 5.79 ERA and 1.53 WHIP away from home this year. Max Fried goes for Atlanta. He'd gotten off to a great start to the year, but has struggled here in June. Look for him to get back on track tonight though as the Braves are a perfect 6-0 following the last six times they were held to two runs or less. The Mets are just 1-4 off their previous five victories. Play on ATLANTA

AAA

This is an 8* play on HOUSTON

These teams are wrapping up a three-game series Wednesday afternoon. Houston's 1st visit to Great American Ballpark since 2012 has not gone as expected as they've dropped the first two games. But the depth advantage the Astros have in their starting rotation comes full force here as they'll send out Gerrit Cole while the Reds are stuck with Tyler Mahle. Cole has a sub-1.00 WHIP on the year as Houston has won the last four times he's pitched. All four starts saw him go at least six innings and allow two earned runs or fewer. He also has 40 strikeouts in 25 innings. Mahle hasn't made it past the fifth in any of his last four starts and he allowed four runs just his last time out. He's allowed 16 runs total in the four starts. What's most impressive about Houston pitching is that it has held opponents to a .203 batting average on the road. The Astros are 6-1 in Cole's last seven interleague starts and 16-3 his last 19 starts vs. a team with a losing record. The Reds are 1-8 in Mahle's last 9 starts vs. a team with a winning record. Play on HOUSTON

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This is a 10* play on SEATTLE

Going with an opener last night, the Mariners lost to the Royals 6-4. Yet even with the opener not working out (Tayler Scott gave up two runs), Seattle was still in position to down KC for a 10th straight time. Tommy Milone came in and gave the home team 6+ solid innings, allowing only one run and three hits. The Mariners were up 4-2 heading into the seventh, but the bullpen let them down by giving up four runs over those final three frames. As much as Seattle has struggled over these last two months, it's never a good idea to back the Royals off a win as they are just 6-16 in this situation. They're also just 10-25 on the road. With both of tonight's starters (Kikuchi for Seattle, Bailey for Kansas City) coming off better than usual outings, we'll side with the better offensive team tonight. Seattle still is averaging over five runs per game, a full run more than Kansas City. Also, look at whom each pitcher faced in their respective last starts. Bailey faced the league's lowest scoring team (Detroit) while Kikuchi faced the highest scoring team (Minnesota). Seattle is 6-0 following their last six losses. Play on SEATTLE

AAA

This is an 8* play on CLEVELAND 

The Indians rolled into Arlington feeling pretty good about themselves. They'd just swept Detroit over the weekend, on the road, and thus had a shot at passing the Rangers in the Wild Card race. Granted Detroit is a bad team, but Cleveland certainly did it's job, outscoring the Tigers 25-6. But Monday was a reality check as Texas beat them 7-2. We look for the Indians to bounce back tonight. We definitely have liked what we've seen from Zach Plesac, who will be getting the start. In four starts, Plesac has given up only eight runs in 24 2/3 innings. He had a little issue with the home run ball in his last start, but we don't see that being a problem here. Texas starter Sampson had an even bigger issue with the home run ball in his last start, giving up FOUR in a 7-6 loss to Boston. He allowed six runs overall as his ERA rose to 5.61 for the year. Note that all seven Rangers runs scored yesterday came with two outs, which could be dubbed as being pretty lucky. No such "luck" Tuesday. Play on CLEVELAND

AAA

This is an 8* Play on HOUSTON

Houston took a rare loss on Monday, falling to the Reds by a score of 3-2. We had the Under, so that result was just fine on this end. It was actually the Astros second loss in a row as they were humbled Sunday in Toronto, 12-0. But with Justin Verlander on the bump tonight, it should be a pretty easy return to the winners circle. Verlander continues to pitch extraordinarily well as he has an 11-4 TSR, 2.50 ER and 0.735 WHIP. That WHIP is what really stands out as it's the best in all of baseball by a fairly comfortable margin. Now in his last start he was tagged for three solo home runs and that was the difference in a 6-3 loss to Milwaukee (another NL Central team). But those were the only runs he allowed and he did have 15 strikeouts. This seems to be a really short price on the Astros given Cincinnati has Anthony DeSclafani pitching and he's been subpar to say the least. The Reds are only .500 at home while the Astros are 21-14 on the road. Houston is 25-5 in Verlander's last 30 road starts while Cincy is just 1-6 in DeSclafani's last seven at home. The Reds are also just 5-16 off their previous 21 wins. Play on HOUSTON

AAA

This is an 8* Play on ATLANTA

Atlanta is really hot right now. They've lost only twice this month and are 9-1 in the last 10 games. As a result, they're out in front of the NL East.  It was a 15-1 win on Sunday over the Phillies. Now the Mets come to town and they are not playing well. New York dropped three of four in its last series (vs. St. Louis). While they were able to split a four-game series here at SunTrust Park back in April, this visit just seems like a poor matchup. Mike Soroka had not yet joined the Braves rotation when these teams last met. Now he's a full-fledged member and one of their best starters. Soroka is 7-1 with 1.92 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. A rare poor outing occurred his last trip to the mound as he gave up five runs vs. Pittsburgh. But the Braves still won 8-7, improving to 8-3 in all Soroka starts. The Mets with Zach Wheeler starting simply aren't built to compete here. Wheeler has a 5.48 ERA on the road. The Mets are just 14-23 on the road. Play on ATLANTA

AAA

This is a 10* play on the UNDER

A Reds game actually went Over yesterday. They (the Reds) did all the lifting themselves, scoring 11 runs on Texas, thereby ending an 11-game Under streak that began on June 1st. By winning, they also avoided a sweep. Now they welcome in Houston for a second straight interleague series. The Astros will surely be in a foul mood after getting beat 12-0 by Toronto on Sunday. The first two games of that series went much differently with the Astros scoring 22 runs and winning both. But the offense could very well struggle again here as they face Luis Castillo, who is 6-1 with a 2.31 ERA and 1.09 WHIP for the Reds. The Under is 10-4 in his 14 starts. Castillo has allowed just two runs, both solo homers, in his last two starts and only six hits total. The Astros have quite the limited lineup right now with a number of key players out. The pitcher must also hit in this game because it's a NL park. That pitcher will be Wade Miley, who threw six scoreless innings his last start. He's allowed more than three runs just one time in his 14 starts. This will be a low scoring game. Play UNDER Houston-Cincinnati

AAA

This is a 10* on OVER Cubs-Dodgers

The Cubs denied us a second straight win in this series (won with the Dodgers Friday) with a two-run rally in the ninth last night (we had the Dodgers Friday). That would have also been the Dodgers third straight win over the Cubs had Anthony Rizzo not connected on a 2-run HR. Nevertheless, we're going to continue playing this series, only this time looking at the total. While last night's game certainly featured little in the way of scoring, the first two games saw 10 and 8 total runs scored. The Dodgers are averaging 5.6 runs/game at home while the Cubs average 5.5 on the road. The key here will be the Cubs getting a few at the expense of Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has been just incredible this year. In his last seven starts, Ryu has allowed all of three runs in 50 2/3 innings! He's walked only five batters all year. But we think the Cubs can get a few off him (Ryu has a 4.24 ERA in three previous starts against them) and their starter Jose Quintana is 0-3 over his last four starts with a 5.48 ERA. Play OVER Cubs-Dodgers

AAA

This is an 8* play on the OVER

Las Vegas is off its best game of the season. The Aces clobbered New York by a score of 100-65, easily their largest margin of victory in any game this season. (But all three wins have been by at least 13 points). Despite scoring 100 points, the game still stayed Under, which was the fourth straight Under for LV. Here they're matched up against a Minnesota team on a three-game losing streak, which you don't see all that often. The Lynx are usually one of the league's better teams, but they're giving up a lot of points in 2019. The last two home games have seen them allow at least 85. Las Vegas is allowing 81 PPG on the road. The Over is 7-3 the last 10 meetings here in Minnesota. Number is too low for this Sunday night affair. Play OVER Las Vegas-Minnesota

AAA

This is an 8* play on MILWAUKEE

The Brewers have stumbled the last two days, dropping a couple of games to the last place Giants. Milwaukee still remains in a first place tie (with the Cubs) over in the NL Central though and can at least preserve that by avoiding the sweep Sunday. We think they will. Chase Anderson gets the baseball in this important spot and has pitched well before here at Oracle Park. (He's 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts). Anderson allowed just two runs and four hits his last start. The Giants did score 8 runs while banging out 15 hits Saturday, but they are still one of the worse offensive teams in the league. They are 28th (3rd worst) in runs scored and have the NL's lowest batting average. They're on a season-high four game win streak right now, but that pretty much speaks to how bad the team has been most of the way. Jeff Samardzija has a 5.28 ERA his last three starts and is 1-4 his last five starts. Christian Yelich of the Brewers is 6 for 16 all-time against Samardzija. SF is still just 15-39 its last 54 games vs. a team that has a winning record. Play on MILWAUKEE

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analysis soon

This is a 10* play on BRITISH COLUMBIA

British Columbia is hosting Winnipeg in the final matchup of CFL Week 1, an all Western Division battle. B.C. is looking to improve upon last season's .500 record while Winnipeg feels like it can win the division after going 10-8 and winning its first round playoff game. But the Lions are a strong home team (went 7-2 here last season) and should take this season opener. The home team captured both meetings in 2018. B.C. definitely improved in the offseason. We like the coaching change and nabbing QB Mike Reilly away from Edmonton was the biggest free agent move in the division. Reilly is now the highest paid player in the entire CFL, making $725K annually. The Blue Bombers seem a little overhyped to us as we don't see the ground game being quite as effective as it was last year. Again, B.C. is a much better team at home. Play on BRITISH COLUMBIA

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This is a 7* play on the LA DODGERS

The Dodgers were our *10* Game of the Week on Friday and they came through, in come from behind fashion, beating the Cubs 5-3. It was their fifth straight win overall as they made it two straight over the Cubs. Why not come right back with them again tonight. They'll send out Walker Buehler, who - like everyone else in this Dodgers rotation - has been outstanding over the last month or so. Buehler is 5-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his last eight starts and has allowed just one run in his last 15 innings pitched. The Cubs seem ill-equipped to deal with him given that they've lost 8 of 10 on the road. The Dodgers have the best home record in all of baseball (27-7) and have won seven in a row here. They are averaging 5.7 runs/game at Chavez Ravine while allowing only 3.4. The former is third best overall, the latter tied for first (home games only). Yu Darvish has been way too inconsistent to bet on as he has bad memories of pitching here in Los Angeles (2017 World Series) and his team start record on the road is just 2-5. The Cubs are 2-9 their last 11 games in this stadium. The Dodgers have won the last seven times Buehler has started on five days rest. Play on LA DODGERS

AAA

This is a 10* play on DALLAS

Dallas plus the points represents our only loss of the WNBA season and it came by just half of a point! The loss took place Thursday and kept the Wings as the league's only winless team (0-5). This is a team certainly playing shorthanded right now as its two best players - Skylar Diggins (maternity leave) and rookie Arike Ogunbowale (sprained ankle) - have missed time. But those absences haven't kept the Wings from being competitive. Three of the five losses, including Thursday's, have been by four points or less. This is as favorable a matchup as any they can ask for as they suit up Saturday to take on Atlanta. The Dream have just one win on the season and are the only team with a worse point differential than Dallas. That lone win did come at the Wings' expense, back in the season opener, but was also at home and saw them have to rally late (outscored Dallas 29-17 in 4th quarter). Not that Dallas needed the added motivation, but we'll take the revenge angle. Reports are that Ogunbowale could return here as well. Play on DALLAS

AAA

This is a 10* on Houston -1.5 

The Astros absolutely trashed the Blue Jays Friday night (won 15-2!) and should be able to do it again this afternoon. The Blue Jays are pretty much one of the worst teams in baseball right now. Only two teams have been outscored more runs over the course of the season: Baltimore and Detroit. The only real reason to follow the team, Vlad Guerrero Jr, has been a disappointment (thus far) and had to leave last night's game after taking a fastball to the hand. His status for Saturday is unclear, but even with him in the lineup, Toronto has the worst batting average in all of MLB. They probably won't be getting good pitching today either as Clayton Richard has a 7.04 ERA and 1.76 WHIP in his four starts. He gave up seven runs in only 2 2/3 innings in the last one. The Jays' closer (Ken Giles) is also on the DL. Houston has injuries up and down its lineup right now, but last night proved that hardly matters. Framber Valdez looked good in his first start even though the Astros lost the game. He went seven innings and allowed just a run. Play Houston -1.5 on the Run Line.

AAA

This is an 8* play on UNDER Rays/Angels

Tampa Bay came back from an early 4-0 deficit to easily down the Angels last night. Their nine runs were scored across two innings. That isn't likely to repeated this afternoon. The Rays' previous five games had all stayed Under as had 9 of their last 10. But the Angels are even more likely to struggle to score here as they have to go up against Charlie Morton, the surprise Cy Young contender who is still unbeaten (8-0) after 14 starts. Morton has a 2.10 ERA and 1.02 WHIP on the year and hasn't allowed a run in June with 14 scoreless innings under his belt. Remember that the Rays have allowed fewer runs this year than every other team. They allow just 3.3 per game. Before losing yesterday, LA had won three in a row, all by the same score of 5-3. All three games stayed Under. They're sending out Jose Suarez, whose only two starts both came against Seattle, a high-scoring team that hits lots of home runs. The Rays are a very different type of offense. Play UNDER Angels-Rays

AAA

THis is a 10* play on the DODGERS

This weekend series pits two of the NL's top teams against one another. The Dodgers have the best record in the league (46-23) and drew "first blood" last night with a 7-3 win over the Cubs. Four home runs were the difference for LA as they rallied from an early 3-0 hole. The Cubs seem to have a real issue winning on the road. They've lost 8 of 10 away from Wrigley to fall to 14-19 on the road for the year. They'd lost five straight road games before a 10-1 win over Colorado Wednesday afternoon. Things aren't going to get any easier for them on Friday as they are set to face Rich Hill. Hill hasn't allowed more than three runs in a start all year. The Cubs have hit just .167 against him in two previous matchups. This Dodgers team is now 26-7 at home. On the surface, it looks like Kyle Hendricks might be the right man to try and get the Cubs a win here. He has a 1.99 ERA his previous eight starts, winning six consecutive decisions and is a perfect 3-0 the last three. But the Dodgers have had Hendricks' number at Chavez Ravine where his ERA is 6.52. His shortest start of 2018 came here. Play on LOS ANGELES

AAA

THis is a 7* play on OAKLAND

Seattle has been in rough shape for awhile now as they've dropped 41 of their last 57 games. Look for the misery to continue tonight in Oakland where they'll open up a three-game series. The Mariners allowed 10 runs in yesterday afternoon's loss to the Twins. That increased their league leading total to 443 runs allowed for the year. Only one other team, Baltimore, has given up 400. The M's figure to give up plenty more tonight with Marco Gonzales starting as he brings an 11.30 ERA and 1.74 WHIP from his previous three starts. On the other side, Oakland is in a good spot here. They had Thursday off after beating Tampa Bay on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Don't be scared off by this high price either; the A's are 11-2 the previous two seasons as home favorites of -175 or more (1st time this year). Chris Bassitt gets the start and should lead his team to victory in the opener of this season-long 10-game homestand. The A's are only allowing 3.9 runs/game at home this year. Play on OAKLAND

AAA

This is an 8* play on EDMONTON

Edmonton kicks off the 2019 season with a home game against Montreal. Last season was not a good one for the visitors as it included a failed experiment with Johnny Football (imagine that!) and a 5-13 record. The Eskimos may have finished last in the Western Division with a 9-9 record, but that was a better record than all but one team in the Eastern Division. The fact that they were the only Western team not to make the Grey Cup Playoffs will have them motivated in this season opener. We look for the Eskimos to roll here as Montreal is just 1-4 ATS its last five season openers. The Alouettes also have so many question marks with the league having to take over ownership of the team and a new head coach just named six days ago. Edmonton has no such issues and far more stability. They beat Montreal by 16 and 19 points in the two games played last season. Play on EDMONTON

AAA

This is a 10* on OVER KC-MINNESOTA

The Twins are a team that certainly needs little help in going Over the total. They lead all of baseball in runs scored at 404. They average 6.0 per game, so it shouldn't take much assistance from the Royals here to cash this ticket. Luckily, KC put seven runs on the board last night in a win over Detroit. That game was played in Omaha (to hype the College World Series) and what was most impressive about the Royals offense is that they scored four of those seven runs against a very competant starter in Matthew Boyd. Here they'll face Kyle Gibson. In his last start, Gibson surrendered five runs in five innings (two home runs) to a Tigers team that is dead last in MLB in runs. The Twins have gone Over five in a row and are 7-0-1 Over their last eight. Facing a starter that has a 4-10 TSR (Brad Keller) should lead to them at least hitting their average, if not exceeding it. The Over hit both times these teams faced off earlier in the year and is 27-11-2 the previous 40 meetings. Play OVER Kansas City-Minnesota

AAA

This is a 10* on the OVER

Connecticut has started the season red hot as they're 6-1. Minnesota is just 4-3 after dropping back to back decisions to New York and Los Angeles (both losses by 6 points or less). What's been most impressive about the Sun's strong start to the season is that it's come despite them shooting below 40% from the field. There was a game last week in Atlanta where they shot 28.4% and still won (65-59). We look for a much higher scoring game today vs. the Lynx. Not only has Connecticut scored 80 or more five times this season, but the last time Minnesota played at home, they scored 85. Of course, they also gave up 89, which makes our belief in the Over even stronger here. The Sun scored 50 in the second half of Tuesday's 83-75 win over Washington. The Over is 8-2 the last 10 times the Sun have been off an ATS win. Play OVER Connecticut-Minnesota

AAA

This is a 10* play on the OVER

Golden State has yet to its season scoring average in any of the five Finals games and now faces the reality of being without Kevin Durant the rest of the way. But the closing stretch of Game #5 showed to us that they may not need Durant after all. At least not to find offense. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson took over, making three straight three-pointers to win the game 106-105. The game still stayed Under, albeit barely though. The Over is still 9-4 in the previous 13 meetings. On the other side, Toronto only made 25% of its three-point attempts in the last game. Even playing on the road, that's a number that's sure to go up in Game #6. Note it was 62-56 at halftime in Game #5, so things were well on their way for an Over. Four of the five games have seen at least 211 total points scored. Play OVER Toronto-Golden State

AAA

This is a 10* play OVER SAS-HAM

It's time to kick off the CFL season with a cross-division matchup between Saskatchewan and Hamilton. The Ti-Cats (Hamilton) went just 8-10 last season, but fortunately for them they're in the East Division and that record was good enough to make the playoffs. The Roughriders were a solid 12-6, good for second in the West, but they didn't make it as far in the playoffs as Hamilton. The Ti-Cats made it one step further, winning their first playoff game while Saskatchewan was "one and done." For this first game of 2019, we like things to be a little higher scoring than expected. Both teams have first year head coaches. Roughriders QB Zach Collaros is returning to Hamilton to face his former team, so look for an inspired performance there. The Over has hit in 15 of Saskatchewan's last 22 season openers. Hamilton closed last season by going Over in five of its last six games. Play OVER Saskatchewan-Hamilton

AAA

This is an 8* on ATLANTA

The Pirates are in a terrible way right now and last night's loss may have been the breaking point. They lost 8-7 in 11 innings and now have to come right back and play a day game here in Atlanta. Pittsburgh has yet to win in the series, giving up 28 runs in three games. It seems very unlikely that they would prevail today, given the situation and the pitcher they are facing. The Braves Julio Teheran comes in on an 11-inning scoreless streak having previously blanked the Tigers and Marlins. By the way, Atlanta has now won six straight. Pittsburgh has lost six straight and 17 of its last 23. To stop the bleeding, they'll send out Joe Musgrove, who worked 2/3 of an inning earlier in the series before getting ejected. He gets a second crack here, but is it really worth it? Musgrove has a 4.77 ERA. Teheran has a 0.77 ERA his last seven starts and is 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA in his career vs. the Pirates. This seems like an easy one. Play on ATLANTA

AAA

This is a 10* play on BOSTON

St. Louis blew it, plain and simple. They had Boston at home, with a chance to win the Stanley Cup, and instead lost 5-1. Now the Bruins get the winner-take-all Game #7 in their place and we've got them coming away victorious. In some ways, it's a miracle the Blues even got to this point. They had the fewest number of points in the entire league back on January 2nd. But the city of St. Louis will have to wait at least another year to pass around Lord Stanley's Cup for the very first time. The Bruins have outscored the Blues in the series 21-14. They really took over in the third period of Game #6 by scoring four goals. Tuukka Rask has outplayed Jordan Binnington in this series, at least in our opinion. Rask's .938 save percentage in the playoffs is something worth leaning on. While the road team has won four of the previous five games in the series, we can't see the Blues winning for a third straight time in Boston. Not with everything on the line this time. Play on BOSTON

AAA

This is a 10* play on HOUSTON

This is a ridiculously low price on the Astros with Justin Verlander pitching at home. What's not to like here? Houston beat Milwaukee 10-8 yesterday and now gives the ball to Verlander, who has an 11-3 team start record with a 2.40 ERA and 0.747 WHIP. There have been only five times all season that Verlander has allowed more than one run. He's never allowed more than four and only twice given up more than three. Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff has been pretty dominant in his own right, but the lineup he'll face today is a lot stronger than what he's used to seeing in the National League. The Astros have scored more runs than nearly every NL team. Since coming to Houston nearly two years ago, Verlander is 30-11 with a 2.32 ERA in 53 starts. The Brewers have lost 8 of their last 9 interleague road games. Play on HOUSTON

AAA

This is an 8* play on BOSTON

Needless to say, the Red Sox won't be the most popular ticket in Boston on Thursday. In fact, the start time of this game at Fenway Park was moved up because of the Bruins hosting Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. While Bostonians obviously care more about winning that game (would be the city's third straight pro sports championship following the Red Sox and Patriots), the reigning World Series Champs need to stop the bleeding here against a Texas team that's beaten them each of the last two days. Rick Porcello is charged with the task and we'll back him, especially at the going price. The Red Sox have actually dropped four in a row overall, but before losing last night, they'd been 13-4 the L3 seasons when off three straight losses. The start time being moved to 4:05 ET is actually a benefit to the home team as they are 73-46 in day games since 2017. Texas goes with Lance Lynn, who has been on a bit of a roll, but the Rangers are still 4-12 the last 16 games vs. the Red Sox and 2-7 their last nine here in Fenway. Play on BOSTON

AAA

This is an 8* play on Cleveland

The Indians can claim bragging rights in the state of Ohio if they were to win again today. They won last night, 2-1 in 10 innings, and now go for the sweep of a quick two-game home series. While Cleveland has won 5 of 7, the Reds offense has mysteriously disappeared in a stretch that's seen them drop 7 of 10 and 5 of 6. In the L10 games, Cincy has scored more than four runs just one time. We don't like their chances today against Zach Plesac. In three starts, Plesac has looked good every time out. He's got a 1.86 ERA and 0.88 WHIP and two of the three starts came against the Yankees and Red Sox. So the Reds shouldn't be much of a challenge for him. While you might still consider Plesac somewhat of an unknown, the jury is out on Cincy's Anthony DeSclafani and the verdict is not good. He has a 4.70 ERA on the year and has struggled more even recently during a five-game winless skid. The Indians have beaten the Reds 15 of the last 20 times they've played. Play on CLEVELAND

AAA

This is a 10* play on SF -1.5

If any two teams were "destined" to play a one-run game today it would be these two. Both have done quite well for themselves in one-run games this year with the Padres at 16-6 and the Giants 14-6. All we need is a one-run game and it's a win for us either way as we'll be playing the run line (Giants +1.5) in this one. Chris Paddack has started to slow down for the Padres, giving up 10 runs in his last two starts. He's only 4-4 on the year. The Padres have only two wins in the last six games overall and both came by one run. Four of the seven times they've won with Paddack on the mound this year have been one run affairs. The Giants could very well win this game as well. Beede is starting for the first time at home. Play San Francisco RUN LINE (+1.5)

AAA

This is a 10* play on UNDER DET-KC

Even though Kansas City is looking up at Detroit in the standings (as well as every other team), there's a case to be made that the Tigers have played worse. Detroit's -109 run differential is 2nd worst in all baseball with only Baltimore being outscored by a wider margin. Kansas City has "only" been outscored by 72 runs, by comparison. The primary reason that the Tigers have four more wins is that they are 5-1 head to head with the Royals this year. But KC can change that here. Detroit has scored the least amount of runs of any team in MLB. But this probably isn't the best spot to bet against them as Spencer Turnbull has been one of their better starters, if not the best. Turnbull has faced the Royals twice this year and both were quality outings. He's allowed more than three runs just one time in 13 starts. The Royals have dropped 8 of 9 and have topped three runs in only two of those games. A bit of positive news for them is that starter Junis is 6-1 with a 3.27 ERA in nine previous appearances vs. Detroit. Play UNDER Detroit-KC

AAA

This is a 7* play on MINNESOTA

The Twins should roll in Tuesday's opener vs. Seattle. They're back home for the first time this month and facing a Mariners team that has basically gone in the complete opposite direction. While Minnesota is your surprise leader in the AL Central and is tied for the best win percentage in all of baseball (.672), Seattle has been the worst team in either league since it started 13-2. The Mariners have lost 39 of their last 54 games and are pretty much outclassed here in all facets with the exception of home run hitting. But even there, Minnesota happens to be the one team averaging more HR/game. A key factor here is the Twins having Martin Perez starting. Not only does he have a 1.80 ERA and 1.08 WHIP at home this season, but he's 8-5 with a 3.26 ERA lifetime vs. Seattle. The Mariners have elected to go with Mike Leake, who is 1-5 on the road with a 5.57 ERA. Earlier this year, the Twins took three of four from the Mariners and that was out in Seattle and they played without DH Nelson Cruz. They still outscored Seattle 40-18 in the four games. The Mariners have lost all five games this year that have come after an off day. Play on MINNESOTA

AAA

This is a 10* play OVER SEATTLE-INDIANA

Indiana did not have a good 2018 season. They won only six games (lost 28!) and finished in last place in the league. Just five game into 2019, they've already won half as many games as they did a year ago and now have a chance to finish 3-1 on this homestand if they can beat Seattle Tuesday night. The Storm come into this one at an even 3-3 and are off a poor performance as they never led in a 78-71 loss to Chicago. We expect them to shoot a lot better here, especially from three-point range. They were just 3 of 18 from behind the arc in Chicago. Scoring really hadn't been an issue before that, even without injured stars Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird, as the Storm had scored at least 79 points in each of the three games prior. Defensively though, things are a bit of a mess. They've given up almost 80 PPG the last three games. Indiana just gave up 94 points in its last game. But they've scored at least 77 in every game this season. Play OVER Seattle-Indiana

AAA

This is a 10* play on GOLDEN STATE

It's do or die time for the Warriors on Monday. They hope to accomplish what the Bruins did last in NHL; that's stay alive by winning on the road. Of course, they're task is a whole lot tougher than the Bruins as they trail in this series 3 games to 1. In the entire history of the NBA Finals, only one team has ever come back to win after trailing 3-1. Golden State knows this very well as it happened to them back in 2016 against Cleveland. The big news is that Kevin Durant has practiced and is listed as questionable for Game #5. Even if he doesn't end up playing, we're still taking the Warriors. They're too good to go down without a fight. Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney both returned for Game 4. Before the last two games, they'd never lost two in a row at home in the playoffs under Kerr. Their only three-game playoff losing streak under Kerr came in that 2016 Finals vs. LeBron and the Cavs. Could Toronto be too "amped up" for this? We look for this to be a big bounce back game offensively for Golden State with or without Durant. Play on GOLDEN STATE

AAA

This is a 10* play on BOSTON using the Run Line (-1.5)

We don't see Texas being any match for Chris Sale and Boston Monday night. Sale has pitched much better than a 4-9 team start record shows. He has a sub 1.00 WHIP, including 0.76 the last three times he's started. His last start was a gem as he tossed a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts, giving up only three hits along the way. In his last seven starts, he's struck out 10+ six times. Somehow Sale has yet to win a decision this year at Fenway, but look for that to change here - in a major way - as the Red Sox should win this game by multiple runs. Texas lost yesterday - as they ended up splitting a four game series against Oakland. They have Mike Minor pitching today and he has pitched well. But we're looking for the Boston offense (5th in scoring) to break out against him. The Red Sox are 11-2 vs. the Rangers since 2017, winning six of the last seven meetings. Sale is 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA in 14 career starts vs. Texas. Play on TEXAS

AAA

This is a 10* play on the UNDER

It's do-or-die for the Bruins, who are facing elimination here. Each of the first three rounds saw the Blues clinch here on home ice. So history is on their side, although they've gone just 6-6 at the Enterprise Center this postseason. Three of the first five games in this series have gone Over, but it's important to note that two of them only went Over because of late goals on an empty net. Game #5 was the lowest scoring affair of the entire series with St. Louis winning 2-1. We had the Under there and will play this one the same as six of the last eight games have seen the Blues allow two or fewer goals. The Bruins top line may have accounted for 106 points in the regular season and 55 in the playoffs, but they have just two assists the last two games. Blues goalie Jordan Binnington had 38 saves in Game #5. For Boston, Tuukka Rask still has a .937 save percentage in the playoffs. Play UNDER Boston-St. Louis

AAA

This is a 10* play on CHICAGO

The Cubbies are going for the sweep tonight and should get it behind Kyle Hendricks, who has pitched very well this season, particularly when at home. Hendricks has a 1.71 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in six starts at Wrigley, not to mention he's got a 3.00 ERA and 0.95 WHIP his last three starts overall. Pitching well at Wrigley Field is nothing new for Hendricks as he's 29-17 here with a 2.64 ERA in 72 starts. The Cardinals have been a favorable opponent for him too. In 15 career starts against them, Hendricks is 6-2 with a 3.05 ERA. Hendricks isn't the only Cub performing well at home though. The team is 23-11 at Wrigley this season, winning five of its last six games here. The Cardinals are 0-5 at Wrigley this season as the home team has won all eight previous games between these two in 2019. Adam Wainwright goes for St. Louis. He pitched very well last weekend (at home) vs. the Cubs, but also threw a season-high 126 pitches and had seven walks. We don't suspect to see him hold the Cubs scoreless tonight. Cubs win, Cubs win. Play on CHICAGO

AAA

This is an 8* play on WASHINGTON

San Diego has rallied to defeat Washington each of the past two days, winning by identical scores of 5-4. In many ways, these last two games closely mirror the kind of seasons the teams are having. Washington has been really disappointing, never more so than when Max Scherzer takes the mound. Despite putting up his usually strong numbers, Scherzer is somehow left with a 3-10 team start record. That changes for the better tonight. The Padres are an opponent Scherzer has pitched well against in the past (2.37 ERA in 10 starts). Back on April 26th, he held them to two runs and four hits and struck out 10 in seven innings. But like last night, the Nationals bullpen allowed the game to get away. Hopefully that doesn't happen again here because Scherzer should have his team in position to win. The last three starts from Scherzer have seen him allow just two runs and he's lasted 20 innings. San Diego only averages 3.8 runs/game at home, which won't be enough to support Eric Lauer here. Lauer has pitched well for San Diego, but let's not forget Washington had won 9 of 11 coming into this series. Play on WASHINGTON

AAA

This is a 10* play on Sterling

Sterling (17-3) is finally living up the hype as he's on an impressive three-fight win streak. For awhile there, he was falling in love with his striking. But in these last three fights, he's remembered "who he is" and returned to being a dominant grappler. Ironically, "The Funk Master" may be more inclined to keep this fight standing as he goes up against the submission expert Munhoz. While it was a first round TKO in his last fight, Munhoz (18-3) absorbed a lot of punishment for just one round. He too is on a three-fight win streak, but we believe it's Sterling that's more likely to emerge victorious at UFC 238 as he's the better all-around fighter.  Play on Aljamian Sterling

AAA

This is a 10* play OVER Pittsburgh-Milwaukee

The Brewers really beat up on the Pirates Friday night, winning 10-4. They figure to put up a lot more runs this weekend against this beleaguered Pittsburgh staff. In their last 10 games, the Pirates have given up 10 or more runs FIVE times. Not good. Nor are the numbers of Saturday starter Jordan Lyles. His last three outings have produced a 7.47 ERA. One of those was against Milwaukee (the last one) and he gave up four runs in six innings. Lyles again goes up against Zach Davies, who got the better of him last Sunday. Davies went eight innings in the 4-2 win. But the last time he started at Miller Park was a a disaster as he allowed six runs in three innings. If there is a saving grace for Pittsburgh, it's that the Brewers have given up 7.1 runs/game over the past week. Also, Davies has a 5.40 ERA in 10 previous starts vs. Pittsburgh. But Milwaukee is hitting .300 in five games against Pirates pitching this year, hitting 14 home runs and scoring 41 runs. The Over is now 26-8-1 the Pirates last 34 games. Play OVER Pittsburgh-Milwaukee

AAA

This is a 10* play OVER Los Angeles-Minnesota

Minnesota is 4-1 straight up, but has gone 0-2-1 ATS the last three games including the lone SU loss, which was in Seattle. The Lynx are the top defensive team in the WNBA right now as they are giving up 67.8 points/game. But they were shredded in that lone loss, letting the Storm shoot almost 60 percent and score 84 points. Thursday was a nice bounce back as the Lynx allowed only 56 points in a two-point win over Phoenix. We look for this to be a lot higher scoring than that game. The Sparks are Minnesota's long time rival and have scored at least 70 points in all four of their games. Problem is they've also allowed at least 70 in every game. Twice they've given up more than 80. They allowed a season-worst 89 in Thursday's loss to Connecticut. Play OVER Los Angeles-Minnesota

AAA

This is a 9* play on KANSAS CITY on the RUN LINE

The Royals beat the White Sox last night and we believe they're more than capable of doing the same today. Just to be safe, we'll grab them on the run line though. After all, KC's record in one-run games is a very poor 4-12. Playing the run line will cover us were that situation to arise. Friday's win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Royals while sending Chicago to its third straight defeat. There's been no better pitcher for the White Sox than Lucas Giolito, who gets the starting nod here. The team is 9-2 in his 11 starts this season, including 7-0 the L7. The majority of those games have been low-scoring though, which again brings the +1.5 possibly into play.  Chicago is only 12-19 on the road and 10-21 in day games, so even with Giolito on the mound, it seems like a good time to fade them. Brad Keller has been fairly solid for Kansas City in 2019 and has faced the White Sox three times already. He's allowed a total of six runs in 18 innings. Only one of those was at home though and he threw seven scoreless frames. Play KANSAS CITY on the RUN LINE 

AAA

This is an 8* play on LOS ANGELES

Thursday was the worst kind of loss for Seattle as they had to go 14 innings just to come up a run shy. It's been that kind of season as they are now 13-38 the last 51 games and in last place. The Angels also came up short last night, but at least they get to stay home where they have a winning record. This will be the second weekend in a row that these AL West foes are facing off. Last weekend saw LA win two of three up in Seattle. Both offenses are capable of putting runs on the board, but the Angels have a clear pitching edge heading into Friday's opener. Andrew Heaney started a game in last weekend's series and allowed three runs in six innings. He also struck out 10. The Angels won 6-3. Marco Gonzales also started a game in last weekend's series for Seattle. His experience did not go as well. He gave up 10 runs in what was easily his worst game of the year. That said, he allowed eight runs in the start before that. So things aren't going well right now for Gonzales .. or the Mariners as a whole. That continues tonight. Play on LA ANGELS

AAA

This is a 10* Play on GOLDEN STATE

Golden State's string of less than enthralling performances continued in Game #3 as they lost 123-109. The defeat of course comes with some major caveats, those being the absences of both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson (not to mention reserve Kevon Looney as well). The seriously short-handed Warriors ended up shooting just 39.6% from the field (a playoff low) and really had no answer for Toronto defensively, allowing them to shoot 52.4% from the field and make 17 three-pointers. We look for the Warriors to rebound in Game #4. Thompson will be back after missing a playoff game for the first time in his career. Toronto isn't going to shoot that well again as all five starters were in double figures as was reserve Fred Van Vleet. Remember that they shot just 37.2% in Game #2 after being right above 50% in Game #1. Steph Curry went for 47 points in Game #3, but won't need to match that production with Thompson back in the lineup. The Warriors are 13-5 ATS off their previous 18 ATS defeats and have dropped consecutive games in the playoffs just once, both coming in Houston. They have never dropped consecutive home playoff games under Kerr, so we will lay the points Friday. Play on GOLDEN STATE

AAA

This is a 10* play UNDER Toronto-Golden State

The Warriors have scored exactly 109 points in all three games in this series. That's under their season average and can easily be explained by a number of factors. Kevin Durant hasn't played at all. Klay Thompson missed Game #3. The team still scored the same number of points even minus Thompson because Steph Curry went for 47 on Friday. That was his all-time playoff high and we wouldn't look for a repeat of that performance. Nor shall we look for a repeat of what Toronto did offensively in the last game. They shot 52.6% with all five players scoring in double figures (plus reserve Van Vleet) and they made 17 three-pointers. The last time the Raptors were off a win, they came back and shot 37.2% and were 11 of 38 from three-point land. Assuming they see a major drop in scoring here, you also have to figure Golden State won't top 109 points here either. Only four times in the playoffs has a Raptors opponent scored more than that. The Under is 6-2 the last 8 times Toronto has been off a double digit win. Play UNDER Toronto-Golden State

AAA

This is a 6* Play on ATLANTA

Braves should roll tonight in Miami. The acquisition of Dallas Keuchel is making some think Atlanta is now the "front runner" in the NL East, but it's another starter in the rotation that grabbed my attention here and that's Mike Soroka, who is off to a blistering start to his rookie campaign. Soroka hasn't lost a decision in eight starts, going 6-0 with some really impressive numbers. He had a 0.79 ERA in May and his last start, which was still a win, was the first time he allowed more than a single earned run all year. Tonight he faces the lowest scoring team in the NL and Miami is starting Jose Urena, who is 2-7 lifetime vs. Atlanta with a 6.07 ERA. The Marlins have gone 7-3 L10, but are facing an opponent they are just 1-5 against this year and 14-30 against since 2017. The Braves swept the series in their first visit to Miami this year. Play on ATLANTA

AAA

This is a 9* play on CHICAGO 

The Cubs enter Friday tied with the Brewers for the division lead in the NL Central. They lost yesterday, 3-1 to Colorado, which ended a three-game win streak. Their next opponent, St. Louis, arrives at Wrigley Field riding its win streak. The Cardinals have won 5 of 6, including a 3-1 decision over Cincinnati at home yesterday afternoon. Key to this series opener is venue. The Cubs have been a strong home team so far, going 21-11 at the Friendly Confines and also allowing just 3.7 runs per game. It just so happens that the Cardinals are not particularly strong on the road (10-15 record) and that's especially the case with tonight's starter Miles Mikolas. Mikolas has pitched very well at Busch Stadium this year (2.84 ERA, 0.87 WHIP), but the road has been a different story (7.66, 1.79). This will be Mikolas second straight time facing the Cubs as he led his team to a 2-1 victory back on May 31st. He'll be opposed by Cole Hamels, whose last start also came in that series and he led the Cubs to a win by going seven innings and allowing only an unearned run and two hits. Hamels has a 4-1 TSR at Wrigley this season. Play on CHICAGO CUBS 

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