Earliest Cash - Rickenbach NFL Sunday 8* Pittsburgh Steelers +2 vs Denver Broncos @ 1 ET - I successfully faded an over-rated Denver team last week with the Ravens and am hoping for the same result here with the Steelers. Yes the Broncos are 3-1 SU / ATS on the season while Pittsburgh has underachieved and is 1-3 SU / ATS but I feel this is helping to give us line value here. Denver's wins were all against weaker foes and then they struggled at home against a solid Baltimore ream. The Steelers have had issues this season no doubt but they are still a tough team to face and this is particularly true at home and the Broncos have a huge divisional game on deck with Las Vegas. Look for Denver to be a bit beat up after going to war with a physical Ravens team last week and the hungry home team takes care of business here. 8* PITTSBURGH +2

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #663 Saturday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders +4.5 @ Saskatchewan Roughriders @ 7 ET - I know the Riders outgained the Stamps last week but still lost the game. However, I am not taking the bait here on Saskatchewan. The Roughriders opened up as a 3.5 point favorite and are up to a 4.5 point favorite. Everyone seems to be liking the revenge factor here but this Stampeders team is better than their record shows and the Riders also have had trouble matching up with them. Look for the Calgary offensive line to again help key the victory as they win battles in the trenches. This is a battle of brothers in the coaching ranks and the Stamps hold a 3-0 edge in games in which they have squared off. Look for that to be 4-0 after today but I am grabbing the points also as added insurance in what could be a tight finish. 10* CALGARY +4.5

Game of the Month - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #394 Saturday 10* Top Play Western Kentucky Hilltoppers -3 vs UTSA Roadrunners @ 7 ET - I have been waiting for the right spot to fade UTSA and I believe we have that right here! Long-time followers know I am a contrarian and so it will not surprise you to see me making this bet. Western Kentucky is 1-3 this season while UTSA is 5-0 plus the Roadrunners have the much better numbers on defense and yet the Hilltoppers are favored. Looks funny does it not? Of course it does and you know that a situation like this is screaming "trap line" and I love the home team in this spot. UTSA has played the much weaker schedule and their luck runs out here. They had a dramatic come from behind victory at Memphis two weeks ago which was a game the Tigers gave away and had no business losing. Then last week the Runners barely got past a bad UNLV team. Now the Roadrunners are on the road and facing a Western Kentucky team that has played the tougher schedule and also is averaging over 500 yards of offense per game. The Hilltoppers defense is certainly not a strength but they will step up here at home in what is their first conference game of the season. On the other side of the field I just do not see UTSA as being able to get enough stops against the potent WKU offense. 10* WESTERN KENTUCKY -3

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #358 Saturday 8* Auburn Tigers +15 vs Georgia Bulldogs @ 3:30 ET - Of course I have plenty of respect for the #2 team in the nation but this is just too many points in my opinion. Auburn has a lot of momentum after rallying for the win at LSU last week and have won 4 of 5 games this season. The Tigers lone loss was a game where they actually played Penn State very well in a game that, as the stats show, could have gone either way and that was on the road. At home for this battle, I look for Auburn to come up big against a very tough Georgia team. Keep in mind, the Bulldogs only other true road game was at Vanderbilt and so this is going to be first tough road test of the season for Georgia. The Bulldogs impressive win over Clemson earlier this season was a neutral site game and also has become less impressive because of the way Clemson has been underachieving this season. Just like that game, look for these Tigers to also put up quite a fight before ultimately falling short by just a single score. I like the value here as even a 2TD loss would still cash our ticket and I look for this to be tight throughout. The Tigers defense is quite good and the offense growing with confidence after sorting some things out at the QB spot. Grab the generous points being offered to the home dog as this one was a major mover from the early lines this season. Value! 8* AUBURN +15

Run Line Rout - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #940 Wednesday 10* Top Play Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 runs -100 vs St Louis Cardinals @ 8:10 ET - The Dodgers should win this one in a blowout. I know the Cardinals were hot late in the season and that Max Scherzer did struggle in his final two starts of the season. However, he also is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his last 3 starts against the Cardinals. Two of those were this season and in those 3 starts he allowed only 11 hits while striking out 33 in 21 innings! St Louis counters with Adam Wainwright here. He pitched well on the road this season but has had some rough seasons in terms of road struggles throughout his career. I have never been able to trust him as much on the road as a result and I have a strong feeling the Dodgers pound him here. Wainwright will face a Dodgers team that has won 7 straight games and 9 of its last 10. By the way, the combined margin of the 9 victories was 61 to 32. That works out to an average score of about 7 to 3.5 and there is certainly nothing "average" about that. With that said, and with the fact the Cardinals did lose 3 of their last 5 games and scored only 3 runs per game in those 5 games, I like this play no matter who the pitchers are. I expect a home blowout and will lay the -1.5 runs with action on the pitchers for those of you able to play that option at your respective sports book. 10* Los Angeles Dodgers Run Line -1.5 runs -100

ESPN+ Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #679 Wednesday 10* Top Play Ottawa Redblacks +9.5 @ Toronto Argonauts @ 7:30 ET - Ottawa was much better in last week's win versus Edmonton. That was a Wednesday game too so they are fine on rest here too. The Argonauts are off a bye week so they are set up well here but I feel this is a dangerous game for them. Toronto has a big game with rival Hamilton on deck and that is on Monday. The Redblacks also have a game Monday at Montreal but the point is those big Thanksgiving Day (Canada) match-ups are more of a lookahead for the Argos in this case. Toronto is 4-3 and Hamilton is right behind them in the standings at 4-4 plus coming off their huge 2019 season. It is hard for the Argonauts to not already be thinking about that key battle with the Tigercats. As for the Redblacks, their mindset is quite different. The win over the Elks was key and if they get a win here they are suddenly just a game out of 1st place in the division! I look for another very motivated effort, just like we saw from them last week, as Ottawa makes this a difficult match-up for Toronto. Yes the Argos are the better team and at home and they may still win the game here but I don't see them covering this large number. The Redblacks capable of making this one a battle all the way to the finish. The Argonauts 4 wins this season all by 7 or less points and, in fact, the average margin was just 3.5 points in those 4 victories. Look for another tight one here. 10* OTTAWA +9.5

Primetime Punisher - Rickenbach NFL Monday 10* Top Play Las Vegas Raiders (+) @ Los Angeles Chargers @ 8:15 ET - The Raiders much-maligned defense was really bad last season but they are a little better this season. Statistically, based on yardage allowed, they are right about even with the Chargers. That said, I like the fact that Las Vegas does have the more potent offense and, sitting undefeated on the season, they are playing with a ton of confidence right now. I am not sold on this Chargers team. They are off to a good start this season as well but they faced two NFC East teams to start the season and then faced a Chiefs team that handed them the game on turnovers. Give Los Angeles some credit for sure but I am just saying they might be slightly over-rated at this early juncture in the season. The Raiders faced a strong Baltimore team, impressed with a road win in eastern time zone, and then suffered no letdown last week when they defeated Miami. Getting the 3 points is a strong value here as the Raiders potent offense insures their ability to stay in this game all the way through and I sense a road upset. Note that the road team has won each of the last 3 meetings between these teams. I don't see that changing here but will grab the points as added insurance. I know Chargers QB Justin Herbert is not on the injury report for this game but he did have his throwing hand iced and bandaged after the game at Kansas City last week. Perhaps a little bit of an issue for him in this game and, either way, I like the road dog that has shown a knack for finding a way in tight games this season. Give me the points. 10* LAS VEGAS +3

AFC Game of the Month - Rickenbach NFL Sunday 10* Top Play Baltimore Ravens PICK'EM @ Denver Broncos @ 4:25 ET - I know the Chiefs are just 1-2 this season but Kansas City is still a very good football team. What does that have to do with this play? Kansas City is one of the teams the Ravens beat and the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl (again!) last season! As for Baltimore's lone loss it came in OT and in a very tough setting at Las Vegas in Week 1 when the Raiders finally were able to have a stadium full of fans and it showed. Also, LV is now 3-0 on the season. Speaking of 3-0 records, so too are the Broncos. However, let me know when they play somebody meaningful! Actually, that is happening this week and that is the point! The Broncos are highly over-rated right now in my opinion because they are undefeated this season but they have played 3 teams that are now a combined 0-10 on the season! Denver has faced the Jaguars, Giants, and Jets! Now the Broncos finally face a tough football team and I do not expect this to go well at all for them. The fact the Ravens are on the road for this one is even better for us because the line is a pick'em as a result. If the game was in Baltimore that means we would likely be laying 6 or 7 points in this one which I would still recommend but I much prefer this situation. The Ravens are riding the positive emotion of a dramatic last-second win last week and they come to Denver and take care of business in this one. The Broncos finally face a real challenge and that changes everything. 10* BALTIMORE PICK'EM

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach NFL Sunday 8* Kansas City Chiefs (-) @ Philadelphia Eagles @ 1 ET - The Chiefs are offering a lot of line value here because they are on a long ATS slump. I know that might make it enticing to play on the streak here but this Eagles team is starting to show its true colors. They won in Week 1 but that was against a bad Falcons team. Philly then lost at home to the Niners and then got blasted at Dallas on Monday Night. This is a short week of prep for the Eagles and they face former head coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs are angry off back to back losses. They suffered a late game loss at Baltimore and then lost to Chargers because of a 4-0 turnover deficit. Kansas City is much better than they have shown of course. The Chiefs have faced 3 teams that are all 2-1 on the season and playing quite well early on. That said I feel we have good value in going against an Eagles team that fell apart last season and is going to take some time to rebuild. The Chiefs are annual super bowl contenders while the Eagles are now in rebuild mode. We are only having to lay less than a TD here because of the bad ATS streak for KC and, that being said, this looks like the perfect spot to pound them. 8* KANSAS CITY -6.5

SEC Game of the Year - Rickenbach CFB 10* Top Play Auburn Tigers (+) @ LSU Tigers @ 9 ET - I lost a lot of respect for this LSU team when they lost at UCLA early in the season. I know they ended up getting the win last week against Mississippi State but LSU was outgained in that game and it was a very fortunate win. So the Bruins and the Bulldogs were the only two tough games that LSU has had this season and they should have lost both games. I am well aware of the fact that Auburn lost their big game at Penn State earlier this season but that was a strong game from them! The stats were roughly equal in that game and Auburn is a perfect 3-0 on the season and could very easily be 4-0. Of course LSU is out for revenge after getting blasted by Auburn last season but revenge tends to be over-played. The fact is Auburn is the much better defense in this match-up and, on offense, has the vastly superior ground attack. I love taking road underdogs that play solid defense and can run the ball on offense. I know this is a night game in Baton Rouge and being played with revenge, etc. but this is not the same level of LSU teams we have seen in the past. I feel we have excellent line value here with the road team getting a full field goal. I also like the fact that QB Finley is a former LSU players and if Nix plays I also look to him be better after being benched last week. That was a wakeup call for him and this is a well-coached Auburn team capable of punching LSU in the mouth all night long. 10* AUBURN +3

ATS Game of the Week - Rickenbach CFL Saturday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders (+) vs Saskatchewan Roughriders @ 7 ET - This line may look funny but Calgary is way better than their record shows. Keep in mind, the Stampeders are coming off a huge season and have been looking better in recent games. Also, they enter this game off a bye week and are 14-2 SU the last 16 times when coming off a bye. I really don't think we'll need the points here but I am grabbing the 2.5 points. The Stampeders are only 2-5 on the season but only 1 of their losses was by more than 6 points. This is a team that has been within one possession of a 6-1 season thus far. The fact is the Riders are a strong team and they have the record to show for it too. However, they have played only 2 road games this season (went 1-1) and that has certainly helped their strong start. Also, the Roughriders are off a big comeback win last week and that was on the road and it took a lot in rallying for the win. The Stamps will be the more rested team and fresher team and they bring it big-time in what is essentially a must-win game for them to get back into the thick of things out west. Look for them to do just that as they improve to 15-2 when off a bye week! 10* CALGARY +2.5

Reichenator Rout - Rickenbach CFB Friday 10* Top Play Maryland Terrapins +3.5 vs Iowa Hawkeyes @ 8 ET - When a team is favored by a field goal it is not quite the same as being a pick'em but the point is most games are decided by 3 or more points in football. The reason I mention that here is because I find it quite interesting that a team ranked #5 in the nation is favored by such a small number here. That said, the public is likely to be enticed to play Iowa here. Don't be fooled by this line! Yes, the Hawkeyes have played the tougher schedule so far this season but do not underestimate these Terrapins. They are undefeated on the season, just like Iowa, and statistically their defense has not been that far behind that of the Hawkeyes. The key statistical variance in looking at these two teams is actually on the other side of the ball where Maryland has been the much stronger team. The Terrapins offense, based on yardage, ranks among the best in the nation while the Hawkeyes offense production ranks among the worst. Iowa does hold the defensive edge but I am expecting a big game from Tagovailoa here and the QB helps lead the way to a home win in this one. If they do fall short I expect it to be by the slimmest of margins so I am grabbing the points here. 10* MARYLAND +3.5

Thursday Thrasher - Rickenbach NFL Thursday 10* Top Play Jacksonville Jaguars +7.5 @ Cincinnati Bengals @ 8:20 ET - The Bengals are 2-1 on the season plus at home and they are facing a winless Jacksonville team. This should be easy, right? Absolute blowout for the home team, right? No not at all! In fact I would not be surprised to see this one result in an outright upset for the underdog but I am grabbing the generous points being offered. The Jaguars are 0-3 but there are only five 3-0 teams in the league at this point in the season and Jacksonville faced two of them. Conversely, the Bengals have faced three teams that all have losing records now at this point in the season. Also, Cincinnati's win over the Vikings in Week 1 was a fortunate one and it took OT to get it. Also, the Bengals win last week at Pittsburgh was driven by turnovers. The Steelers actually outgained Cincinnati in that game. As you can see, big value with the underdog in this one and it is a big of a hidden value which is what makes it even better as I expect the line to stay in the 7.5 or 8 range and, keep in mind, this line had opened up at a 6.5 which was for a reason as I like to say! 10* JACKSONVILLE +7.5

Reichenator Rout - Rickenbach CFB Thursday 10* Top Play Miami Hurricanes -5.5 vs Virginia Cavaliers @ 7:30 ET - The Hurricanes are playing their first ACC game while this is the 3rd one for the Cavaliers. However, I expect this actually to work to Miami's edge in this case. That's because Virginia is 0-2 in ACC action already and the handwriting is on the wall early for them this season. As for the Canes, they are expected to perform well in the ACC this season and enter this one at 0-0 with everything in front of them. Yes, they have two non-conference losses but they were to Michigan State and Alabama - a pair of 4-0 teams. Note that Miami just thrashed an FCS school last week which is a big confidence boost heading into this game. Also, D'Eriq King should be back after sitting that one out and his shoulder has improved. He was solid on the ground and through the air when the Canes beat a solid Appalachian State team a few weeks ago. I feel we are getting good value here with the better team and the home team and we get that value because they have two losses but to two undefeated teams. The Cavs defense has simply been atrocious this season and the Canes better defense at home will be the difference maker here even if King did not play or was limited but I do not expect any issues with that here. Either way, 10* MIAMI -5.5

ESPN+ Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Tuesday 10* Top Play Edmonton Elks -6.5 @ Ottawa Redblacks @ 7:30 ET - Both teams dealing with QB injuries but the situation for the Redblacks is even worse. Also I like what I saw from Elks QB Taylor Cornelius last week but he just needs to cut down on the turnovers. This is a revenge game for a week 2 home loss for Edmonton in which they lost 16 to 12 despite a massive yardage edge! The Elks outgained Ottawa by a 443 to 127 edge! I seriously do not know if there has ever been another CFL game in history with that type of yardage domination and yet a loss for the team with the big edge! It is payback time here and Ottawa is 0-3 at home this season and their win over the Elks is their only win this year! The Redblacks 5 losses have been by an average margin of 19.2 points! The very first number to come out on this game is 6.5 and I expect it to climb but, either way, expect a road rout by a double digit margin. Elks have #1 pass defense and #2 rush defense in the league in terms of yards allowed per game. 10* EDMONTON -6.5

Primetime Punisher - Rickenbach NFL 10* Top Play Philadelphia Eagles +3.5 @ Dallas Cowboys @ 8:15 ET - Value with the points here. First divisional game for each of these teams and it is an early-season battle for first place in the NFC Least as I like to call it! Both of these teams have looked a little better than expected early this season but like the fact that, though both teams went 1-5 ATS in divisional games last season, the Cowboys are laying 3 plus the hook here and they went an ugly 1-6 ATS as a favorite last season. Philadelphia has been the better team defensively early this season and I also like the fact that they have been running the ball well early this season. When you have a road team that can establish the ground game on offense plus play very strong on the other side of the ball, you have a good shot at a road dog cover if not upset win. Also note that Dallas is 2-0 ATS this season but look around the league after yesterday's results and you can see how rare it is for teams to be perfect 3-0 ATS after 3 weeks. In other words the odds a bit stacked against the Cowboys here and I do like the fact that the road teams are a perfect 2-0 ATS this season in both Eagles games and Dallas games. Those trends continue here and the road dog relies on solid defensive play as well as a strong ground game on offense to grind out the win (at least ATS win) in this one. 10* PHILADELPHIA +3.5

Primetime Punisher - NFL Sunday 10* Top Play San Francisco 49ers (-) vs Green Bay Packers @ 8:20 ET - The 49ers burned their backers when they let the Lions get a miracle backdoor cover in Week 1. Green Bay then burned Lions backers last week with a big 2nd half to get the money. Still the Packers were outgained by Detroit in that game and also looked very ugly in their season-opening 38 to 3 loss to the Saints. The point is that I still do not think things are as they should be in Green Bay just yet and we are getting a lot of line value here as a result. The Niners got embarrassed by the Packers when these teams met last season but this is much more than a revenge spot for San Francisco. It is also their home opener and they get Green Bay on a short week as they are coming off a Monday night win versus Detroit. If you look at the Packers statistically it is quite ugly. As for the Niners stats a lot of the yardage allowed to the Lions was in garbage time of what was otherwise a blowout win. Then last week SF battled hard for a win over a resilient Eagles team that is playing solid defense early this season. I feel we have excellent line value with the home team now dropping to a -3 here after being as high as a -4 in early trading action earlier this week. Keep in mind the public still remembers the 6-10 SF team of last season and the 4-12 team that preceded the 49ers big season in 2019. As for the public's viewpoint on the Packers all they can remember is the 13-3 records of the past two seasons but that Aaron Rodgers holdout situation has effected the team chemistry of this team and last week's win was not reflective of how the game should have played out - just look at the stats - and again this was the same Lions team that the Niners really destroyed in week one before letting them in for a miracle backdoor cover. Tremendous line value here. 10* SAN FRANCISCO

NFL Sunday 8* Chicago Bears +7.5 @ Cleveland Browns @ 1 ET - Bears 24, Rams 18. Final score? No those were the first downs in a very deceiving 34-14 loss at the hands of LA in week 1. This Chicago defense is underrated right now and they will be up for the challenge at Cleveland. The Browns offense has looked great early this season but they faced a Chiefs team that has not looked good at all on defense yet this season plus a Texans team that looks like a complete mess and is just fortunate they played Jacksonville in week 1 so they at least have 1 victory early this season. Houston has been horrible in their other two games. I think the Bengals are better than people realize and that is why they are only a 3-point dog at Pittsburgh this week. The point is that Chicago just beat the Bengals and that was with a horrible performance on offense. Now Fields is the starter after QB Dalton got hurt last week. That said, he'll be better after a full week of practice with the offense and after getting his feet wet in game action last week. Browns might win this game but I don't see them winning by more than 1 score and like having 7 plus the hook in this one! Like having the better defense in this one and expect complete effort as Bears make up for the 20-point thrashing at Los Angeles which everyone remembers but was a deceiving final! 8* CHICAGO +7.5

NFL Sunday 8* Cincinnati Bengals +3 @ Pittsburgh Steelers @ 1 ET - Long-time followers know I am a contrarian and this has been particularly beneficial to my long-term success in the NFL. This line is saying that the Bengals are equal to the Steelers because Pittsburgh is favored by just 3 on their home field. So think about that for a minute and think about how the public is going to view this game. Of course the public is going to be all over the Steelers which means, of course, you should be on on the Bengals. When something looks too good to be true it usually is and this is particularly true in the NFL. Nothing is 100 percent of course but I love the odds in cases like this as usually the public loses. Think about it again. This line is saying these two teams would be equal on a neutral field. The Bengals are 6-25-1 the last two seasons. The Steelers are 29-18-1 the last three seasons. Statistically the Bengals have been the much better defense. Pittsburgh was lucky (look at the stats!) when they won at Buffalo in week one. That showed up last week when, at home and catching the Raiders in a letdown spot, the Steelers watched Vegas trounce them on their own field. This game priced this way with good reason. Grab the points. 8* CINCINNATI +3

NFL Sunday 8* Kansas City Chiefs -7 vs Los Angeles Chargers @ 1 ET - I do not like to lay many points in NFL games so when I am willing to lay 7 the situation has to be very strong and that is the case here! The Chargers are 1-1 to start the season and they played two teams from the division I refer to as the NFC Least! Facing Dallas and Washington is a lot different from facing a Chiefs team that is annually a Super Bowl threat and that, for this one, is at home and coming off a loss. I look for this game to be blowout city. I know KC is 0-2 ATS and failed to cover their home opener but their defense is normally much better when at home and I look for them to bounce back here. As for the offense, the Chiefs are averaging 34 points a game and will roll to a blowout win here over a team that is a bit over-rated early this season in my opinion. 8* KANSAS CITY -7

CFB Saturday 10* Top Play USC Trojans -10.5 - The Trojans lost their most recent home game to Stanford and it got their head coach fired. Still shell-shocked from that, USC traveled to Washington State and spotted the Cougars a 14-0 lead. Their response? Southern Cal, let by interim coach Donte Williams, rattled off 45 straight points in the huge 45-14 win! That was against the same Cougars team that won at Oregon State by double digits last season and that was the only win Washington State had in their shortened 4-game season. The point is that the Beavers are not a great football program. They have gotten a little better but still they particularly are lacking on defense and I expect USC to have a huge day on offense as they are rolling with confidence after how last week's game played out. The Trojans have won 23 straight games at Memorial Coliseum when hosting the Beavers. That said, of course we still must cover the spread here but I love the fact that the line has dropped from 13 to near 10 now and QB Kedon Slovis is back for the Trojans here and pronounced 100% ready to go after dealing with a neck injury. Southern Cal just has too much talent and too many weapons at the skill positions for Oregon State to be able to keep up in this one. Yes the Beavers are off to a 1-2 start but they lost their only challenging game (at Purdue) and the Trojans have played the tougher schedule. Also, USC is hell bent on making up for their embarrassing home loss in their last game here so I look for the Trojans to keep their foot on the gas throughout this game and win by at least a 3 TD margin! Lay the big points and look for a home blowout in this one. 10* USC -10.5

CFB Saturday 9* TOP Mississippi State Bulldogs +2.5 - Revenge game for LSU on the one hand as the Bulldogs beat the Tigers in Louisiana last season. However, lets not forget what happened the year before than when Mississippi State was the host and lost by 23 points despite the first downs in the game being equal. The point is that the Bulldogs have been reminded of that home loss beatdown heading into this game and I feel we have the stronger team at home and in a great spot. Mississippi State is off a loss at Memphis that never should have happened as they outgained those Tigers by more than 200 yards! Now they get a chance to dominate these Tigers and I do feel LSU is a little over-valued right now. The Bulldogs have played the tougher early season schedule and the Tigers are of back to back wins but against Central Michigan and McNeese State. In the only tough game LSU has had they lost to UCLA by double digits. Simply put, this is not the LSU teams of old and they are facing an up and coming Mississippi State team that has impressed early this season and won't make the same mistakes this week at home which they made last week on the road. 9* MISSISSIPPI STATE +2.5

NFL Thursday 10* Top Play Houston Texans +8 vs Carolina Panthers @ 8:20 ET - This is a typical contrarian play for me. Everyone will be high on the Panthers because they demolished the Saints last week. Everyone will be down on the Texans because they lost by double digits at Cleveland last week plus they lost their starting QB to injury. Give me Houston here! For one thing they are at home and they played very well in their first game of the season here. For another thing Carolina is on the road for the first time this season. Yes they have impressed so far this season but the Panthers faced a bad Jets team in week one and then caught the Saints off a big win over Green Bay. Lets not forget the Panthers lost 9 of last 11 games last season. Carolina also went 0-2 last season when off a win in which they allowed 13 points or less. Now here the Panthers are laying 8 points in that exact situation! Houston went only 2-4 in final 6 home games last season but 3 of the 4 losses were by 6 or less points. This means if you would have had Houston plus 8 in each of their last 7 regular season home games you would have gone 6-1 ATS. We have a lot of value here with the home dog and, keep in mind, their #2 QB played his college ball in the Pac-12. It is not as if this rookie QB, Davis Mills, has not faced some tough competition in his career. He'll be ready for the big stage here especially after getting some playing time last week and now this week he is at home for this start. Texans make this one helluva game and should cover the spread along the way. I look for this game to be decided by a one-score margin. 10* HOUSTON +8

CFB 10* Top Play Appalachian State Mountaineers -7 vs Marshall Thundering Herd @ 7:30 ET - Revenge game from last season as the Mountaineers lost 17-7 at Marshall despite having an edge in first downs in the game. Look for payback to be delivered here as Appalachian State has played the tougher early season schedule and also has been the stronger defense early this season. When the Mountaineers played East Carolina they dominated and the final score could have been even more dominant as the Pirates simply got some late meaningless scoring. That same East Carolina team just faced Marshall and the late scores were far from meaningless as the Pirates got the 42-38 upset win by rallying in the 4th quarter. The way each of these teams fared against East Carolina says a lot and I like the fact that Marshall just gave up 42 while the Mountaineers are allowing an average of only 19 points per game this season. Home team rolls here and wins this one by double digits. 10* APPALACHIAN STATE -7

MLB Thursday 8* LA Dodgers Run Line -1.5 -155 @ Colorado Rockies @ 3:10 ET - Dodgers lost yesterday's game. Now ace Scherzer takes the mound. Freeland got rocked in most recent home start for Rockies. The Dodgers Scherzer has been incredible in display of his top form. Also he is 10-2 with a 2.23 ERA in road starts this season. Scherzer has allowed 0 runs on 9 hits while striking out 29 in this last 23 innings on the mound spanning his last 3 starts. LA had won 9 of 10 before yesterday's loss. Rockies have been playing well of late but had lost back to back games before yesterday's win. Also, Colorado is 14 games below .500 when facing a team with a winning record this season. The Dodgers are 35 games over .500 when facing a team with a losing record this season. Look for a big bounce back for the road team. I am not crazy about the price here but is reasonable given the likelihood of a blowout road rout in this one. Lay it! 8* LA DODGERS -1.5 -155

CFL Wednesday 10* Top Play Ottawa Redblacks +8.5 vs Hamilton @ 7:30 PM ET - Yes Ottawa has been a horrible team so far this season. Definitely the worst team in the league thus far. However, they have some big edges here as they are at home and playing with extra rest and they are catching Hamilton on the road and playing on short rest. Though the Tiger-Cats defeated the Stampeders last week at home, they actually were outgained in the game and were helped greatly by turnovers. The Ti-Cats are still down to their back-up QB and the Redblacks are going to make a game of this one in my strong opinion. Hamilton will get caught looking ahead to big game with Montreal coming up next week. 10* OTTAWA +8.5

NFL Monday 10* Top Play Detroit Lions +12 - I know that the Packers are generally strong at home and should bounce back here. But for Green Bay to respond and win this game by double digits is what I am doubting. The Packers have some issues. I am not sure how cohesive this group is ever since the Aaron Rodgers off-season saga. This team just looks a bit disjointed. Undoubtedly, talent-wise Green Bay is the better team in this match-up. However, the Lions gained confidence and showed a lot of character in battling back against San Francisco last week. Yes it was a fortunate ATS cover for Detroit but that does not change the fact that it gave new QB Jared Goff and this Lions offense some confidence heading into this week's match-up. Keep in mind Green Bay was turnover-prone last week and just overall it was an ugly performance against the Saints. That said, consider that New Orleans then went on the road yesterday and looked very bad against the Panthers. As for the Niners they went on the road and beat an Eagles team that is playing inspired football early this season. The point is Detroit's cover against San Francisco might be more impressive than first realized and Green Bay's demolishing at the hands of New Orleans might be even worse than originally thought. I would not be surprised to see these teams trade scores a bit and for the Lions to hang around throughout this contest. Look for a game decided by a margin of about 7 points which means we have great value with the big points offered here. 10* DETROIT +12

MLB Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia -1.5 +110 - I respect John Means for the Orioles. He is a very solid pitcher. However, Ranger Suarez has been dominant for the Phillies so Baltimore has no edge in the pitching department here. That said, Baltimore is really in trouble when you compare everything else too. The Phillies have the bullpen edge, lineup edge, and home field edge in this one. Of course this is why they are a big favorite of nearly 2 to 1 on the money line. Where we get our value is on the run line. Phillies actually are available at a plus money price by laying the 1.5 runs and I am looking for a dominating win in this one. Baltimore is 47-102 on the season and 82 of their 102 losses have been by 2 or more runs! The Orioles are slumping again too with losses in 7 of their last 9 games. 6 of those 7 defeats by 2+ runs. The Phillies are off a tight loss to the Mets last night but this followed 4 straight wins. Also, Philadelphia is 4-2 in home starts for Suarez and he has a 1.85 ERA in his 9 starts this season and has dominated out of the pen too. The lefty having a phenomenal season. Again, respect to Means but Suarez has been even better and all the other edges are with the Phillies in this one too and that makes this an easy anti-Baltimore call as we fade one of the worst teams in the majors. 10* PHILADELPHIA -1.5 +110

NFL 10* Top Play Baltimore Ravens +4 - The Ravens are off a disappointing OT loss at Las Vegas on Monday Night. For all intents and purposes, their season is now over. I am being sarcastic of course but I am simply pointing out public perception here as this line has risen on the Chiefs from -2.5 point favorites to being as high as -4.5 point favorites. Keep in mind Kansas City went 14-2 SU last season but only covered 6 of the 16 games. There is a lot of value here in the home dog in this one. Baltimore is off a road loss and now back home and, keep in mind, they got the cash in 10 of their 16 games last season. KC, of course, is a great team but the public is so enamored with them that it often drives their lines too high. I strongly believe that will prove to be the case again here. Last year Mahomes outplayed Jackson and the Chiefs got a dominating road win at Baltimore last September. So everyone expects this game to be the same. The KC defense did not look good at all last week and gave up substantial yardage to the Browns both through the air and on the ground. Keep in mind, when a home dog can get their ground game going they are particularly dangerous. The Chiefs defense was at home last week and still did not look good. They are generally known for being tougher at home but that was not the case last week. That spells trouble as they now take to the road to face a Ravens team that is angry off a loss plus hell-bent on revenge from last season's home loss to these Chiefs. Keep in mind, Ravens were on a 6-0 ATS run prior to losing to the Raiders last week. Look for them to get back into the SU win column here but I will gladly grab the points as added insurance here as well. 10* BALTMORE +4

NFL 8* Buffalo Bills -3 - The Bills lost at home to the Steelers but dominated statistically and were done in by a blocked punt returned for a Pittsburgh TD. Buffalo is much better than the scoreboard showed last week. The Dolphins are off a big divisional win at Foxboro last week but they were statistically dominated by the Patriots. In other words, these teams are off disparate results last week and that is helping to offer line value this week on the better team. Yes Buffalo is on the road but I am happy for that as this is keeping the line manageable. If this game was in upstate New York the line would be nearly double digits and I do not like to lay big points in the NFL. The Dolphins have lost 7 of last 8 versus the Bills and I expect that streak to continue here and look for the road favorites to pull away for big win as Miami gets caught still celebrating big upset win over New England last week. 8* BUFFALO -3

CFL Saturday 10* Top Play Edmonton +7 - The Elks are starting back-up QB. I am well aware of this but, at home and with solid running skills, Taylor Cornelius is going to be a pleasant surprise. Getting a full +7 with Edmonton at home is a huge value. The Elks have been very strong statistically this season and should have a better record. They have a solid defense and added another key piece to that defense with a recent star acquisition. This team solid on both sides of the ball and they catch Winnipeg off a key divisional win over Saskatchewan. The set up here is perfect for a home dog upset. Yes the Blue Bombers have been very solid early this season but laying a full 7 on the road against a quality home team is simply too much. Yes the Elks Cornelius is making his first start at QB but he has solid QB skills and there is a big difference between making your first ever start at home comparted to on the road. He is going to have a solid game and this defense for the Elks also keys a very tight game decided by a single score margin in my strong estimation. 10* EDMONTON +7

CFB Saturday 10* Top Play Penn State Nittany Lions -5 - Not only has Penn State won at Wisconsin, the big win they had over Ball State means they did defeat the MAC Champions of a year ago quite handily. Granted Auburn is a very strong SEC team but this game is at Happy Valley where PSU is known for being a tough team to face. The Nittany Lions hold a key edge here too and that is the fact that the Tigers QB has struggled on the road. While the Auburn QB has solid overall numbers in his career, the positive production has come at home whereas on the road Bo Nix has thrown as many picks as touchdowns. It is no wonder the Tigers have had some road struggles during his time under center. Long term this Auburn team has only covered 32% of the time the last 25 times they have been a road dog. Look for Penn State to carry momentum from their strong start to the season right into this game. This is a night game at Beaver Stadium and the crowd will be roaring with the ESPN cameras on hand. The Nittany Lions defense returned the majority of key contributors from last season's team and I look for this D to make things very tough on Nix and the Tigers offense as his long-term road struggles continue. The line from a 7 down to a 5 is leading to solid line value here as well! 10* PENN STATE -5

CFL 8* Montreal Alouettes -2.5 - The Als are off a bye week and they also opened the season with a bye. Montreal is playing just their 2nd home game of the season and they lost their first one. They want this game and they will get it! BC has a solid record but 2 of their games were against a bad Ottawa team. The Redblacks are so much worse than everyone else in the league right now. One of the Lions road wins was at Ottawa and the other road win was at Calgary in a game in which the Stampeders threw 4 picks. The other road game was BC's season opener in which they only lost by 4 points but they were down huge early in that game. I do not see the Als being denied at home here and they have the fresher legs right now and the Lions simply a bit over-valued, particularly on the road, because of the reasons I just mentioned. 8* MONTREAL -2.5

CFB Saturday 8* Purdue Boilermakers +7.5 - I am not sold on this Notre Dame team. Not at all. They barely hung on to beat Florida State in their season opener. Keep in mind the Seminoles then lost to Jacksonville State last week so that Fighting Irish tight win over the Noles looks even more concerning right now. Then last week, even though at home, the Irish barely hung on to beat Toledo. While the Rockets are generally a respectable program, that is still a MAC team. Now ND renews an old rivalry with Purdue. Generally speaking, I like having the points in rivalry games if I feel the programs match-up quite well. In this case, I certainly like the fact that Notre Dame has been struggling to win games and the Boilermakers are off to a solid start. Yes the Boilers played a bad UConn team last week but they faced a respectable Oregon State team in their prior game. Boilermakers QB Jack Plummer has been playing very well and not making mistakes. This Irish team going to have trouble pulling away in this one and I look for it to go down to the wire. 8* PURDUE +7.5

CFB Friday 10* Top Play Louisville +7 - The Cardinals lost to an Ole Miss team in week 1 that has certainly looked very sharp early this season. I feel we have great home dog value here as a result. Yes the Rebels proved very tough on the Louisville defense in week 1 but they were one of the best offenses in the nation last year. Yes the Knights are a fantastic offense too but the Cards were more competitive in week 1 than the final score showed. They had chances to put points on the board early and did not and the game got away from them after that. I don't see that happening again here. Central Florida is not the exact same powerhouse when they are on the road and this game is going to be a challenge for them. I would argue that Louisville has the better defense in this match-up plus the better special teams units overall and when you add that to home field edge plus getting about a full TD here as a dog I like my chances with the hosts here. Look for UCF to drop to 4-8 ATS that last dozen times they have been a road favorite. It has not shown up yet from an ATS standpoint but this Cardinals team is improved this season but flying under the radar due to an 0-2 ATS start. The result is line value in this spot. 10* LOUISVILLE +7

CFL Friday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders +2.5 - I absolutely do respect the Tiger-Cats defense. However, they have a major issue at QB. They lost starting QB Dane Evans to injury last week and now they are starting a guy, David Watford, who has hardly played at the CFL level. This is no disrespect to him but just saying it is going to be a difficult situation for him. For Calgary, the situation is completely different. Not only is Bo Levi Mitchell back, the other QB that had filled in him for was fantastic. Jake Maier can step right if Mitchell got hurt again. The point is that right now the Stampeders have two healthy quarterbacks that are both better than the Tiger-Cats current starting QB. Losing Evans really hurts this team. I look for the Stamps to build off last week's dominating win at Edmonton and get another big road win here. Note that Hamilton is still over-valued because of their success in the 2019 season. This Ti-Cats team simply is not the same team right now. They are likely to struggle to score points here. 10* CALGARY +2.5

NFL 10* Top Play New York Giants +3.5 - Remember at the end of last season when the Eagles former head coach Doug Pederson seemingly surrendered the last game of the season when it was very important to the Giants playoff chances? That game did not directly involve New York but it did directly involve Washington and it ended up handing the NFC East title to the Football Team rather than the Giants. Soon New York will have their chance at payback over the Eagles but, first things first, the Giants get a shot at the team that took the NFC East title over them last year. I like New York's chances to get some payback here! Washington will have their #2 QB going here as Heinicke gets the start because Fitzpatrick going to be out some time now with a hip injury. He will probably miss 6 to 8 weeks and Heinicke is now the guy. Though he has shown some flashes of strong play he is still rather inexperienced at the NFL level and there is a reason coach Ron Rivera had selected Fitzpatrick as the starter of course. Look for the Giants defense to force some errors on Heinicke's part in this one. Both teams off losses last week but Washington was statistically dominated while the stats differential in the Giants game showed slimmer margins. I also like the fact that New York has won 5 straight games over Washington and look for that to reach 6 in a row here. 10* NEW YORK GIANTS +3.5

NCAAF 10* Top Play Louisiana -20 - The Bobcats are a mess as long-time veteran head coach Frank Solich stepping down over the summer really seemed to hurt this program. While Tim Albin already was with the program, the head coaching experience here is new to him and Ohio University has really struggled. After a season-opening home loss to Syracuse by a 20 point margin the Bobcats should have been ready to respond. The fact they then lost again at home, and this time to an FCS program, speaks volumes about the state of this team right now. Certainly I also know that UL Lafayette did not look good last week and were also facing an FCS opponent. However, the difference is that the Ragin' Cajuns came into this season as a ranked team and were off a demoralizing loss at Texas to open the season. Louisiana was still getting over that defeat when they barely edged Nicholls State last week. That said, I look for ULL to finally play a complete game here and they will not take their foot off the gas here. The Bobcats have been particularly bad on defense early this season and ULL will pound away all game long. Also, Ohio U only scored 9 points in their only game against an FBS school this season. The stats of the ULL game at Texas show that the Cajuns were not as bad as the final score shows. That being said, we truly have value here even with this big number. I expect the home team to win by 4 to 5 touchdowns in this one as the Bobcats continue to suffer some early season growing pains under Albin. 10* LOUISIANA -20

9* Top Play Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 -130 - The Brewers lost yesterday in an unexpected 1-0 extra-innings battle. That made no sense based on the pitching match-up and the way those two starters had been pitching. That said, look for reality to return this afternoon. Brandon Woodruff has a 2.48 ERA in his 27 starts this season. Matt Manning has a 6.13 ERA in his 14 starts this season. In the last road start Woodruff made, he allowed 1 earned run in 6 innings. In the last home start Manning made, he allowed 8 earned runs in less than 4 innings of work. Brewers 49-25 on the road this season. Tigers have been a decent team this season but this one set up to be a complete mismatch and a road rout should result. 9* Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 -130

MLB 10* Top Play Philadelphia Run Line -1.5 +100 - The Phillies offering great line value here. I know Kyle Gibson has struggled last two starts but both were on the road. Between his time with both the Rangers and Phillies this season, Texas and Philadelphia went 10-1 in his 11 home starts. Gibson has a 7-1 record this season pitching has a host with a fantastic 1.59 ERA. He has pitched very well at Citizens Ball Park since coming to Philly. As for the Cubs, they have lost 3 straight and 4 of last 5 and those games were at home. On the road this season Chicago has a 26-43 record and I am expecting another blowout road loss here. The Cubs are 32-52 this season against teams with a winning record. Adrian Sampson has good numbers this season but in limited action. This is a guy who is 6-14 with a 5.37 ERA in his 47 career MLB games (22 starts). Phillies still very much alive in the playoff race and yesterday's off-day will prove to serve them well here as Gibson and his teammates bounce back big at home. 10* PHILADELPHIA -1.5 runs +100

NFL 10* Top Play BALTIMORE -4 - Way back in May when the NFL schedules first came out, the Ravens were in the range of a full TD favorite. Now the line is down to a -4. I'll take it! Defense wins football games. Take a look at the results so far in Week 1 to gauge what I am telling you. The teams that allowed 16 points or less went 10-0. Only one of the wins was by less than a 4 point margin by the way. But what about teams that score real well. Surely they do perfectly well also, right? Actually you would be surprised. There were 5 teams that scored 21 points or more and still lost their games. Those 5 teams averaged 27.2 points per game. That is not a bad scoring average but, as you can see, it is still defense that wins the games. Now look at this match-up. The Ravens are known for having huge preseasons and then opening the new season with a week one win in blowout fashion and I do not see this game being any different. Baltimore was one of the best defenses in the league last season. Las Vegas was one of the worst. The Raiders made some moves in the off-season to address their poor D but it will take some time for the units to jell on that side of the ball. I love the fact that the Ravens are on the road here because we get a much more favorable line. At home they would be a double digit favorite. Instead, on the road and because the betting public is enamored with the Las Vegas team being at home and having a potent offense, we get a low line of only -4. This one should be an absolute rout as the Raiders may hang around for awhile but this Ravens team too strong on both sides of the ball and that eventually wears down Vegas as this game goes on and the road fave should pull away for a win by a double digit margin. 10* BALTIMORE -4

10* Top Play Los Angeles Rams -7.5 - The Rams had the #1 defense in the NFL last season. The Bears and Rams had similar production on offense last season in terms of points per game but the Bears ranked 26th based on yardage while Los Angeles was 11th. Also, consider this key fact, Matthew Stafford is a gamer that played for a bad Lions team for years. The new Rams QB comes from Detroit where the Lions register double digits in losses year after year. Now he comes to LA where the Rams have averaged double digits in wins the last 3 years. Stafford could truly excel now on a much better team and this Bears defense is "okay" but still a little suspect in my mind. They are definitely not on the Rams level. That being said, you have the better defense and better offense and the much better overall team. Keep in mind Chicago is now going with Andy Dalton at QB. No disrespect to him as I have always felt he is a real gamer too but his best seasons are behind him. Coming to Chicago is not going to change his fortunes like Stafford going to the Rams will do. Dalton 30 tds and 22 ints last 2 seasons and one of those with a Cowboys team that had some talent. Look at Stafford's last 2 years, both with bad Lions teams, and he piled up a ton of yardage and threw for 45 td's against just 15 int's. This line is low as 7.5 which if you give the Rams say 3.5 points for home field edge that would mean the line is -4 on a neutral field. I feel, based on all the match-up edges here, LA is much better than 4 points in comparison with the Bears. I wish we could get -7 here of course but that won't happen but I am expecting the Chicago offense to struggle badly to score and that means Rams by 2 TDs in this one in my opinion so we still have great value here. 10* LOS ANGELES RAMS

MLB 10* Philadelphia Phillies Run Line -1.5 runs -120 vs Colorado Rockies @ 1:05 ET - Momentum is huge in any sport and the clubhouse spirit will finally be much better in Philly than it has been. Not only did they get a much needed win yesterday to snap their losing skid, the Phillies also saw all the teams they are chasing each lose. The Braves, Reds, Padres all lost yesterday and so Philly picked up a game in both the divisional race and the race for the final wild card spot. Snapping their losing skid yesterday look for the Phillies to come up with another big win here. Wil grab the run line of course because Philadelphia is priced very high in this game so the money line is out of the question. But the run line should prove well worth it as the Rockies have been dreadful on the road this season and the Phillies have a huge pitching edge here. Colorado is 20-51 in road games this season and Feltner got destroyed in his first start of the season last Sunday against the Braves. As for Nola, though he has been up and down this season, he has been more consistent again at home this season. Solid 3.33 ERA at Citizens Bank Park plus a very impressive 0.99 WHIP at home. The Phillies are 5-0 in Nola starts versus Rockies and he has a 3.06 ERA in those 5 outings in his career. Keep in mind that includes outings at hitter-friendly Coors Field too. 10* PHILADELPHIA -1.5 -120

NFL 8* Indianapolis Colts +3 - Generally speaking I like home dogs in the NFL. This is particularly true when that home dog is a well-coached solid football team. The Colts check all the boxes in that regard and I expect Carson Wentz, re-united with former Eagles OC Frank Reich (now HC of Colts) to enjoy solid success here. The thing is he is on a much better overall football team as the Eagles were trending the wrong way and have truly turned into a dysfunctional organization. If Wentz stays healthy, just watch what he does with the Colts long-term. Maybe he won't have his best game right out of the gate here but he does not have to have his A game here. The Colts are solid defensively and also can be strong with ground game and through the shorter passing attack. Definitely I have respect for the Seahawks but they have covered just 3 times in theirs last 14 road openers. Seattle was great at home last season but ATS but struggled on the road. In fact, if you took the home team in every Seahawks game last season you went 12-4 ATS with your bets! Statistically the Colts were the better team last season for overall offense, overall defense, and in terms of pass protection. I know Seattle ended up with the better record but you can see why I am seeing line value here especially with the line move. I'll grab the home dog that went from being a -3 in this match-up to a full 6-point swing the other way and they are now a 3-point dog. I'll take it! 8* INDIANAPOLIS

10* Top Play Michigan -6.5 - The Wolverines lost star WR Bell to a season-ending injury last week but the situation at WR for the Huskies is much much worse right now! When you look at who was expected to be the top 3 wide receivers on the depth chart all 3 are out right now! Of the 2nd teamers another guy is out as well right now. No wonder QB Dylan Morris threw 3 picks last week. How can the Huskies be in sync on offense when all the guys they thought they would be relying on to catch the ball are all out? Making matters worse, last week's game was a home game for Washington and was against an FCS school. Now they go on the road to the Big House and take on a Wolverines team hell-bent on having a better season this year. Michigan already pounded out a win over Western Michigan last week. Yes that is a MAC school but it was an impressive win nonetheless and these Wolverines are much more in sync right now on both sides of the ball than the Huskies are. Keep in mind, Washington played only 4 games last season and that was with a first year coach. Compare that to coach Jim Harbaugh, who love him or hate him, is now in his 7th season in his current tenure as Michigan's head coach and he is now 50-22 after last week's win. The retooled coaching staff under him has already implemented some positive changes for this season and I look for this very hungry team to "bring it" again on Saturday night and win this game by a margin of 2 to 3 touchdowns as the Huskies problems in the passing games are a major concern because they can not turn to the ground game for an alternative. Last week they were outgained 127 to 65 on the ground by Montana. The Wolverines only have Northern Illinois on deck so they were fully focused on this game as their toughest one in the first few contests of the season. That is bad news for Washington. This one gets ugly! 10* MICHIGAN -6.5

8* East Carolina +2.5 - The Pirates opened up as a 2.5 point favorite here and have now swung around to being a 2.5 point dog. That is because they are facing a team from the might SEC. However, South Carolina is far from being a mighty team and just because they are in the SEC does not mean they go on the road and win this game. There are going to be struggles for the Gamecocks this season because they have a new head coach and new systems and they do not have much at the skill positions either. This East Carolina team is going to be much improved in their 3rd year under coach Houston. Pirates off 14-point loss but faced a respectable Appalachian State team on the road. The Gamecocks are off a 46-0 win, albeit against FCS opponent Eastern Illinois. The point is that the pubic is all over the SEC school in this match-up and you look at last week's results and it makes it seem the odds makers do not know what they are doing here. Long time followers know how I feel about that! A lot of respect for the odds makers and they had it right when they had the Pirates favored in this one. I am fading the line move and taking advantage of the line value. 8* EAST CAROLINA +2.5

10* Top Play HAMILTON +3 - The Tiger-Cats were the top team in the East last season and went all the way to the Grey Cup Game where they fell short against Winnipeg. This Hamilton team is still being undervalued by the markets. Yes they started the season 0-2 with a pair of losses out west against teams known for being very strong at home. However, the Tiger-Cats have responded by winning two straight games in divisional action and now here is their chance to start creating some separation in the division. Right now things are very tight in the division and I know Toronto wants revenge here because of the loss last week at Hamilton. However, revenge is over-valued and the Argos still are too mistake-prone and not quite on the level of this Ti-Cats team just yet. 10* HAMILTON +3

10* KANSAS +26.5 - I know the Jayhawks have been a horrible team but Lance Leopold is a great coach. Granted he got a late start with this team as he was hired later than most new coaches are hired coming into a season. However, he is still - especially with help of coaching staff he brought over from Buffalo - going to get more out of this team than his predecessors have been getting here. They did struggled to run the ball against an FCS foe last week but I like how the defense performed. I also like the fact that, even as bad as the Jayhawks have been the last two seasons, they won the yardage battle against Coastal Carolina last season and the yardage battle was nearly equal in the 12-7 loss the year before that. The point is that there is not such a great separation between these programs as you would be led to believe by the huge spread posted on this game. I look for the Jayhawks to still lose this game by a couple touchdowns but that still gives us some cushion with this line at nearly four touchdowns! This team is going to play hard for Leopold and his staff and last week's game against an FCS foe was a good chance for the team to work through some early season issues. No overnight miracles here with these Jayhawks but I expect a competitive effort here and feel the Chanticleers will also be content to turn to their ground game and just start running clock once they do have a big lead. 10* KANSAS +26.5

Thursday Thrasher - Rickenbach NFL Rotation #451 Thursday 10* Top Play Dallas Cowboys +8 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ 8:20 ET - As long-time followers know, being a contrarian is ingrained into my long-term handicapping skillsets. That said, there is no sport more so than NFL where being a contrarian is a huge key to long-term success. I have also talked before about the sharpness of odds makers and about trusting their numbers in plenty of situations. Odds makers are known for being particularly sharp in the NFL and this is one of those cases where I am putting particularly strong faith in their numbers. Roll back the calendar 7 months ago and just imagine if the Super Bowl was on a neutral field and imagine if it was possible for two NFC teams to square off for the title and it was the 5-11 Cowboys against the 11-5 Bucs. Now make a line. Would your line have been -3? Of course not! Yet take a look at this now in the opening game of 2021. I could be proven wrong but I don't think I will but this could be the biggest "trap line" set in a long time. I am not a believe that the odds makers set trap lines on purpose. I am just saying when something looks "off" it generally fools the public and it is the sharps that end up cashing in. So back to that -3. When lines first opened on this game, and keep in mind the Bucs have all 22 starters back, the first number was a -6 in mid-May. Since this game is being played in TB that line is telling you the Bucs would only be a 3-point favorite on a neutral field. So now, according to the betting masses, the books have it all wrong. This line has been bet up to as high as an 8.5 and the odds makers just do not know what their doing. I am saying they did know what they are doing and the Cowboys are going to be a much improved team this season. The Bucs are, of course, still the better team but I look for this game to be decided by just a single score. Note that last season Dallas was without Prescott for 11 games and it was a disaster season in Dallas. This team will be much improved in year two under coach McCarthy. As for the Bucs, look for them to get caught being a little too "fat and happy" after last year's glorious season where everything seemingly broke their way for a clear path to the SB title. The Cowboys will punch them in the mouth a bit in this game and it will be a lot more competitive than most people are thinking. Keep in mind Tampa Bay went just 4-3 their last 7 home games last season and one of the wins was by 7 points and, overall, only 5 of the Buccaneers final 12 games (including playoffs) leading into their Super Bowl victory was a win by more than 8 points. Just a lot of value after the line move with this one and the odds makers had it right in my opinion so we'll happily grab the value on the other side in typical NFL contrarian style. 10* DALLAS

Run Line Rout - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #926 Wednesday 10* Top Play Arizona Diamondbacks Run Line -1.5 runs +130 vs Texas Rangers @ 3:40 ET - The Diamondbacks have lost 9 of 10 while the Rangers have won 6 of 9 and yet Arizona is favored as high as -165 on the money line as of very early gameday morning. Big mistake, right? Not at all but rather than laying that kind of price range, I am turning this around to a +130 payback by taking the Diamondbacks on the run line. Note that no team in MLB has fewer one-run wins than Arizona. In other words, if you like them to win, you generally come out much better laying the 1.5 runs with this team. 37 of their 45 wins have been by 2+ runs! As for the Rangers, 69 of their 88 losses have been by 2+ runs this season. The key in this one is the pitching match-up as Kohei Arihara has a 6.19 ERA this season while Luke Weaver, another starter who just came back to the rotation (like Arihara), is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his home starts this season. Also, Weaver looked great in his first start back. The home team dominates after yesterday's putrid performance. 10* ARIZONA -1.5 runs +130

ESPN Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #225 Monday 10* Top Play Louisville Cardinals (+) vs Ole Miss Rebels @ 8 ET - I have plenty of respect for the coordinators for the Rebels but they could have their hands full without their head coach (Lane Kiffin covid) here and facing a Cardinals team that is on a mission for big improvement under head coach Scott Satterfield this season. The key about the Rebels is they have a very bad defense. The Cards are going to score points here. The other thing is that, is a good as that Ole Miss offense is, I expect the Rebels to get caught trying to do a little too much here. What I mean by that is mistakes offensively because, without Kiffin on the sidelines, the play-calling will not be quite the same. There will be pressure on offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to call a great gameplan here but will this hurt the rhythm of the offense? Keep in mind Rebels QB Matt Corral had some great numbers last season but if you look at their non-home games last season (this is a neutral site match-up) the Rebels went just 3-2 and two of the three wins were by 6 or less points with one of the wins in OT. Also, Corral threw 11 of his 14 interceptions on the season in two of those road games - at Arkansas and LSU. The road game that was an OT win was at Kentucky. The other tight win was the bowl game against Indiana. We all just saw the Hoosiers get smoked by Iowa Saturday. As for Arky, LSU, and Kentucky - none of the 3 teams had a winning record last season! I am not saying the Rebels will not win this game but I feel hanging onto any type of margin will prove difficult. The porous Ole Miss defense also gives the Cardinals great backdoor cover potential should we need it. Tremendous respect for the Rebels capabilities on offense but also note that Louisville had the #1 pass rated defense in the ACC last season and ranked 17th nationally as they allowed only 189.2 yards per game through the air. This game should be a battle all the way to the end. Grab the big points. 10* LOUISVILLE +10

ESPNews Network Rout - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #677 Monday 10* Top Play Edmonton Elks +6 @ Calgary Stampeders @ 4:30 ET - The Stampeders have played the tougher schedule. Also, they are at home for this rivalry game. However, there is plenty of reason to like the Elks in this one. I know their schedule has been a little weaker but in their 30-13 loss to Montreal the yardage was nearly equal. In their other two games they outgained their opponents by about 250 yards in one and 300 yards in the other. It is very hard to ignore domination like that and I like Edmonton getting 6 points here considering how tough their defense has been too this season. The Elks D has a lot of confidence right now and this offense actually averaging more yardage per game than any other team in the CFL. That said, love fading the line move here too as it went from an early opener of 3 to now as high as 6.5 for this Monday afternoon match-up. The Stampeders are a better team than their record shows but, still, they will have their hands full here. Also, with their #2 QB playing well but the #1 QB now coming back from injury, could this disrupt the chemistry on offense? I say yes it will and the Stamps will struggle just to win this game let alone cover the sizable spread. Elks off a bye week afforded by covid and they won their game solidly before the bye and were strong both on the ground and through the air and the defense does a great job with its pass rush. There is a lot to like in Edmonton right now but they are flying under the radar because of their 1-2 record. Grab the generous points. 10* EDMONTON

Perfection Play - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Monday 10* Top Play Los Angeles Dodgers Run Line -1.5 -120 @ St Louis Cardinals @ 4:15 ET - The Dodgers are off a loss last night as Walker Buehler had a rare bad start at San Francisco. Look for a dominating effort from Max Scherzer to put them right back into the win column. The only thing I do not like about this play is it a day game in a back to back spot and the Dodgers had to travel east for it after playing on Sunday Night baseball last night. However, their game was a 4 PM local time start yesterday in San Francisco and so the travel situation really not all that bad. As for Scherzer, he is 4-0 with a dominating 1.29 ERA i his 6 starts since coming to the Dodgers! He also has held the Cardinals scoreless over 13 innings while striking out 20 in his last two starts against them including one this season! He'll be opposed by Miles Mikolas for St Louis. The Cardinals right-hander is off back to back starts in which he has allowed a total of 7 earned runs in a total of only 7 and 1/3 innings on the mound. Now facing a Dodgers lineup in bounce back mode, I do not expect this start to go well at all for Mikolas. Also, the Cardinals have to be feeling very "defeated" mentally after blowing a 5-1 ninth inning lead at Milwaukee yesterday. That is a crushing loss for a team chasing a playoff spot. The Dodgers, supported by the brilliance of Scherzer, take full advantage. 10* LOS ANGELES DODGERS Run Line -1.5 -120

Money Line Marquee - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #224 Sunday 10* Top Play Florida State Seminoles Money Line +240 vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ 7:30 ET - No points needed here. We already saw a few upsets in Week 1 of CFB involving top 25 teams and we are going to see another one here in my opinion. This game is the chance to put Florida State back on the map in College Football. Why are they are only a TD underdog to a team that went 10-0 in the ACC regular season last year while the Seminoles went 2-6 in ACC action? Precisely! This Notre Dame team, of course, is still going to be a quality team this season. However, the Fighting Irish had so much turnover from last season's team. Particularly concerning are major losses on offense and they lost nearly their entire offensive line. That is bad news against a Seminoles defense hell-bent on playing much better this season. They added some key players through the transfer portal and this FSU defense is going to be much better this season. At home, with the nationally televised cameras rolling and being the only game on the big board, watch the Noles step up very big here and shock an over-rated Notre Dame team still living off last year's successes. This team is really a shell of its former self and is going to be knocked off right away here in game one. The Seminoles have a different look and different attitude coming into this season and have two quarterbacks available now with returning starter Jordan Travis and senior transfer McKenzie Milton both an option to start. ND has a new defensive coordinator who certainly comes in with a strong resume (was with Cincinnati!) but the loss of Clark Lea at DC and some key players on the defensive side of the ball that spearheaded the D before could certainly hurt. Keep in mind, in the first year under FSU head coach Mike Norvell, there were a lot of leftover players from the Fisher and Taggart days. A lot of those players, many unhappy, were dragging down the ship last season. Those guys are gone and there is a lot of strong talent happy to be here that is ready to step right in. I feel the Noles are going to surprise here in week one right away and Notre Dame lost more than half their starters from last year! Upset alert! 10* FLORIDA STATE +240

AL RL Game of the Year - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #966 Sunday 10* Top Play Toronto Blue Jays Run Line -1.5 runs +100 vs Oakland A's @ 1:07 ET - Robbie Ray is on incredible run right now while Cole Irvin is struggling badly. Of course that is a big part of the reason the Blue Jays are a 2 to 1 money line favorite here. Where we get the value is by playing the run line as Toronto is available as low as even money by laying the 1.5 runs! This should certainly be a home blowout and note that 59 of the Blue Jays 72 wins this season have been by two or more runs! Ray has allowed just 9 earned runs in his last 7 starts spanning 47 innings! Also, he has struck out 35 batters in 22 innings in his last 3 starts! Ray is in top current form. As for Irvin, he is definitely at the other end of the spectrum. The Athletics left-hander has a 5.93 ERA his last 3 starts and he is fortunate that is not even higher! Irvin has a 2.12 WHIP in his last 3 starts. That means 2 baserunners per inning on average and he has 8 walks against only 3 strikeouts in his last 3 starts! This looks like a complete pitching mismatch plus Oakland has just 6 wins last 19 games while the Jays have won 6 of their last 7 games! 10* TORONTO -1.5 runs +100 

Bulldog's Best - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #213 Saturday 10* Top Play LSU Tigers -2.5 @ UCLA @ 8:30 ET - The Bruins have the edge of a game under their belt. Trouble is that game was against a Hawaii team that certainly did not look too good! This is the same UCLA team that only had 3 wins last season and the teams they beat went a combined 3-10 for the season. I still do not trust the Bruins QB against top tier competition. UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is going to have to prove to me that he can win a big game like this before I would hesitate to fade him. His Bruins just are not quite ready and this Tigers team comes into this game angry. Remember they just won the national championship but now are coming off a disappointing 5-5 season. Their defense was bad and they can not wait to make up for that. The process of the turnaround begins right here in Pasadena in Game One of the season and this highly talented SEC team goes on the road and makes a statement in their first game of the season. Love the fact that the line opened up in the -5 range over the summer but now is a -2.5 on gameday morning. We are getting great value here and keep in mind LSU projected to have a big bounce back season in a very tough SEC while the Bruins also play in a solid conference for sure but still UCLA nowhere close to the top tier programs like Oregon and USC in the Pac-12. Most of the rest of that conference nowhere close to SEC level and we have got great value with the Tigers here because everyone still remembering their disappointing campaign last season. 10* LSU -2.5

NOTE: Match-up now going EARLY Saturday instead of Thursday EVENING so the write-up below just slightly modified for the schedule change: Earliest Dominator - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #229 Saturday 8* Temple Owls (+) @ Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ NOON ET - The Scarlet Knights were about an 11 point favorite when lines first were released on this match-up. Now Rutgers is favored by 14.5 points as of very early Friday morning. I am grabbing the points with Temple. Since 2014 (the last season Rutgers went to a bowl) the Scarlet Knights have only two wins over an FBS school by more than 11 points. Those two wins were over UMass in 2019 and Texas State in 2018. Annually those are two of the worst football programs in the country. Now I am well aware of the fact that the Owls are certainly not a football factory by any stretch of the imagination. However, Temple was one of the teams most hurt by the covid-19 restrictions last season and have a relatively new head coach compared to Greg Schiano who was beginning his 2nd stint with the Scarlet Knights after already spending a decade here through 2011. The Owls head coach is Rod Carey who was only in his 2nd season here at Temple after 7 years as head coach at Northern Illinois. The Owls have enough skill and athleticism on offense to keep this game closer than many are expecting. Temple is also strong enough in the trenches to go "punch for punch" with a physical Scarlet Knights team. This game will play out as a bit of a war and I really expect the Knights to struggle to pull away and expect this game to be decided by just a one score margin. Great value with this line moving past the +14 key number. 8* TEMPLE +14.5

ESPN Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #154 Friday 10* Top Play Northwestern Wildcats (-) vs Michigan State Spartans @ 9 PM ET - The earliest numbers that came out on this game showed the oddsmakers set Northwestern as a 7.5 point favorite and the Cats now are all the way down to a -3 as of very early Friday morning. That means the betting markets are saying these teams are even on a neutral field and the Wildcats are essentially still getting the normal 3 points teams are often considered to have as a home field edge. I am not buying that. The Wildcats lost last season's game with the Spartans courtesy of 4 turnovers. It was their only loss of the regular season and is the first time in nearly a decade that they have lost back to back meetings with Michigan State. Northwestern will get some payback here. First off they are extremely well coached and have an excellent coaching staff put together. Secondly they are a system based team. They can not get the same talent that the bigger Big Ten schools are able to attract and bring in with their top recruits but it is their systems, smarts, hard work, and execution that make them a tough team. The problem with Michigan State (my pick to battle Rutgers for the worst spot in the Big Ten East) is that they have a head coach (Tucker) in his 3rd year overall as a head coach (2nd year with the Spartans) and he is trying to implement his systems but with many veteran players left over that were Dantonio recruits. The Spartans only other win last season, other than upsetting the Wildcats, was winning their annual biggest game of the year (versus rival Michigan). Other than that the Spartans had 5 losses and were outscored by a combined 202 to 70. Yes that works out to an average score of 40 to 14. I am not necessarily expecting that big of a margin here but this one will get ugly for Michigan State fans. The Spartans may get better as the season goes on but this team still trying to adjust to Tucker and his systems. 10* NORTHWESTERN -3

East Div GAME OF THE MONTH - Rickenbach CFL Friday 10* Top Play Ottawa Redblacks +7.5 vs Montreal Alouettes @ 7:30 ET - These teams have traditionally played on Labour Day weekend in Canada for many years. The games are almost always tight. The odds makers know this too. This line opened up at a 2.5 and yet has been driven all the way up to a 7.5 and that means it is "go time" with the Redblacks in this one. Tremendous home dog value here. The offense looked much better for Ottawa last week in what was their first home game of the season. They should build off that performance this week and have much more in the way of points on the scoreboard to show for it. Montreal is simply over-valued here. This is particularly true when you consider they will be without a key O-lineman and key D-lineman in this game. The Alouettes have been a pleasant surprise early this season but this is a rivalry game and they are on the road and the Redblacks are showing signs of turning the corner. I will gladly grab the generous points being offered to the home dog in this one. 10* OTTAWA +7.5

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Thursday 10* Top Play Oakland A's Run Line -1.5 runs +100 @ Detroit Tigers @ 1:10 ET - The A's have moved up Frankie Montas to start today's game and that is bad news for the Tigers. Montas has been in phenomenal form since the All Star break with a 2.16 ERA and holding opponents to a .203 BAA. Montas also is 4-2 with a 2.52 ERA in day game starts this season. He'll be opposed by Matt Manning of the Tigers in this one. The Detroit right-hander does have a lower ERA in the 2nd half of the season than he did in the 1st half but he has been quite fortunate. Manning got hit at a .330 clip in August and yet had a 5.23 ERA. As a result of some good fortune, he enters this start with a 3.24 ERA his last 3 starts. This is helping to give us some line value here with Oakland because Manning's stuff is still very hittable and the A's have averaged 5 runs per game last 6 games and had won 3 in a row before yesterday's 8-6 loss. That Tigers win was a rare offensive explosion as Detroit entered Wednesday's game averaging just 2 runs scored per game their last half dozen contests. Look for normalcy to return today and the Tigers resume their losing ways. Detroit had lost 4 straight prior to yesterday's win. Also, the Tigers are 38-50 against right-handers this season and the Athletics are 18-8 against AL Central division opponents this season. 53 of 71 Tigers losses by 2+ runs and 54 of 73 Oakland wins by 2+ runs this season. Those season-long trends continue with a road rout today! 10* OAKLAND Run Line -1.5 runs +100

ESPN Annihilation - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #907 Wednesday 10* Top Play UAB Blazers -15 vs Jacksonville State Gamecocks @ 7:30 ET - The Blazers are a strong CUSA team. The Gamecocks are a solid program but are an FCS team. This is a step up in class for them. Remember last year Jacksonville State faced Florida State and jumped out to a 14-0 lead partially benefitting from an INT return for a touchdown. The Seminoles, who only won two other games last season by the way, stormed back for a blowout win. This UAB team is rock solid on both sides of the ball and very strong in the trenches. The Blazers defense looks particularly solid this season. As for the strength along the O-line and D-line that is where UAB will get the keys to this victory. Jacksonville State does have a solid QB, he was formerly a back-up at Clemson, but if his teammates are getting beat everywhere else on the field there is not much he can do. UAB begins the season with 4 games away from home (this is a neutral site game) so I expect them to be fully focused here and am expecting them to wear down Jacksonville State as this game goes on. The Blazers can wear teams down on the ground and the Gamecocks might be able to hang around in the first half but eventually UAB is just too strong and has the big talent edge and will eventually pull away and win this game by 20+ in my opinion. 10* UAB Blazers -15

NL East Game of the Year - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Run Line -1.5 runs -100 @ Washington Nationals @ 7:05 ET - When you look at Zach Wheeler's ERA last 3 starts and then Josiah Gray's ERA last 3 starts, the money line in the -170 range posted on this game would not make sense to you. However, Wheeler was left in his last start too long and has been fantastic this season. This looks like the perfect spot for him to bounce right back. The Phillies are 6-1 at Washington this season. Also, Philadelphia has some momentum heading into this game after taking 3 straight from the Diamondbacks. As for the Nationals, they have been heading the wrong direction for quite some time now. Yesterday's loss dropped Washington to 2-6 last 8 games. Also, the Nats have lost 18 of 24 games. 7 of Washington's last 9 losses have been by a margin of 2 or more runs. The Phillies have scored 7 runs in 4 straight games and also scored 7 runs in most recent road games. The Nationals only had 3 hits yesterday and have scored an average of just 3.6 runs per game last 7 games. The Phillies in a road rout in this one as Wheeler comes up big and Gray gets hit hard as the road team is getting a 2nd look at the young hurler - 1st start against them 4 weeks ago. 10* Philadelphia Run Line -1.5 +100

Game of the Month - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #686 Sunday 10* Top Play Winnipeg Blue Bombers -6.5 vs Calgary Stampeders @ 7 ET - I really like Jake Maier for Calgary at QB and he got much better as last week's game went on after a rough early start. That showed resilience and he also showed a lot of grit and determination in the 28-22 win versus Montreal. However, the back-up QB now goes on the road and he faces a very tough and physical Winnipeg defense which also is angry off their first loss of the season - at Toronto - last week. Keep in mind, the Blue Bombers are the defending champs and this defense allowed only 13 points total in its first two games this season. Those were at at home and this game is too and the Winnipeg defense bounces back. Also, I am looking for a huge game from the offense as well as they are expected to get a boost with the return of Andrew Harris at RB. He is a fantastic running back and, overall, one of the best players in the league at any position. All signs pointing to a home blowout here! 10* WINNIPEG -6.5

NOTE: I do not care who pitches here. If you have access to books that take all MLB plays as action on the pitchers that would be my best advice here. If you can not bet this play with action, I would recommend to re-bet it prior to game time (if sufficient time allows) if there would happen to be a pitching change in the hours leading up to game time. I will explain why in my write-up here: AL Run Line Game of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Sunday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Run Line -1.5 -140 @ Baltimore Orioles @ 1:05 ET - This play is based on the teams not the pitchers. Certainly Archer rates a massive edge over Watkins and I will talk about that here. However, here you have a Rays team with the much better overall pitching staff so who cares if Archer does not start here or is limited by his hip? Who cares if Watkins does not start either? Who else do the Orioles have available that would strike fear into the Rays hitters? Exactly! This is one is all about a Rays team that is now 17-1 this season against the Orioles including 8-0 at Baltimore. Yesterday's win was by just a single run margin but I am expecting a road blowout here as Means gave a surprisingly good start yesterday. Watkins has a 16.20 ERA in his last 3 starts and has allowed 4 earned runs in each of his last two starts versus TB. Archer just coming back from injury and now dealing with a hip ailment but has looked strong on the mound and piled up strikeouts in his limited action. Prior to yesterday's 1-run win, the Rays last 15 wins ALL were by 2+ runs! Look for this one to resume that trend as the Orioles season of misery continues. 10* TAMPA BAY RAYS Run Line -1.5 runs -140

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #114 Saturday 8* Washington Football Team +3.5 vs Baltimore Ravens @ 6 ET - The Ravens have won 19 straight preseason games to tie an NFL record set by, of course, Vince Lombardi's Packers. While I know Baltimore head coach Harbaugh has a special hunger for winning and would like to win this game, he will not risk injury to key players in doing so. That said, and in typical contrarian fashion, I am grabbing the points with Washington. Keep in mind that, based on the +3.5 available as of early game day morning, the Ravens could win this game and yet we still get the cash. Statistically Washington has been better than expected in the preseason and that is even with allowing a very late 91 yard TD run in their first game of the preseason. In fact, had that "meaningless" run not happened in the final minute of a game the Patriots were winning by 2 points, Washington would have some of the best defensive stats in the entire league in this preseason. Either way, Washington has looked quite solid on both sides of the ball statistically and I feel strongly that they will be tough to put away here. Keep in mind they are 1-1 in this preseason and the loss would have been by just 2 points were it not for that big late run. Also, the Ravens first win in the preseason was by just 3 points and, if you have noticed recently, there have been an awful lot of late comebacks for dogs. It is just hard to cover numbers in the preseason and I like siding with the points and feel we have extra value here because the home dog has been solid this preseason and is going to give the Ravens all they can handle here. I say the Baltimore streak ends here but I will grab the points as added insurance just in case. 8* WASHINGTON +3.5

Game of the Month - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #299 Saturday 10* Top Play Nebraska Cornhuskers -7 @ Illinois Illini @ 1 ET - Certainly Bret Bielema at head coach is an upgrade over Lovie Smith at head coach for Illinois. However, that improvement is going to take some time to show up on the field. It will not be overnight and this is simply not a very good football team. I am certainly not high on Nebraska either. But, as it stands right now, this Cornhuskers team is certainly superior to the Illini. Additionally, they are out for revenge from an embarrassing home loss to Illinois last season. I also love the way we have seen the line react on this game. It opened up at nearly double digits and yet has since dropped to as low as a 6.5 but then every time it gets down to 6.5 the Huskers get market attention and it goes right back to 7. So, as of overnight Friday heading into Saturday what I am telling you is as follows: The Huskers opened up as a big road favorite for a reason. The odds makers are not stupid. The line dropping to 6.5 from nearly 10 but then always getting bet back to 7 is an indication that many believe, just as I do that, that the Cornhuskers win this game by at least 7 points and I am expecting a win by a double digit margin. The Huskers and Illini return plenty of defensive starters. I know the Nebraska offense is not a strength, especially through the air, but lets go back to those defenses for a minute. The Illini return plenty of guys but allowed 35 points per game and ranked as one of the worst defenses in the nation for yardage allowed. As for the Huskers, other than the Illini debacle and getting destroyed (like most teams do) by Ohio State, they allowed only 24 points per game in their other 6 games and never allowed more than 27 in any of those other 6 games. Do not be surprised if the better defense prevails in a big way in this match-up. Even including the beatdown against Ohio State in their numbers, the Huskers defense ranked 50th nationally in yardage allowed out of 130 teams. The Illini did NOT face Ohio State last year and still ranked 115th nationally in yardage allowed. The Huskers have their problems, but they are the better overall team and they have not forgotten what happened last year in Lincoln either. There is no better way to avenge a home loss than by getting payback on enemy turf and returning the favor. I fully expect the Cornhuskers to get their revenge in Champaign on Saturday. 10* NEBRASKA -7

Game of the Month - Rickenbach NFLX 10* Top Play Jacksonville Jaguars +4 @ New Orleans Saints @ 8 ET - The more I looked at this game the more I liked it. The Jaguars have a bad recent preseason history but keep in mind they now have a new coach with Urban Meyer calling the shots. This team is hungry to improve and they certainly played a "cleaner" game last week than the Saints did. Yes both teams are off losses but Jacksonville turned the ball over just once while New Orleans had 6 turnovers in their game against the Ravens. The overall trajectory of these teams is going opposite directions. Of course I am not saying that in a regular season game the Jags are better than the Saints. I am not saying that all. But the point is that the Saints were 12-4 last season but Drew Brees has retired and this team lost a lot of defensive talent from last year's roster. This team will be on the decline this season. As for the Jaguars, off a 1-15 season, of course the only way to go is up but truly this team could be respectable this season and had a strong draft and there is some positive energy within this Jacksonville organization right now. With how sloppy New Orleans was last week, I feel we have a good shot at an outright upset here for the Jaguars and I certainly like the value with the points. Keep in mind, we have seen a good amount of upsets in week 2 of the preseason as well as some underdog ATS covers without notching the upset. Good value here getting a handful of points given all of the above. 10* JACKSONVILLE +4

Early Goal Line - Rickenbach EPL Sunday 8* Wolverhampton +0.5 goal vs Tottenham @ 9 AM ET - Tottenham off the huge opening week win 1-0 over Manchester City. After beating the champions now the Spurs are on the road and have to face a Wolverhampton club that will be chomping at the bit to get into the win column. Even though the Wanderers lost last week's match 1-0 they were quite impressive for long stretches against Leicester City and I expect a huge performance this week from the Wolves. This is all about the set-up and the line value. With catching Tottenham off such a huge win and now getting a home dog that will cash our ticket with either a win or draw, the value here is too good to pass up on. I like the way the Wolves are responding under new head coach Bruno Lage. 8* Wolverhampton +0.5 goal

ESPN Smash Pass - CFL 10* Toronto Argonauts +3.5 vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ 4 ET - Look for a strong effort from the Argos here as they play their home opener. They lost at Winnipeg last week so they will take advantage of this shot at revenge right away this week. The Argonauts did get a boost in the game when they made a QB switch and I expect that to wake up the team and give them some momentum for this week's rematch. The Blue Bombers were already down RB Harris but now also lost WR Demski to injury. Things are starting to catch up with this Winnipeg offense and the Argos did do a solid job defensively last week and could be even stronger this week in their home opener in my opinion. That said, value with the home dog in this one. The Blue Bombers did open up as a TD favorite here and are now in the range of a FG but this line move was fully justified based on the Winnipeg injury issues and the fact that the home dog is a revenge-minded one that had some positives to pull from last week's game for sure. 10* TORONTO +3.5

Earliest Dominator - NFLX 10* Buffalo Bills +4.5 @ Chicago Bears @ 1 ET - Both teams off wins last week and Chicago did win by 7 while Buffalo won by just 1. However, I was impressed by the Bills defense too and note that they have now won 6 straight preseason games. They opened up as the favorite in this match-up in the early lines but are now a 4.5 point dog. Maybe, after a 6-0 SU win, the Bills do finally drop an NFLX game but that does not mean they do not cover. Many NFLX games are tight and, in fact, Chicago entered this season 3-6 SU the last 2 preseasons and 1 of the wins was by just a single point. The fact is there is too much value here regardless of the plan of how coaches use starters here, etc. Buffalo is the better team and has better depth and that will key the victory in crunch time as the Bills get the job done here. 10* BUFFALO +4.5

ESPN+ Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #674 Friday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders +5.5 vs Montreal Alouettes @ 9:30 ET - Some are surprised at who the starting QB is for Calgary here as they are going with the perceived #3 and letting the #2 serve as the back-up as the #1 guy Bo Levi Mitchell now out with an injury. However, the way I view this is that the Stampeders have seen some good things from the UC-Davis product and he is in line for a big game here. Love the line move as, because of Mitchell's injury, the line has gone from Calgary being about a 2-point favorite to now being a +5.5 dog. The Stampeders were great at home last season but now already off to an 0-2 start at home this season. In other words, the likelihood of them falling into an 0-3 start at home is slim odds in my opinion and I love having the big points. Yes Montreal is off a blowout win last week but the yardage was very nearly equal in their 30-13 win at Edmonton. I do respect the Alouettes but they are over-valued in this spot and the value is with the big home dog no matter who is at the pivot position for the hosts! 10* CALGARY +5.5

ESPN Blowout Rout - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #404 Friday 10* Top Play Arizona Cardinals (+) vs Kansas City Chiefs @ 8 ET - Both teams won by identical 19-16 scores last week but I like the fact that Arizona's came on a momentum-building last-second field goal. Also, the Cardinals are now getting 3 points as a home dog here. I know that Kansas City is planning to run their starters quite a bit in the first half of this game but this still a Chiefs team that had won just 1 of last 4 road preseason games prior to last week's tight win. It is the back-ups that often decide the final outcome of preseason games. Also, KC went just 1-3 overall in the most recent preseason. The Cardinals have now won 2 of last 3 preseason home games and offer solid value as an underdog here. Arizona proved last week they will push hard to win a preseason game and I look for them to get the job done again this week. If they do fall short the +3 could prove to be great value. 5 of the 16 games last week were decided by 3 or less points. 10* ARIZONA

ESPN2 Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #671 Thursday 10* Top Play Edmonton Elks +4 @ BC Lions @ 10 ET - Statistically, the Elks have been much better than what has been reflected on the scoreboard the first two weeks. That is helping lead to line value here especially with Edmonton available at +4 in this one. The road team is a perfect 2-0 ATS in BC games this season and 2-0 SU/ATS in Elks games this season and I look for that trend to continue here but will grab the points as added insurance. Keep in mind, the Lions lost in Week 1 by just 4 points and Edmonton also lost in Week 1 by just a 4-point margin. 10* EDMONTON +4

Thursday Thrasher - Rickenbach NFL Rotation #402 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Eagles +1.5 vs New England Patriots @ 7:30 ET - The Eagles blew a 13-0 late 1st half lead last week and lost 24-16 as they are outscored 24-3 the rest of the way. Philadelphia is likely to struggle in the regular season this year but keep in mind this is preseason. With a first year head coach who demands plenty from his players, I look for a much better effort this week after the ugly 2nd half last week for the Eagles. As for the Patriots, a long TD run is what sealed their victory last week as they were clinging a 2-point lead at the time. The key here is that other than that run, one could easily argue that Washington was the much better team in that game. The Pats, not including that long TD run, were outgained by 138 yards. New England is 1-2 SU/ATS the last 2 preseasons when off a home win and they allowed an average of 25.3 points per game in those 3 games. Look for them to struggle again on the road in that role here and the Eagles bounce back from last week's second half debacle. 10* PHILADELPHIA +1.5

Rickenbach MLB Rotation #962 Monday 8* New York Yankees Run Line -1.5 -124 vs Los Angeles Angels @ 7:05 ET - Cole is off a rough start in terms of earned runs allowed but continued to pile up strikeouts and I am confident he will bounce back here at home with a strong effort. He dominated the Red Sox in his most recent home start and has a 2.70 ERA at home on the season. Suarez starts for the Angels and he has a 6.91 ERA in his last 3 starts and plus the Angels are 2-4 in his starts this season. Los Angeles is off a win yesterday but had lost 6 of 8 games heading into Sunday and each of their last 11 defeats have been by a multi-run margin. That has me very comfortable with the run line here as the Yankees have won 12 of 16 games and 11 of last 13 New York victories have been by a multi-run margin. 8* NEW YORK YANKEES Run Line -1.5 -124

Run Line Game of the Year - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Sunday 10* Top Play Los Angeles Dodgers Run Line -1.5 runs -100 @ New York Mets @ 7:08 ET - The Dodgers are without Mookie Betts but Justin Turner got back on the field yesterday and will likely be in the starting lineup tonight. If Betts was available of course this line would be even higher but I am taking advantage of the added line value here. The Dodgers are available at practically even money on the run line in this game and this is superb value in my opinion. The Dodgers have won 9 of 12 games. The Mets have lost 11 of 16. I know there have been some tight 1-run games included in these stretches for each team but I fully expect a blowout here. Carlos Carrasco is simply "not right" yet and he showed that again in his most recent rain-shortened start (he likely would have been pulled early) while Max Scherzer dominated in his most recent start which was also shortened by rain. Carrasco has a 6.75 ERA in his 3 starts and has been hit hard. Scherzer has a dominating 2.67 ERA on the season and a 1.65 ERA in his last 3 starts and continues to be a strikeout machine. Considering his strong current form and the fact that this is his first start against the Mets this season, look for New York's lineup to struggle badly as the strikeouts pile up and contact made is likely to be weak. 10* LOS ANGELES DODGERS Run Line -1.5 runs -100

Early Dominator - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #134 Sunday 8* Indianapolis Colts -3 vs Carolina Panthers @ 1 ET - Hopefully we will be losing this pick at halftime. All kidding aside, this has been an unreal start to the post-season as 3 of my 4 picks saw my team with the lead at halftime and the combined score in our favor in those 3 games was 32 to 10. As faithful followers know, we won NONE of those 3 games. Unlike all of those games that "flipped the script" in the 2nd half, of course the lone pick out of my four that was losing at the half did NOT turn around in the 2nd half. In fact, maybe it is best to hope for a tie score in this one at the half! But I digress so back to the keys here as we look to get a well-deserved win...the Colts are the better team and the better team and I love the QB battle going on between Eason and Ehrlinger for the #2 spot behind the already-injured Wentz. Both Eason and Ehrlinger will be "turned loose" a bit in this one by an offensive-minded head coach, Frank Reich and these guys are expected to play 3 quarters combined. Then, in the 4th quarter it is expected to be Brett Hundley and he has NFL starter experience from his time with the Packers. In most recent preseason in 2019 he completed 68% of his passes and threw for 2 touchdowns with no INT's. I like the Colts QB rotation throughout this game and, as the better overall team and with the coaching edge in this game too and better team depth, the home team should win by a comfortable margin here. The Panthers have solid starters but many will not even see the field here and they do not have the depth the Colts do and also I have a lot of concerns about Carolina's offensive line play. 8* INDIANAPOLIS -3

ESPNews Network Rout - Rickenbach CFL Saturday 10* Top Play Hamilton Tiger-Cats +1.5 @ Saskatchewan Roughriders @ 10 ET - Saskatchewan off a non-covering win in which they nearly entirely blew a 31-0 lead in their season opener. That gives me some major question marks about the Roughriders defense but really this play is more about taking an extremely good team as an underdog coming off a loss. Yes we faded Hamilton with Winnipeg in Week 1 and got the win but the Blue Bombers, now 2-0 on the season, certainly look quite strong. Also, the Tiger-Cats were done in by turnovers in that game and that is helping to give us line value here as the Blue Bombers defense has looked strong this season. Hamilton will take advantage of a leaky Riders defense in this one and I look for the hungry Ti-Cats, a true Grey Cup favorite this season, to gets into the win column! 10* HAMILTON

ESPN+ Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Saturday 8* Edmonton Elks (-) vs Montreal Alouettes @ 7 ET - Edmonton outgained Ottawa 443 to 127 last week. Yet, not only did the Elks not cover the spread, they did not even win the game. I feel that is helping to give us some rock solid line value here. Edmonton QB Trevor Harris threw 3 picks against 0 touchdowns last week and that is not happening again. Additionally the Als have not even played a game yet this season. The game under the belt edge for the Elks is another edge over Montreal here. Edmonton had a winning record at home and in non-divisional play last season. The Alouettes did not have a winning record in non-divisional play or on the road. In other words, the early line move from 3.5 down to a 3 makes this one an even bigger value and what sure looks to me like the perfect set up for a home win. 8* EDMONTON -3

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #113 Saturday 8* Miami Dolphins +3.5 @ Chicago Bears @ 1 ET - The Bears have all the hype with Justin Fields at QB now but this is still a preseason battle likely to be close and plus in the only preseason HC Brian Flores has had with the Dolphins they went 3-1 in 2019 and the only loss was by 2 points. He likes to do some different schemes even in preseason and play around with things so he could keep this inconsistent Bears offense a bit off-balance all game long no matter which units are out there. That said, Miami is also off a 10-6 season has some decent team depth and this is a Bears team whose defense has not been the same in recent years. Also, note that Chicago has gone only 3-6 SU in preseason the last two years and 1 of those wins was by just a single point. Too much underdog value to pass up on here. 8* MIAMI +3.5

Early Dominator - Rickenbach EPL Saturday 8* Chelsea -1.5 goals +107 vs Crystal Palace @ 10 AM ET - Chelsea was the best club in the premier league last season once they made the managerial change. They dominated defensively and in goal and now take on a Crystal Palace club known for struggling to score. I just don't see the visitors having any luck finding the back of the net here as they will struggle to even generate scoring chances. At the same time, the hosts are a big money line favorite for a reason and where we get the value here is the goal line. Chelsea won the two meetings last season by a combined score of 8 to 1. Similar domination expected here. 8* CHELSEA -1.5 goals +107

ESPN+ Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #680 Thursday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders (-) vs BC Lions @ 9:30 ET - The early line on this game was a 6.5 but where it goes from there is a big question mark as the odds makers have been slow putting up numbers on CFL action early this season. In any event, I am going big on the Stampeders here as they blew a 20-12 lead in the 4th quarter to lose their opener to Toronto. Calgary is well aware of the fact that BC rallied from a 31-0 deficit to put a scare into the Roughriders last week at Saskatchewan. The Riders appeared to let up with a big lead and the Stamps will not make the same mistake here and should prove to be the better team on the ground in this one as well. 10* CALGARY

PA Dominator - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #106 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Eagles (PK) vs Pittsburgh Steelers @ 7:30 ET - The Eagles had a horrible season last year and are likely destined for another rough one this year. However, Philly does have a new coach and a young one at that. Nick Sirianni will be hungrier than most in the preseason and is going to demand a high compete level from his team even in a meaningless game. This Eagles team is going to struggle in the regular season barring a miracle turnaround because they need to time to jell and have had major roster turnover in recent seasons. However, in the preseason they could be a bit of a surprise given all of the above factors. The Steelers do have a solid preseason history including going in recent seasons but still went just 1-1 on the road in each of the last two preseasons. Coming off a win over the Cowboys in the HOF Game last week makes this road game even less important for the Steelers. As for the Eagles, new head coach Sirianni and company will be desperate for something to latch onto early in the year and that includes preseason where many roster battles are going on. 10* PHILADELPHIA pick'em

PA Dominator - Rickenbach MLB 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Run Line +1.5 -110 vs Los Angeles Dodgers at 7:05 ET - Without a shadow of doubt the Dodgers are a strong team and Max Scherzer is a great pitcher. However, the Phillies have won 8 straight games and are at home and have Aaron Nola on the mound. To get Philadelphia in this situation at +1.5 runs and a pick'em price range is too strong of a value to pass up on. Keep in mind, the Phillies are very familiar with Scherzer as up until just recently he was pitching for the division rival Nationals. That said, even though he has had success against them this season, this Phillies lineup has a ton of confidence right now and are familiar with his offerings. As for the Dodgers, they are not as a strong of a team when on the road and have lost 7 of last 13 away from home. The Phillies have won 6 of 9 Nola home starts this season and he has a 3.18 ERA at home and this is his first start against the Dodgers in over two years and that is an edge for him. This should be a tight ball-game and having the extra run and half on our side could prove to be the difference but I would not be surprised to see the Phillies win outright either. We'll grab the added insurance with hottest team in baseball. 10* PHILADELPHIA Run Line +1.5 -110

ESPN2 Game of the Week - 10* OTTAWA +7 - I know QB Matt Nichols is questionable for this game but I doubt he'll miss it and they do have some options behind him. That being said, I also feel - though it is hard to fully judge early in the season - the Redblacks could very well have the better defense in this match-up. That said, there is a reason why this line is below a full TD as it opened up. Edmonton was only an 8-10 team last season and thy have some question marks, particularly on defense, entering the new season. That said, I really like the defensive coordinator - Benevides - for Ottawa here and feel the defensive schemes could be a difference in this game. He used to be with Edmonton and knows them well. Whether that leads to an outright upset remains to be seen but I do feel it means that if the Elks do prevail here it will be by the slimmest of margins. Good value with the points in this one. 10* OTTAWA +7

ESPN+ Early Dominator - 8* TORONTO +5.5 - Something funny with this line. Toronto is off a 4-18 season in which they won just once on the road and also just once against the West. However, they are a rather small dog here given those numbers. The fact is that the Argonauts have undergone a major overhaul and there is a certain rejuvenated attitude here among the Argos. As strong as Calgary tends to be, particularly when at home, note that the Stampeders did go just 4-4 against the East last season. Also, the Stamps are not quite as talented as they have been in recent seasons and I am forecasting a bit of an early season hangover for Calgary after the disappointing way their 2019 season ended. 8* TORONTO +5.5

ESPN+ Top Play - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #674 Friday 10* Top Play Saskatchewan Roughriders -6.5 vs BC Lions @ 9:30 ET - I know that hope springs eternal at the start of a season but I just do not think the Lions have what it takes and there are going to be some growing pains as they look to rebound from last year's poor season. Not only did BC go just 5-13 last season they were 0-10 in divisional games. Conversely, Saskatchewan is known for being tough to play at home annually and last season was no different. The Roughriders were a fantastic 8-1 in home games last season. With a raucous sold out crowd likely - the prairie region of Canada is where CFL is most popular - look for the home team to roll by a big margin in this one. The average margin of loss was 15.4 in the Lions 5 road losses to divisional opponents last season and this included 4 of the 5 by at least  points. BC lost all 3 games with the Roughriders and those defeats were by margin of 16 points per game. The Lions offense might keep them in this game a little bit early on but eventually the home team should pull away in this game and win by a double digit margin. 10* SASKATCHEWAN -6.5

ESPN2 Smash Pass - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #672 Thursday 8* Winnipeg Blue Bombers +3.5 vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats @ 8:30 ET - Revenge game from 2019 CFL Grey Cup which Winnipeg dominated by a 33-12 count. Both teams have some injury issues. However, the popular choice here is Hamilton to get revenge and, do not get me wrong, the Tiger-Cats are a very solid team. However, revenge can often be over-played and over-valued. Here we are a getting a Blue Bombers team that is at home where they went 8-1 last season and they are a home dog of more than a field goal as of very early morning on gameday. This is a ton of value and I am aware of the injury issues but feel they are equally impacting to both teams so I am calling that a wash. That said, I like the home dog here as they do not want to let the Ti-Cats come in and spoil the unfurling of the championship banner in this one. The Blue Bombers only home loss last season came against Hamilton so the revenge factor actually goes both ways here. Being the first game of a new season after a 2020 season that was lost to the pandemic and without any 2021 pre-season games, I truly feel there is even more value than usual with having the points on your side in an opener and this is particularly true of a home dog.  8* WINNIPEG +3.5

TV Dominator - Rickenbach NFLX Rotation #101 Thursday 8* Dallas Cowboys +2.5 vs Pittsburgh Steelers in HOF Game @ Canton, OH @ 8 ET - The Steelers have a recent history of ATS success in preseason action so I totally understand the line here. However, I think the Cowboys are coming in a little extra hungry in this pre-season and I like their QB rotation. Of course pre-season, and especially an "extra game" like this that goes early is all about fighting for roster spots, etc. But with new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn calling the shots for Dallas D there could be a little extra aggression on that side of the ball. This Cowboys D has a lot to prove here and I feel they step up well throughout this game. The HOF games are known for being low-scoring battles and that means even some extra value in this one with having the points on your side. By the way, the Cowboys were just 2-2 SU in most recent pre-season but one of the losses was by just 2 points. The Steelers are just 2-2 SU in road pre-season games last 2 years plus one of their home wins last season was by just 2 points. Having the points could come in handy here but also would not be surprised to see the hungrier team, with a lot of roster battles going on, get the upset win here. Grab the points. 8* DALLAS +2.5

Just like a career .300 hitter having to battle his way out of a slump (it is the only way to get through it), that is what I am dealing with now with what has been, since the All-Star break, my toughest 3-week stretch in the 20 years I have been doing this. That said, my plays are normally on a scale of 8* for regulars and 10* for tops but today I am going to my lowest rating on all plays which is a 6* rating for all plays released. Look for the turnaround to begin today. Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #952 Wednesday 6* Milwaukee Brewers Run Line -1.5 runs -125 vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 2:10 ET - Upsets happen and yesterday's 8-5 Pirates win here was a perfect example of that. However, the Brewers bullpen is one of the best in the majors and Pittsburgh's is one of the worst. Also, Milwaukee has a huge starting pitching edge here as Steven Brault is making his first start of 2021 after getting hurt in late March. This is a guy who mostly has struggled as the MLB level as 2020's shortened season was truly his first enjoying moderate success at the MLB level. He'll be on a limited pitch count and got hit hard the last time he had a start go longer than 3 innings at Milwaukee. The Brewers start Freddy Peralta and he is having a phenomenal season. Peralta also has a 1.96 ERA in his 4 career starts against Pittsburgh. This season he is 8-3 with a 2.21 ERA in his 19 starts and the Brewers have won 13 of those. Also, prior to yesterday's loss, Milwaukee was 11-3 this season against the Pirates plus a long-term 16-4 at home when hosting Pittsburgh. Of course the Brewers are a big favorite on the money line with good reason here and the run line is where the value is at. NONE of the last dozen games between these teams has been a one run game! Look for a home blowout. 6* Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 runs -125

PA Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Tuesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Run Line -1.5 runs -105 @ Washington Nationals @ 7:05 ET - As mentioned right here in yesterday's write-up, the Phillies certainly proved that they are "going for it" this season with all the moves they made at the trade deadline. With newly acquired starting pitcher Kyle Gibson coming up big for them, the Phillies rolled 15 to 4 Sunday. They had a hugely productive day at the plate as that was the first time in 80 years a Phillies team had scored 15 runs in a game without even a single homer. In other words their run production without home run power was huge in that game. Now bolstered by a huge 5-run 9th inning yesterday and an eventual 7-5 win, they now are just 2.5 games out of 1st place in the division and this is with 2 months of baseball left. Of course the Nationals still have life in the division too but Washington has been going the wrong direction. After yesterday's defeat, the Nats have lost 19 of 28 games. Zach Wheeler starts for the Phillies and he has a 2.45 ERA on the season and has deserved a much better won-loss record. The fact is that he has been fantastic and the Phillies are big road favorites here for a reason. We get value by avoiding laying the big juice and playing Philadelphia on the run line. Wheeler should get plenty of run support as his teammates should pound Patrick Corbin. The Washington left-hander has seen the Nationals lose each of his last 3 starts as he has compiled an 8.05 ERA and has a 1.85 WHIP in those 3 outings. Corbin allowed 3 homers against the Phillies in his most recent start. To put that in proper perspective, Wheeler has allowed only 2 homers total in 8 road starts this season! He also is likely to work deeper into this game than Corbin and that minimizes the bullpen usage. Neither pen has been impressive this season but the Phils pen was bolstered at the trade deadline and overall they have been the better team over the past month in comparison with the fading Nationals. Lay the small price on the RUN LINE with the road team in this one. 10* PHILADELPHIA -1.5 runs -105

6* Houston Astros Run Line -1.5 runs -115 - going to what is normally my lowest rating, a 6*, on all my plays today. The Rangers have lost 11 straight games. All 11 have been by 2 or more runs. That said, we get line value here with the Astros at home at a pick'em price on the run line. The home team has dominated this series in recent seasons and that includes Houston now being 21-2 last 23 as a host against the Rangers. Greinke expected to start and he has a 3.58 ERA this season and the Astros are 14-6 in his starts this year. Hearn likely to start for Texas and he is used to working out of the bullpen and has not pitched more than 2 innings since mid-April. Also, with him not working deep a struggling Foltynewicz could be called upon early out of the bullpen. Either way the Rangers losing streak looks highly likely to continue and the margin should be big. 6* HOUSTON -1.5 -115

Daytime Dominator RL - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #968 Saturday 10* Top Play Oakland A's Run Line -1.5 runs +115 vs Cleveland Indians @ 4:05 ET - The A's rallied for the win last night and will build off that this afternoon. Cleveland has lost 10 of 13 games. Prior to last night's defeat, 7 of last 10 Indians defeats by 2 or more runs and this has blowout potential. Cleveland is starting Cal Quantrill and he has a 9.29 ERA on the road this season and the Indians are 0-3 in those starts. Oakland is starting Frankie Montas and he has allowed 2 earned runs or less in 5 of last 6 starts. Montas struck out 10 in his most recent start before the All Star break and now looks to dominate here. The A's have now won 9 of last 13 home games. The line is a little pricey here on the money line but we get plus money on the run line and that is the route to take here. 10* OAKLAND -1.5 runs +115

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #502 Tuesday 10* Top Play Phoenix Suns (-) vs Milwaukee Bucks @ 9:05 ET - Giannis Antetokounmpo is doubtful for this game. The line still may look a little steep to most considering the Bucks have been winning some games without him. However, in typical contrarian fashion, I am on the other side of that thinking. I look for Phoenix to win this game by double digits. This is the toughest team the Bucks have faced in the post-season and they are on the road and they are not at full strength and likely without their best player. Blowout home win in the forecast here to get the finals underway. Suns on 10-3 ATS run. Milwaukee off a rare road win and cover and had been on 2-4 ATS run in road games. 10* PHOENIX

Run Line Rout - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Monday 10* Top Play Atlanta Braves Run Line -1.5 runs -115 @ Pittsburgh Pirates @ 7:05 ET - The Pirates are off a surprising 2-0 win yesterday as they had lost 6 straight games. Even with the win, note that Pittsburgh has not scored more than 2 runs in any of their last 7 games. That said, the Braves Max Fried should have a great start here. Fried has been rounding back into top form and has a 3.00 ERA his last 3 starts with a 0.89 WHIP. Chase De Jong of the Pirates will be his counterpart tonight and he is struggling badly. De Jong is winless with a 5.65 ERA in his 6 starts this season and has taken the loss in each of his last 3 starts. Each of the Pirates last 7 losses have been by a margin of 2 or more runs. Admittedly, the Braves have had a lot of tight one-run wins lately but, based on all of the above, this one has the makings of an absolute road rout. The Braves 3 wins over the Pirates this season have been by an incredible combined score of 33 to 3. Another blowout here. 10* ATLANTA -1.5 -115

Game of the Month - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #562 Saturday 10* Top Play Atlanta Hawks (-) vs Milwaukee Bucks @ 8:35 ET - Giannis is more likely to miss this game than Trae Young. I just can't see Young missing a win or go home game while Giannis has the luxury of knowing there would still be a Game 7 at home in Milwaukee he can rest up for if the Bucks lose this game. Subconsciously, the Bucks could have a letdown here. They rallied the troops in the first game without Giannis on Thursday but I just don't see them again shooting 50 percent from the field without him like they did in Game 5. That said, regardless of who plays, I like the Hawks to get a big win here at home in Game 6. They did win Game 4 convincingly here without Young and even before Giannis got hurt in the 3rd quarter of that game, the Bucks were down by double digits for most of that game. Milwaukee has lost 4 of last 6 road games. The home team has won 4 of last 6 games between these teams and the Hawks held the Bucks to 39% from the field and 20% three pointers the last time these teams met in Atlanta. The home team, after being embarrassed at Milwaukee in Game 5, will respond big here in Game 6 regardless of who is on the floor. But, in that regard, the odds favor that it will be Young coming back for this one and not Giannis. Either way, the play here is the home team in a blowout. 10* ATLANTA

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #531 Wednesday 10* Top Play Phoenix Suns (+) @ Los Angeles Clippers @ 9 ET - As you know, I am not fond of laying big juice or big points and, that said, this the perfect spot to take Phoenix to finish this series off. Since the Suns are on the road, we get great line value here with this line right around a pick'em and even available at +1 for Phoenix in some spots this morning. The Suns had won 10 of 11 prior to Monday's loss and I look for them to improve to 3-0 the last 3 times they were on the road and coming off a loss. The Clippers made 54.8% of their shots from the field and I certainly do not expect that to be repeated. In fact, LA made just 32.5% of their shots in the last game here. Considering that as well as the Suns being fired up off a loss and Los Angeles still without Kawhi Leonard, look for this series to end tonight. 10* PHOENIX +1

Money Line Mauling - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #522 Tuesday 10* Top Play Atlanta Hawks Money Line +230 vs Milwaukee Bucks @ 8:30 ET - Of course you can grab the Hawks at +7 if you prefer but I am grabbing the money line. I am glad we won with the Clippers last night as a plus points underdog but still kicking myself for not using their big plus money line like I did on Atlanta in Game 1 of this series when they won outright at nearly +300 odds. The fact is that the Hawks are off back to back losses now and they are 5-1 SU the last 6 times they have entered a game off consecutive losses. We are getting extra line value here because of the Trae Young injury situation but I would be shocked if he did not play and/or was not effective. Either way though I expect a huge response from the Hawks here and certainly do not expect the Bucks to shoot better than 50% from the field for a 3rd consecutive game either. Milwaukee has a solid home record but Atlanta's home record even better. Also, the Hawks were the better team for the first 3 quarters of Sunday's loss before blowing the game in the 4th quarter as they were flustered by the Young injury situation. That will not impact them here as it known he has a bone bruise and he and the Hawks rally the troops for this one. 10* ATLANTA Money Line +230

Western Conf Finals Game of the Year - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #511 Monday 10* Top Play Los Angeles Clippers (+) @ Phoenix Suns @ 9:05 ET - This series has featured tight games and I am expecting another one here. The Clippers lone win was by 14 points but their 3 losses were by a total of only 11 points! That said, we have some value with the 5.5 points being offered here as the Suns, despite going against an LA team playing without Kawhi Leonard, has struggled to put them away in each game. Phoenix has made just 20 of 78 three pointers in the last 3 games in this series and that included one at home of course. The Clippers actually have shot better at Phoenix from downtown in this series as they have made 33 of 81 three pointers in the 2 games played here. That said, don't be surprised if Los Angeles finds away to stay alive in this series with an upset win here in Game 5. However, if LA does fall short, look for the points to be enough for the all-important cover in this one. 10* LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

East Conf Finals Game of the Year - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #581 Friday 10* Top Play Atlanta Hawks (+) @ Milwaukee Bucks @ 8:35 ET - Bad news for the Bucks here. The Hawks Bogdan Bogdanovic scored just 2 points on only 1 of 6 shooting in Game One as he was bothered by a sore knee and Atlanta still won the game outright. That said, I am grabbing the points here in Game Two for the same reasons I took the Hawks to win Wednesday's game outright as a +$300 money line dog. The only reason I am grabbing the points here is I would not be surprised to see the Bucks find a way to get a SU win here but I certainly don't see them getting that win by any kind of sizable margin. As mentioned in Wednesday's write-up, the Hawks are just feeling it right now and are playing with no playoff pressure on them. The Bucks, conversely, have a ton of pressure on them because of high expectations coupled with recent post-season disappointments. The loose and relaxed team is the Hawks and that makes for a very dangerous underdog. Atlanta is 6-2 SU on the road in the playoffs and they enter this game on an overall 4-1 SU run with the only loss in that stretch coming by just 5 points. The Bucks last 7 games have resulted in 3 SU losses and only 2 of the 4 SU wins for Milwaukee were by more than 4 points. You can see the value in having the points on your side with numbers like this and you know the Bucks will be geared up to not drop a 2nd consecutive home game. But again, this Hawks team is simply incredibly resilient and Trae Young right now is playing at another level that is simply phenomenal. 10* ATLANTA