This is a play on the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES as part of our MLB Sunday Triple Play Sweeper. The Phillies snapped the Dodgers eight-game season opening winning streak with a win on Friday but gave it back on Saturday in a 3-1 loss with the damage done by two home runs. The offense came out with 18 runs scored the first two games and have scored just 19 runs over the last six games but this is a temporary pause with this lineup and it has been the pitching which has carried Philadelphia. Holding Colorado to three runs is nothing off the charts but keeping Los Angeles in check is and the Phillies have a 2.75 ERA including a 2.45 ERA from the starters and their 2.76 xFIP leads all of baseball. Cristopher Sanchez rolled through the Rockies lineup so take it for what it is worth but he is a top rotation arm, posting a 3.28 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 33 starts going back to last season including a 2.24 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 19 home starts with the Phillies going 15-4 in those games. The Dodgers are the Dodgers with not much bad to say so we need to pick the play against spots and this is one of those against an elite starter when they are favored. Tyler Glasnow is certainly there as well and he mowed down the Braves in his opener at home and now he hits the road and while still effective, the Dodgers went just 5-4 in his nine road outings last season. 10* (904) Philadelphia Phillies

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This is a play on the CINCINNATI REDS as part of our MLB Sunday Triple Play Sweeper. After three consecutive 1-0 losses, the Reds lost another one run game 3-2 on Friday, snapping a 36-inning scoreless streak. As expected, that instilled some confidence and more importantly, they faced a pitcher they could get to and they did just that, scoring seven runs in the first four innings and chasing Elvin Rodriguez, hitting four home runs after hitting seven though their first eight games combined. Cincinnati has another chance to keep the offense going against a bottom of the rotation starter and it is catching a bigger number today in the process. On the other side, Carson Spiers shut down Texas in his opener, going six innings while allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks after coming off a great spring so he can keep it going. The Brewers had won four straight games with the pitching limiting the opposition to only four runs total which was fortunate as the offense did hardly anything to help out, scoring 13 runs in those four games. While the Reds got in the news for their shutout streak on offense, the Milwaukee offense is performing at a lower level with a .341 slugging percentage and have scored three runs or less in six of nine games. Chad Patrick is coming off a solid spot start against the Royals and is forced in again due to rotation injuries. 10* (907) Cincinnati Reds

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This is a play on the HOUSTON ASTROS as part of our MLB Sunday Triple Play Sweeper. The Astros have lost four of their last five games following a 6-1 loss on Saturday. The once potent offense has gotten off to a slow start as its .198 batting average is No. 25 while their .287 slugging percentage is dead last which is factoring into their .258 wOBA which is No. 29 but that is ahead of only the Twins. The loss of Alex Bregman was obviously a big one and while Jose Altuve is hitting great, No. 2 through No. 6 are hitting between .095 and .185. Ronel Blanco was average in his opener as he allowed three runs on three hits and three walks over five innings but we expect better against this offense and coming off a 2024 season where he had a 2.80 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 29 starts with Houston going 10-4 in 14 road starts. The Twins offense has been just as bad, dead last in xOBA, batting average and OBP, and do not have enough to bail out the pitching. The Astros can get rolling today at a + price against Chris Paddock who has not come close to his rookie success in 2019 as he has gone the wrong way with injuries not helping. He got shelled against the White Sox in his opener, allowing nine runs including three home runs in just 3.1 innings. This has plagued him his whole career as out of 166 qualifies starters since 1999, he has a 1.46 HR/9 Rate, 29th worst among those. 10* (913) Houston Astros

This is a play on the DALLAS MAVERICKS for our NBA Saturday Signature Enforcer. This is the second game of a two-game set in Los Angeles with the Clippers taking the first game last night by 23 points and we are seeing a two-possession line swing based on the Clippers most likely resting Kawhi Leonard as the training staff made it evident that playing Leonard on the front end would sideline him on the back end and the Mavericks having Anthony Davis available after sitting last night. Los Angeles has won three straight games to remain in a tie with Minnesota and Memphis for the No. 6 through No. 8 spots in the Western Conference and the goal is to grab the No. 6 seed to avoid the play-in but winning and covering are two different things and coming off a blowout already has the markets plugged with Clippers money. Dallas had won five of its previous seven games before last night and the Mavericks are still 2.5 games ahead of Phoenix for the final team out of the postseason but they are far from a lock based on the remaining schedule that includes games against the Lakers and Grizzlies. Dallas was a dreadful 2-20 from long range last night partly because Klay Thompson left after 12 minutes with an illness after taking just one three-pointer but should be ready here. Dallas is 4-0 on the road this season revenging a road loss. 10* (509) Dallas Mavericks

This is a play on the HOUSTON COUGARS for our Final Four Dominator (Houston/Duke). Houston has the toughest matchup on paper but that actually benefits the Cougars in the betting markets as Duke will be getting all the public love as usual with an inflated line that has actually gone up despite 78 percent of the money coming in one Houston and none of this is public money yet. Houston rebounded from the scare against Purdue to dominate Tennessee from the start and its run has been incredible both recent and longer-term. The Cougars have won 17 straight games with their last loss coming in overtime by one point against Texas Tech and three of four losses have come in overtime and all four have been by five points or less. They are No. 1 in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency and in mucked up games, they do not lose as they are 32-0 when holding teams to fewer than 70 ppg which is partly due to an underrated offense that is No. 11 in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency since February 1st. Houston has covered five of its last six games as underdogs and this goes all the way back to 2020. Duke has all of the metrics to make it the best team in the country but a lot of it has come against the worst major conference in the country. The Blue Devils were dominant against Alabama but the Crimson Tide finished 7-6 down the stretch and were far from the test they will be seeing here. 10* (679) Houston Cougars

This is a play on the TAMPA BAY RAYS as part of our MLB Saturday Double Play Sweeper. Tampa Bay and Texas have both gotten off to solid starts and following the series opener on Friday where Tampa Bay lost, we get the Rays at a solid price based on the starting pitching matchup. They got the offense going during a three-game winning streak with 19 runs scored but have put up only two in each of their last two losses. Taj Bradley is coming off a solid opening start as he struck out seven Rockies over six innings as he allowed two runs on five hits while throwing 78 pitches. After a rough rookie campaign where he posted a 5.59, he dropped that by nearly a run and a half over 25 starts and out of 90 starters that went at least 130 innings, he was No. 24 with an 18.5% K/BB ratio. He rarely pitched poor on the road and had a quality outing in this park last season. Texas has won three straight games with phenomenal pitching, allowing two runs total with the starters posting the fourth best ERA in the league. Jacob deGrom is coming off an efficient effort against the Red Sox as he allowed only two hits while striking out six over five scoreless innings, throwing 73 pitches. The Rangers are going to go slow in stretching him out for health reasons after starting only nine games the previous two seasons and having gone no more than 92 innings in any of the prior five seasons. 10* (967) Tampa Bay Rays

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This is a play on the LOS ANGELES ANGELS as part of our MLB Saturday Double Play Sweeper. Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-6 series opening win on Friday as the pitching remains a concern. The Guardians have allowed 25 runs over the last four games and while they get their arguably No. 1 starter going tonight, the bullpen has been average at No. 20 with a 4.10 xFIP after finishing No. 2 last season. The offense has kept them afloat with a .318 xOBA which is No. 12 in the league and they were bailed out last night by Jose Ramirez who hit three home runs with four RBIs. Tanner Bibee allowed only two hits and two walked in 5.2 shutout innings in his opener against the Royals after getting scratched on opening day with food poisoning as he continues to carry the rotation going back to last season with Shane Bieber not having pitched in now over a full year. He faced the Angels twice last season and posted a 7.36 ERA covering 11 innings. The Angels have lost two straight games since putting together a four-game winning streak and the offense continues to pick it up, averaging 6.3 rpg over their last four games after scoring five runs total in their first three games. Jack Kochanowicz tossed a quality outing in his opener, allowing only four hits and no walks over six innings with the two runs allowed coming in the first inning. 10* (970) Los Angeles Angels

This is a play on the WASHINGTON NATIONALS for our MLB Saturday Afternoon Sweet Spot Washington has lost four straight games to fall to 1-6 on the season but it is in a good spot to bounce back Saturday and the area looks dry as opposed to the upper northeast. The Nationals have not been able to generate much offense through the first week of the season despite sitting No. 12 in slugging percentage and No. 15 in wOBA and the problem has been 5-7 with Luis Garcia, Josh Bell and Dylan Crews a combined 7-69 (.102). The starting pitching has been pretty solid with a 3.86 ERA and leading the way early on is Mitchell Parker who tossed 6.1 shutout innings against the Phillies in his opening start. His rookie season had its ups and downs as he posted a respectable 4.29 ERA and 1.30 WHIP but the struggles were mostly isolated away from Washington as he had a 2.65 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 15 home starts that includes two poor starts which came against the Padres and Mets and take those out and his home ERA was 1.70 in the other 13 outings. The Diamondbacks are 5-3 with wins in four of their last five games and have gotten away from surprisingly bad starting pitching. Eduardo Rodriguez was limited last season with an injury and was all over the place in his opener, going 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and three walks while giving up two home runs. 10* (956) Washington Nationals

This is a play on the BOISE ST. BRONCOS for our Crown Tournament Annihilator. Give a lot of credit to Nebraska which came into the College Basketball Crown Tournament with five straight losses so the 22 days off in-between the final loss in the Big 12 Tournament and the opener potentially benefitted them in order to get their game back together. The Huskers had no opt-outs so they came in with a full roster and got fortunate with the draw playing their first two games against teams that were short-handed. Most notably Georgetown which was down one starter coming in and then lost three more prior to their first game against Washington St., which they ended up winning, but it was too much to overcome against Nebraska. Both wins were Quad 2 and the Huskers are back in Quad 1 where they are 5-10 and having lost three straight. Boise St. rolled over George Washington and then defeated Butler by seven points in a game they led big throughout and were never really threatened. The Broncos remain in Quad 2 where they are 6-2 with all six wins coming by at least seven points. This is a team on a mission as their closing No. 44 NET Ranking was not good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament and they are using that as motivation. 10* (684) Boise St. Broncos

This is a play on the HOUSTON ROCKETS as part of our NBA Friday Double Play. Oklahoma City refuses to slow down as it clinched the top spot in the Western Conference long ago and has now reeled off 11 straight wins, the last four coming at home where the Thunder are 34-5 including two wins over Houston by 15 and 9 points. They are not much worse on the road at 29-7 but one of those losses was in Houston and during this recent winning streak, five of the wins have come on the road with three of those being one or two possession games. The Thunder are just 6-13 against the number on the road against teams with a winning record and this is obviously due to their lines being skewed in the markets. Houston is comfortably in the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference as it has a three-game lead over Denver with five games remaining and this game can go a long way for confidence. Additionally, the last four games are all against teams in current playoff positions in the Western Conference. The Rockets are 28-11 at home including a 3-1 record as home underdogs. Here, we play on home teams after allowing 105 points or less in two straight games going up against an opponent after scoring 115 points or more in five straight games. This situation is 23-8 (74.2 percent) since 1997 with a scoring differential of +5.7 ppg. 10* (570) Houston Rockets

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This is a play on the DENVER NUGGETS as part of our NBA Friday Double Play. Coming off an overtime loss against Minnesota on Tuesday, Denver cashed it in the next night against San Antonio as the Nuggets sat everyone which was probably a good spot to do so to heal up. The injury list is long again but we expect a full roster tonight in a big game as the Nuggets are clinging to a half-game lead over the Lakers for the all-important No. 3 spot in the Western Conference. They hit the road where they are 22-16 and the line is making a statement here and Denver comes in 6-1 this season coming off consecutive wins. Additionally, the Nuggets are 25-7 in their last 32 games after failing to cover 5 or 6 of their last 7 against the spread with a scoring differential of +10.1 ppg. Golden St. is coming off a big win last night in Los Angeles to move one game behind the Lakers for fourth place in the conference. The Warriors are back home where they are 23-14 but that does include a 4-6 record as underdogs and have failed to cover eight of 12 games this season coming off an underdog outright win. Here, we play against teams off an upset win over a division rival as an underdog, with a winning record on the season playing another winning team. This situation is 71-30 ATS (70. percent) since 021 with a scoring differential of +5.3 ppg. 10* (575) Denver Nuggets

This is a play on the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES as part of our MLB Friday Triple Play Sweeper. The Dodgers are off to the best start of any reigning champion ever as they have had the luxury of not playing a single road game and now comes the first test in a true hostile atmosphere. The pitching has led the way as they have a 1.97 ERA which is No. 2, behind only San Diego which is also undefeated and has also not played a road game heading into this weekend. The offense has been behind as they are No. 12 in batting average and No. 11 in OBP and their high slugging is the reason they are No. 4 in wOBA. The Phillies are 5-1 following a sweep over Colorado after a series win over Washington so the schedule has been soft but they have taken care of business of what has been put in front of them. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is coming off two solid efforts, one in his home country of Japan and the other at home against Detroit. He did not face the Phillies last season which lead baseball in batting average and OBP and are No. 2 in slugging. Jesus Luzardo had two very solid seasons in Miami in 2023 and 2024 before being put on the shelf last season in June and he opened this year with a strong outing, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out 11. 10* (904) Philadelphia Phillies

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This is a play on the PITTSBURGH PIRATES as part of our MLB Friday Triple Play Sweeper. Pittsburgh opened the season 1-3 in Miami and the Pirates became the first team in over 100 years to have their first three losses of the season end in walkoffs. They lost two of three in Tampa Bay to follow that up but did salvage the final game prior to the day off on Thursday. They have yet to score more than four runs in any of their seven games and are now back home with a chance to get the offense going in what should be a great environment Friday afternoon for their home opener. Paul Skenes would be the ideal starter but Mitch Keller is an excellent second option as he has put together three solid seasons on a very bad team. He went six innings in his opener, allowing one run on five hits and a walk and has been great at home with a 3.23 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 267.2 innings in the past three seasons. The Yankees rolled over the Brewers in their opening series but lost two of three against Arizona, avoiding the sweep on Thursday with a 9-7 win. New York now hits the road for the first time and turn to newcomer Max Fried who did not have a great debut against Milwaukee as he went just 4.2 innings, allowing six runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks. 10* (926) Pittsburgh Pirates

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This is a play on the SEATTLE MARINERS as part of our MLB Friday Triple Play Sweeper. Seattle is off to a slow start as it split its four-game series with the Tigers and lost its three-game set with the Tigers but did win the finale on Wednesday to gain a little momentum before hitting the road for the first time. The pitching been just average but the offense has been nowhere to be found as the Mariners are No. 31 in batting average but have not been able to produce runs despite a decent OBP as they have scored only 18 runs through those seven games. The Giants made some significant moves in the offseason and so far so good as they are off to a 5-1 start including an impressive sweep in Houston to start the week. The pitching has led the way with a 2.72 ERA and 3.22 xFIP and one of those acquisitions was Justin Verlander who had a successful opening start against the Reds, allowing two runs over five innings and most importantly, stayed healthy but he has not been the elite pitcher he used to be. Seattle goes with Luis Castillo but not the one we are accustomed to. This Castillo will be making his first Major League start after two very successful seasons in Japan with a 3.01 ERA and showed fantastic control, though, walking fewer than 5% of batters faced. 10* (927) Seattle Mariners

This is a play on the LOS ANGELES LAKERS for our NBA Divisional Game of the Month. Golden St. is coming off a win at Memphis to make it three straight wins following a pair of losses at Atlanta and Miami to open its six-game roadtrip which concludes tonight. The Warriors are on a 19-5 run over their last 24 games which has pushed them from a fringe playoff team all the way up to No. 5 in the Western Conference but are still a half-game out of the No. 8 spot so there is little room for error. The Nuggets loss last night but them two games behind Denver for No. 4 so there is plenty at stake but this is not an ideal spot tonight. The Pacific Division has been the Achillies Heel with Golden St. going just 3-10 with two of those wins coming against reeling Sacramento. Los Angeles pulled away from Houston on Tuesday late grabbing the six-point win to make it two straight victories following a 1-4 stretch and have built a one game lead over Denver for the all-important No. 3 spot in the conference. The Lakers remain home where they are 29-9 and are 13-2 ATS against division opponents this season while going 16-3 at home following a home win. Here, we play against road underdogs in the second half of the season in a game involving two average teams averaging between 108 and 114 ppg, after a combined score of 235 points or more in two straight games. This situation is 38-4 (90.5 percent) since 2021 with a scoring differential of +10.0 ppg and this includes a 9-0 record this season. 10* (560) Los Angeles Lakers

This is a play on the UC IRVINE ANTEATERS for our NIT Championship Premium Winner. UC Irvine defeated North Texas in the NIT Semifinals by two points but a late three-pointer made that deficit shorter as the victory was never in doubt late. The Anteaters now have a school record 32 victories and there is just one goal left and that is a championship after getting snubbed by the NCAA Tournament committee although they were further off the bubble with a No. 62 NET Ranking. Still, it has been a very successful season and even though they are laying over a possession, the value is there as we have this one at 6 points and the NET Ranking difference is 53 spots which is a significant amount and one that should make this line bigger. Chattanooga is on a roll as it has won 16 of its last 17 games with the only loss coming against Furman by three points in overtime in the Southern Conference Tournament. The Mocs pulled away in the second half with an efficient performance and while they come in a perfect 6-0 in Quad 2 games, all were against teams with NET Rankings lower than the Anteaters and the three best wins were two by two points and in overtime and the other on their home floor. UC Irvine has the intangibles with a much stronger defense (No. 6 to No. 190) in Effective Field Goal% and (No. 42 to No. 227) in Rebound Rate. 10* (674) UC Irvine Anteaters