Los Angeles comes in off a win in Boston last night, and head coach Doc Rivers goes from playing his former team to playing two integral parts of that former team in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. The Clippers are on an extended East Coast road trip while playing their third game in four nights and their sixth game in nine nights. This is not a good sche ...  read more

The Red Sox will be hosting the Yankees once again on Sunday Night Baseball.

SUPER NOVA

Ivan Nova has been a revelation for the Yankees going 8-4 with a 3.17 ERA and 1.28 WHIP this season. He was limited to 79 pitches his last time out due to triceps tightness and he is listed as questionable for this start. Nova last saw the Red Sox on September 5th when he gave u ...  read more

Not exactly the most glorious matchup, but the Nationals will host the Mets on Sunday Night Baseball.

NIESE HAS BEEN NICE FOR THE METS

Jon Niese is 6-6 with a 3.69 ERA for New York this season. Since coming off the DL, he is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts. The southpaw has found his strikeout groove; he has fanned 5 or more batters in six straight starts, includ ...  read more

Two of the best teams in the National League will battle on Sunday Night Baseball as the Cardinals take on the Braves in Atlanta.

MILLER MAKES A CASE

Shelby Miller is 10-6 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.09 WHIP this season for the Cardinals. The righty is making his first career start against the Braves. He has had some problems on the road giving up 2 runs or more in five s ...  read more

Baseball’s best rivalry takes center stage on Sunday Night when the Red Sox host the Yankees.

DEMPSTER FOR LESTER

Boston decided to make a pitching change for this game as Jon Lester was the original starter. He will now pitch on Monday against Tampa Bay. Ryan Dempster is now the scheduled starter and he enters with a mediocre 4.24 ERA and 1.43 WHIP ...  read more

Sunday Night Baseball comes to New York as the Yankees host the Red Sox.

MOLDING WINS FROM CLAY

Clay Buchholz is back after missing a start due to soreness in his right AC joint. The righty is 7-0 with a 1.73 ERA while holding opponents to a .194 batting average. This will be his second start against the Yankees after picking up a win against them on April 3rd in Ne ...  read more

Interleague play takes over Sunday Night Baseball as the Tigers host the Braves.

DOING THE DOUGIE

Doug Fister has been great for Detroit this season. The righty is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA delivering three straight quality starts. He had his shakiest start to open up the season giving up 3 runs and six hits in five innings pitched to the Yankees. He then allowed just 3 ...  read more

The Cardinals and Phillies take center stage on Sunday Night Baseball.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

Jake Westbrook's pristine start to the season was saved by the weather after his last outing against the Pirates was rained out; the righty gave up 4 early runs to Pittsburgh. Westbrook has now continued his streak of not allowing an earned run this season. He is just 1-1 though ...  read more

Sunday Night MLB Preview (Angels at Rangers) April 7, 2013 by Steve Merril

It's an AL West showdown on Sunday Night Baseball as the Rangers host the Angels.

Yu Better Believe It

Yu Darvish makes his second start of the season as he tries to top the one hitter he threw against the Astros this past Tuesday. Darvish was magnificent against the Astros ...  read more

Baltimore Orioles

Why bet the Orioles: The lineup is getting deeper despite losing Mark Reynolds. If Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis can somehow stay healthy, this is a dangerous group 1 thru 9. Manny Machado is a year older and has solid potential. Deep bullpen as well with a lot of power arms that can shut teams down late in games.

Why not bet the Orioles: Unlikely they wil ...  read more

Atlanta Braves

Why bet the Braves: There weren't many pitchers better than Kris Medlen towards the end of last season when he went 9-0 with a 0.97 ERA in 12 starts once he joined the starting rotation. Craig Kimbrel is the best closer in the National League with excellent control, walking just 14 batters in 62.2 innings of work last year. He is backed by Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Ven ...  read more

Dallas Mavericks (2011-12: 36-30 SU, 32-34-0 ATS)

Odds to win division: +525

Season win total: 45.5

Why bet the Mavericks: Dallas won with defense last season as its offense was one of the worst in the NBA. The Mavericks have overhauled their roster this season and if the eight new players gel, Dallas should make the playoffs with relative ...  read more

Atlanta Hawks (2011-12: 40-26 SU, 36-28-2 ATS)

Odds to win division: +1,400

Season win total: 43.5

Why bet the Hawks: Atlanta has overhauled its roster and we see that as a good thing. The Hawks were getting too complacent with the guys they had and they just got stagnant. Atlanta went as Joe Johnson went, but he is now gone and the Hawks ...  read more

Golden State Warriors (2011-12: 23-43 SU, 36-29-1 ATS)

Odds to win division: +5,000

Season win total: 34.5

Why bet the Warriors: Golden State now has center Andrew Bogut and, if he’s healthy and remains that way for the entire season, the Warriors have a puncher’s chance. Bogut will make the Warriors defense much better than they’ve been a ...  read more

Chicago Bulls (2011-12: 50-16 SU, 38-27-1 ATS)

Odds to win division: -190

Season win total: 47.5

Why bet the Bulls: Chicago will enter the season as a forgotten commodity. With Derrick Rose’s ACL injury sidelining him until at least February, the Bulls have low expectations this season. But head coach Tom Thibodeau is terrific and the Bull ...  read more

Boston Celtics (2011-12: 39-27 SU, 34-30-2 ATS)

Odds to win division: +165

Season win total: 51.5

Why to bet the Celtics: Boston has the premier point guard in the NBA with Rajon Rondo. The Celtics go as he goes, and as long as he stays healthy this team is dangerous. Boston still has veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and they added 3-point ...  read more

The Reds and Dodgers play an intriguing National League contest on Sunday Night Baseball.

HOMER HAPPY

Homer Bailey is a streaky pitcher for the Reds. He is 12-9 with a 3.82 ERA striking out 146 while walking only 49. Bailey has allowed just 5 earned runs in his last four starts striking out 26 while walking only 6 batters. Before that, the Bailey had allowed 22 ru ...  read more

The Braves try to make their last push at an N.L. East title on Sunday Night Baseball as they host the Nationals.

GO GIO GO

Gio Gonzalez can become the first player in Nationals history to win 20 games with a win on Sunday. Gonzalez has enjoyed his transition to the National League and has allowed just 1 earned run in his last three starts which span 22 innings. T ...  read more

A pair of southpaws and former Cy Young award winners meet Sunday Night as the Giants host the Dodgers in a key National League West battle.

ZITO'S STREAKING

Barry Zito won the Cy Young award in 2002 with the Oakland Athletics, but he is no longer a dominating pitcher and has a mediocre 10-8 record with a 4.51 ERA this season. The Giants have won his past six starts ...  read more

Chiefs (- 1 ½, 39) @ Packers: Kansas City head coach Romeo Crennel wants to see something good out of his starters on Thursday night and he plans to play his first-team players as long as it takes in order to end the preseason on a positive note. “There is some significance in the game to how you play,” Crennel said. “You can go out and you can stink the place up and then you ca ...  read more

Houston Rockets

The Rockets have had their ups and downs over the past two weeks. Houston jumped into the #6 seed last week after winning four consecutive games, all on the road. But after their triumphant trip, the Rockets lost six straight games and have since gone just 1-7 SU over the past eight games, including blowing a 13-point lead at Miami on Sunday against a Hea ...  read more

Dallas Mavericks

The defending NBA champs have had a tumultuous season. The Mavericks are just 6 games over .500 (34-28 SU) with a losing record on the road at 13-18 after back-to-back overtime losses against the Lakers and Jazz. Dallas had been playing without point guard Jason Kidd recently; he missed four games with a strained right groin muscle. The Mavericks lost t ...  read more

The MLB regular season starts this week with two brief games in Japan between Oakland and Seattle. The Athletics agreed to give up two home games, so they will technically be the home team in both games, even though Seattle will probably have the crowd support because of super star Ichiro Suzuki.

Both Oakland and Seattle are long shots to win the American League West division and each ...  read more

East Region

The East held form in the top half of the bracket with #1 Syracuse and #4 Wisconsin advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. From the bottom half, #2 Ohio State is still alive with #6 Cincinnati rounding out the group. There were no upsets in the East in the first eight games played as the higher seed won every game. And we only saw one upset in the Round of 32 when ...  read more

ACC:

North Carolina headed into the ACC tournament as the #1 seed in Atlanta. North Carolina was mightily impressive in their final regular season game as they went into Cameron Indoor and waxed Duke 88-70. The Tar Heels closed as a 2-point road favorite in that game as heavy money came in on UNC. In the first meeting, North Carolina thoroughly out-played Duke, but the Blue De ...  read more

ACC

Miami (Fla) received some more bad news from the NCAA last Sunday. The Hurricanes’ best player, center Reggie Johnson, was suspended for “impermissible travel benefits” allegedly given to Johnson’s family by a member of its former basketball coaching staff. Current Missouri head coach Frank Haith was the coach at Miami during the time that this allegedly happened. Haith is ...  read more

ACC

Virginia’s roster is becoming extremely thin. The Cavaliers had been playing with just 8 scholarship players when another injury hit them at North Carolina last Saturday. Second leading scorer Joe Harris (12.5 points per game) broke his non-shooting hand; he somehow played through the pain before learning of the fracture after the game was over. Harris is an integral part ...  read more

ACC:

Florida State sits tied atop the ACC standings with a 7-1 conference record. The Seminoles are in first place along with North Carolina; the Seminoles handed the Tar Heels their only conference loss by a whopping 33 points (90-57). Florida State has been a strong defensive team in recent years and they are once again this season. But their biggest improvement has come on ...  read more

ACC:

Virginia starting center Assane Sene will miss as many as six weeks of action because of a broken ankle that required surgery. Sene is a 7'0" senior averaging 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. He started every game for the Cavaliers and they went 15-2 SU over their first 17 games. Since Sene’s injury, Virginia has gone 2-1 SU but just 1-2 ATS with their ...  read more

ACC:

North Carolina has lost starting guard Dexter Strickland for the season after he tore his ACL in his right knee in the Tar Heels last game at Virginia Tech. Strickland was only averaging 8 points per game, but he was the catalyst for North Carolina’s transition game and he actually led the team while shooting 57% from the floor. Strickland’s biggest impact came on the defe ...  read more

ACC

Virginia Tech got some good news this week as their leading scorer, point guard Erick Green, is expected to return to the lineup. Green is averaging 16.1 points, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game this season. But he has missed game time because of a sprained left knee he suffered in practice. The Hokies have really missed Green’s presence on the court as they turned the ...  read more

ACC

Miami (Fla) is finally starting to resemble the team that had high expectations coming into this season. The Hurricanes had to play their first nine games of this season without their best player, Reggie Johnson, who was recovering from knee surgery. Miami was also without DeQuan Jones for their first eleven games as he was suspended indefinitely on accusations of receiving i ...  read more

ACC

Wake Forest is missing their best player as guard C.J. Harris is out with a groin injury. Harris ranks second in the ACC in scoring at 18.7 points per game. “We are sideways offensively,” said Demon Deacons head coach Jeff Bzdelik. Even opposing head coaches are sympathizing over the absence of Harris. After Wake Forest lost at home 56-52 to Wofford, their head coach Mike ...  read more

NFL Oddities

Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s 27-year-old NFL passing record of 5,084 yards. Brees has thrown for 5,087 yards in 15 games. Tom Brady can also do it this week; he has 4,897 yards and needs just 187 yards to eclipse Marino’s mark. The Steelers have lost 8 regular season games since 2010. In their next game, their defense has allowed an average of just 8.9 points pe ...  read more

ACC

Virginia has lost two players to transfer. KT Harrell and James Johnson have decided to leave the Cavaliers after they were both relegated to the bench. Head coach Tony Bennett plays a very slow, half-court game and that style didn’t fit the player’s strengths. “I think we’re getting a better handle on what will work here and what we’re trying to get and filling holes,” Be ...  read more

College Oddities

Norm Chow has been an assistant coach for 39 years. Currently the offensive coordinator at Utah, Chow has been named the head coach of Hawaii. Perfect place for Chow to get his first head coaching job as he was born in Honolulu and started his career at Waialua High School on the North Shore of Oahu way back in 1970. Former Patriots and Steelers linebacker Mik ...  read more

ACC

Miami (Fla) finally got one of their best players back on the court as center Reggie Johnson returned to game action after having knee surgery over the summer. Johnson is a key cog in the paint for the Hurricanes, and his return will be a major boost. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to choke my doctor to get him to let me play,” said Johnson. “My knee didn’t bot ...  read more

NFL Oddities

The Colts are the sixth team to start 0-12 since 1978. Only one of the previous five teams went winless. The Packers have won 18 consecutive games. The Dolphins have out-scored their last five opponents 139-54. Kansas City ran just 2 plays on the Chicago side of the field in the first half, yet they led 7-3 at the half thanks to a Hail Mary touchdown pass caught ...  read more

NFL Oddities

Tim Tebow has won 83% (5-1) of his starts this season; the second highest of any QB with multiple starts this year – Aaron Rodgers 100% (11-0). Arizona rookie Patrick Peterson has 4 punt returns for touchdowns. Raiders’ kicker Sebastian Janikowski accounted for 19 of Oakland’s 25 points (6 FG’s and 1 extra point) versus Chicago. Arizona’s RB Beanie Wells ran for 2 ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play with analysis for Wednesday night:

Tigers/Royals OVER 9 +111 (Scherzer/Paulino) – 8:10 pm ET #977-978

Not an official play, but I would rate the Over as a light lean tonight.

Two of the hotter teams in baseball take the field in Kansas City when the Royals host the Tigers. Kansas City has won eight of their last nine games, d ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play, with analysis, for Wednesday night:

BLUE JAYS at RAYS (Under 8, -115) – 6:40 pm ET #919-920

Not an official play, but I would rate the Under as a light lean tonight.

Toronto is looking to snap a 3-game losing streak as they continue their series in Tampa Bay against the Rays. Jeff Niemann makes the start. He's 1-3 with a 5. ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play, with analysis, for Tuesday night:

GIANTS at PIRATES (+1.5 runline, -130) – 7:05 pm ET #904

Not an official play, but I would rate Pittsburgh as a light lean tonight.

The Giants, losers of four straight games, head to Pittsburgh to begin a 3-game set with the Pirates. San Francisco was swept at home by Atlanta in a series whe ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play, with analysis, for Monday night:

A’s at ANGELS (Under 6 ½, +110) – 10:05 pm ET #965-966

Not an official play, but I would rate the Under as a light lean tonight.

Two hot A.L. West starters take the mound in Anaheim when the Angels host the Athletics. Jered Weaver is 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA in five starts this season. The righty ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play, with analysis, for Thursday night:

TWINS at ORIOLES (Under 8, +110) – 7:05 pm ET #965-966

Not an official play, but I would rate the Under as a light lean tonight.

Two struggling offenses take the field on Thursday night in Baltimore. The Twins have scored just 54 runs in their first 18 games which is an average of just 3 ru ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play, with analysis, for Tuesday night:

ANGELS at RANGERS (-1.5 runline, +110) – 8:05 pm ET #974

Not an official play, but I would rate Texas as a light lean tonight.

Texas took Game 1 of their important early series with the Angels and they’ll hope to do it again on Tuesday night in a pitching match-up that they have a clear advan ...  read more