Scott Rickenbach

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #925 Friday Free Pick Los Angeles Angels Money Line -133 @ Arizona Diamondbacks @ 9:40 ET - Shohei Ohtani has great numbers for the Angels this season and will take advantage of a Diamondbacks team that has been the worst team in the majors the past month and a half. After starting the season 15-30, the Diamondbacks have now lost 30 of 35 games! This includes 7 in a row entering this one. Arizona starter Merrill Kelly has been a good innings-eater for the Dbacks but his record of 2-6 and his 5.12 ERA shows that he has been far from dominant. The fact the Angels are on the road here is helping to keep this money line lower than it should be and, that said, the traveler here is absolutely worth a look. Free Pick LOS ANGELES ANGELS Money Line -133

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Friday 10* Top Play Atlanta Braves Money Line (-) @ Miami Marlins @ 7:10 ET - Some may be enticed to take the home dog Marlins here with Sandy Alcantara on the mound but, in typical contrarian fashion for me, I am fading the early line move here and going with the small road favorite. The Braves will be "locked in" here after blowing back to back games at Philadelphia with the Phillies walking off each of the last two games in dramatic fashion. This insures the proper focus from the Braves here and I like the fact that Charlie Morton has been pitching better in recent starts as the veteran has returned to better form again. He'll be facing a Marlins team that is off a win but that victory was preceded by losses in 10 of 12 games. The Braves had won 9 of 14 before the two heartbreaking losses at Philly. These teams have records that are not too far apart but I still feel strongly that the Braves are the much better team and, as such, this is fantastic line value with Atlanta as a small favorite. Bounce back spot for the Braves and they get the job done here. 10* ATLANTA

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs St Louis Cardinals @ 2:20 ET - Warm afternoon at Wrigley Field and a starting pitching match-up that certainly should lead to some solid run-scoring here. The Cardinals Johan Oviedo is off a better start but it was at home where he has been better and it was hosting a Reds team that has struggled at the plate when on the road this season. Now he faces a Cubs team known for being dangerous at the plate in their home park and Oviedo has a 7.11 ERA with a ridiculous 11 walks in his 6 and 1/3 innings on the road this season. Oviedo also struggled on the road last season as he went winless in 4 starts with a 5.95 ERA and he allowed 5 homers in those 4 outings. The Cubs go with Kohl Stewart here and he is getting this start only because of the injury to Adbert Alzolay. That is not a knock on Stewart but just a fact and he got hit at a .290 clip in his 9 appearances last season and he has been hit at a .303 clip in his 2 starts this season. St Louis enters this game on a 3-0 run to the over and the over is 5-1 in the Cardinals last 6 road games. More of the same expected here as the Cubbies are favored here for a reason and note that they have averaged scoring 6 runs per game in their last 7 games. 10* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs

Total Dominator - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #533 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns @ 10:05 ET - The Nuggets are known for being much tougher to play against when at home and they show a strong tendency to score much better when on their home floor. After back to back frustrating performances on offense on the road in this series, I fully expect Denver to bounce back with a strong effort here and put up big points. They will need it because the Suns have been on fire offensively and that is why the over is on a 10-2 run in Phoenix road games. Prior to Game 2 of this series staying under the total, games between these teams were on an 8-4 run to the over and I look for that trend to quickly resume tonight. The Nuggets respond on their home floor but the Suns continue their red hot scoring trend away from home. 10* OVER the total in Denver

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #531 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia 76ers Money Line -115 @ Atlanta Hawks @ 7:35 ET - With the Sixers available at a -1 -110 on the spread I am going to suggest laying an extra 5 cents and grabbing them on the money line at -115 in this one. I know Atlanta has a good home record but here is something interesting to note. The Hawks played in a much weaker division this season than Philadelphia did. Note that Philly played in a tough Atlantic Division but still went 10-2 in the division. Also, the 76ers went 13-2 against the weak Southeast Division. The Hawks record was helped by the fact they went 9-3 in their own division. Against the Atlantic Division, Atlanta had a losing record at 7-8. The point is that the value here because this game is at Atlanta and we can take Philly just to win the game is too much to pass up on in my opinion. I am going with the better team on the road to avoid falling into a 2-1 series deficit here. Big game and having an extra day off between games - these teams last played Tuesday - also favors the road team with Embiid getting extra rest for his knee. The big man is capable of dominating any game and has already produced huge numbers in this series and will come up big here in my opinion. 10* PHILADELPHIA money line -115