Scott Rickenbach

MLB Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +115 @ Houston Astros @ 9:40 ET - Action on pitchers. The Phillies magic number is 1. The Astros magic number is 0. What I mean by the latter is that the Astros have nothing to play for now. They wrapped up the top seed in the American League and they can not catch the Dodgers for the top spot in the majors heading into the post-season. That is why you are seeing what many might perceive to be a "Funny Line" on Houston here with the Astros opening as a small money line favorite here even though they are at home and having a huge season compared to Philadelphia. However, the key for the Phillies is that magic number of 1. They just need 1 win or 1 Brewers loss and they are heading straight to St Louis after this series to face the Cardinals in a best of 3 series in the first round. Phillies Nola is having a strong month in terms of performance but was done in by one bad inning versus Cubs in most recent start. One 3-run homer was the big difference in the game. As for the Astros McCullers, he is coming from an illness and his last start was skipped in the rotation. He may not be 100 percent. Again, my play is action no matter the pitchers anyway. The Phillies are highly motivated here and hungry for first post-season berth since 2011! The Astros could be resting regulars here to avoid injury prior to post-season starting. Houston won't rest everyone all at once but they just are not going to have a stacked lineup here most likely! 10* PHILADELPHIA +115

MLB Monday 10* Top Play OVER 7 in Oakland A's vs Los Angeles Angels @ 9:40 ET - Action on pitchers. This is a low total because the A's are known for struggling so bad at the plate and because the Angels have Patrick Sandoval on the mound. However, Sandoval has been hit at a .275 clip this month and has a 1.40 WHIP in September so he seems to be fading a bit here late in the season. Plus he just faced Oakland and they got to him for 3 earned runs in 5 innings in that one last week. This is a late-season match-up between two teams both just playing out the string on the season as post-season hopes were gone long ago. That said, this is when hitters are most relaxed at the plate and the Angels are indeed playing their best baseball of the season. Los Angeles has won 7 straight games and averaged 5.3 runs per game during this stretch. The Angels will tee off on a struggling Adrian Martinez as he has been roughed up over his last 4 starts with 19 earned runs allowed on 29 hits in 18.1 innings of work. He also just faced the Angels and they got to him for 3 earned runs in under 5 innings of work. The total posted here makes sense based on long-term metrics but it does not make sense based on the current situation. Even the A's are off a 10-3 win yesterday on the road and are now back home where each of their last 4 games totaled MORE than 10 runs and, in fact, averaged 14 runs apiece! That is DOUBLE the total posted on this game! Over is 4-0 L4 A's home games! 10* OVER 7 in Oakland

NFL Monday 10* Top Play Los Angeles Rams +1.5 or +2 @ San Francisco 49ers @ 8:15 ET - Motivation is so important when professional players are paid many millions to play the sport they love. Guys still sometimes don't have it. They come to the game not fully prepared mentally and they pay for it. That is what happened when the defending Super Bowl Champs opened the season against the Bills and got thoroughly embarrassed on national TV with the whole world watching. Los Angeles got caught still celebrating the Super Bowl victory and thinking a little too much of themselves entering the new season. What does that have to do with this game you might ask? A helluva lot! This is the Rams first chance since then to redeem themselves on the big stage. No one likes to be embarrassed. This is Monday Night Football. It is a division rival. The defending champs will bring their "A game". Now I am not here to tell you this Rams team is as good as last year because they are not. However, they are still better than the 49ers. Yes San Francisco has a great defense but the Rams have a solid defense too, to say the least. Also, LA is particularly strong against the run and the Niners are not a good passing attack (as per usual). So this is where the final key comes in. Rams QB Stafford and the overall LA passing attack ranks the edge over the Niners in that department for sure AND it was Stafford that got embarrassed too with a rough game against Buffalo on opening night. Redemption time here and I know some will point to the revenge angle here for Niners from last year's playoff loss. But these teams just plain don't like each other AND the Rams had actually lost 6 IN A ROW to the Niners before that playoff win. So there is still some payback to be served here and SF has scored less points this season than LA has the past two weeks. Stafford stats the past two weeks are 45 of 61 for 521 yards and 3 td vs 2 int. Garoppolo only 31 of 50 for just 365 yards with 2 td vs 1 int. Also Jimmy G got sacked 4 times last week. Stafford just once each of past two weeks. The Rams ability to move the ball better through the air is the difference in this game. The motivation because of getting drilled on opening night of season on national TV is the other as they show the world the Rams are still a force to be reckoned with by delivering a Monday night bounce back and improve to 3-1 while trying to bury the rival Niners and knock them down to 1-3 on the young season. 10* LOS ANGELES RAMS +1.5 or +2

EPL Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Leicester vs Nottingham Forest @ 3 ET - This total is currently available at 2.5 with moderate juice, 2.75 with small juice, or 3.0 with no juice. So you have your options in that regard. Definitely expecting a lot of goals here. I would love to play Leicester here as I do feel they will finally get their first win of the season. The hosts are the only team in the EPL that still do not have a victory. However, the problem is that I can not trust their leaky defense. However, I am certain the hosts are going to be aggressive on the attack as they also want revenge for a 4-1 loss to Nottingham Forest when these clubs met in the FA Cup. Again, just can not trust their defensive woes though and the visitors should have plenty of attacking chances as well in this one. These two clubs have each been conceding far too much this season as Nottingham Forest is allowing 2.4 goals per match and Leicester is allowing 3.1 goals per match! I would not be surprise to see a 3-2 final here but at least we should get to a 2-2 draw or 2-1 final at the bare minimum though the latter certainly not my wish here! 10* OVER the total in Leicester 

Romania Liga 1 Monday Free Pick Rapid Bucuresti Money Line +122 @ Chindia Targoviste @ 2 ET - This could be considered an odds-based play. Simply based on mathematical analysis this is a bet worth looking at. Rapid Bucuresti is the only club out of 16 without a draw this season. Chindia Targoviste is the only club out of 16 without a win this season. Finally Hermannstadt lost yesterday (we had free winner going against them right here and cashed it!) so that means each of the 16 clubs now has at least 1 loss. But back to the point above, odds look somewhere between slim and nil and that Chindia Targoviste will win this match as that is something they have not done in 10 matches this season. How about a draw? Rapid Bucuresti has not had one of those in their 11 matches this season. As you can see, the odds heavily favor the visitors on the money line in this one yet the price is very nice as we get plus money. I know Chindia Targoviste will do their best to finally get a win here but just think the visitors are too strong. Free Pick Rapid Bucuresti +122

Romania Liga 1 Monday 10* Top Play OVER 2 in Chindia Targoviste vs Rapid Bucuresti @ 2 ET - Interesting match-up as one of the league's worst hosts one of the league's best. I like the fact that Chindia Targoviste is the only club without a win and Rapid Bucuresti is the only club without a draw this season. Every team has at least 1 defeat after Hermannstadt finally fell yesterday. As for Chindia Targoviste, they have scored at least 1 goal in 3 of their 4 home matches this season. They are so hungry for a win I am confident they will be pushing hard on the attack for a goal here on their home pitch. Now remember what I said above about Rapid Bucuresti not having had a draw. They are not going to want to settle for a 1-1 share of the spoils here. I look for this match to get to a 2-1 final and give us a win. We have some added insurance in that if this game lands on 2 we have a push but definitely expecting a rather entertaining match here as Chindia Targoviste tends to play better at home but Rapid Bucuresti is clearly the better club in this one and will be pushing hard to build off of a 2-1 win last time out. The visitors have won 6 of last 7 matches so they should certainly find the back of the net here against a club that has allowed 18 goals in 11 matches this season! No club has allowed more than these hosts this season! 10* OVER 2 in Chindia Targoviste 

Romania Liga 1 Monday 8* FC Botosani Goal Line PK +100 vs Universitatea Cluj @ 11 AM ET - FC Botosani will respond here on their home pitch after getting drilled 7-0 on the road in their most recent match. To put that in proper perspective as to how bad that loss was, their opponent today has scored only 7 goals this entire season in 11 matches! Indeed, Universitatea Cluj is the lowest-scoring team in the league this season and I am very comfortable with the goal line in this one. It means Universitatea Cluj has to win the match for us to lose our bet. A draw here and we get our money back. Note that Universitatea Cluj has only won 2 matches in their 11 so far this season. As for FC Botosani, prior to last week's ugly loss their goal differential was 0 as they had 9 for and 9 against and they had only 3 losses in 9 matches at that time on the season. The hosts are sure to respond this week! 8* FC Botosani