Scott Rickenbach

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Arizona Diamondbacks vs Washington Nationals @ 4:10 ET - Yesterday's game was the 3rd time the teams have combined for 15 runs or more in 6 meetings between these teams this season. That said, the high-scoring ways are likely to continue here with this pitching match-up. I know Fedde has some success against the Diamondbacks earlier this season but now they get a 2nd shot at him and when they faced him previous to this season they got to him for 5 earned runs in 6 innings. Fedde has allowed 3 homers in his last two starts versus Arizona and he also enters this outing with an ugly 7.20 ERA his last two starts overall. Now he faces a Diamondbacks lineup that tends to hit better when at home. Arizona certainly will need all the runs it can get here because I expect Dbacks pitcher Luke Weaver to struggle. He has 7.04 ERA and ugly 2.09 WHIP in his two career starts against the Nationals. Weaver also faced Erick Fedde and the Nationals in a match-up last month. With these lineups getting another look at the pitchers and with the long-term numbers against them and the recent history in this series, I would not be surprised to see another slugfest here. That said, the drop on this total from a 9.5 to a 9 means we are getting even more value here. I'll take it! 10* OVER the total in Arizona

Contrarian Crusher NBA 10* Top Play OVER the total in Atlanta Hawks vs Houston Rockets @ 7:10 ET - The Hawks likely will be playing a meaningless game when this tips off. If the Knicks, favored by double digits, beat the Celtics in early action then New York locks up the #4 seed. That means Atlanta would be locked into the #5 seed. As for the Rockets, they had a bad season and so you are simply not going to see much defense from either team here given the situation. That said, we should see a ton of points in this on as I like the recent trending of Houston. They are off a SU win plus are on a red hot ATS run to close out the season and they have been doing it with offense, not defense. That is why the over is on a perfect 6-0 run in Rockets games. Also, the O/U is a white hot 9-1 in Houston's last 10 road games. More of the same here as the Hawks are likely to empty the bench in this one and I expect a lot of points as a result. This game simply highly likely to be played casually with a lot of open looks at the basket and plenty of run and gun looking for quick scoring chances. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

NBCSN Blowout Rout - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #65 Sunday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Lightning Money Line -115 @ Florida Panthers @ 7:30 ET - The Lightning got a lot of good news on the injury front entering this one. A bunch of players now listed as probable for Tampa Bay and that includes Kucherov and Stamkos. That is part of the reason you can throw Florida's dominance of the last two regular season games out the window. It is playoff time and I have plenty of respect for the Panthers but feel strongly that the defending Stanley Cup Champion Bolts are going to come out strong and make a statement in Game 1 of this series. The playoffs are an entirely different animal than regular season hockey and, at least in the opener of this one, I look for the Lightning to prevail. There is a reason that lower-seeded Tampa Bay is favored on the road at Florida in this one. Do not be fooled by the line here. The Lightning are justified in being the favorites in this one after being road dogs in the last two meetings of the regular season at Florida. 10* TAMPA BAY

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach EPL Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 goals in Everton vs Sheffield United @ 2 ET - Sheffield certainly can play loose and relaxed as they were the first club relegated and have had a very rough season. The result of this should be plenty of goals in this one. Sheffield, as you would expect, has been one of the worst clubs in the league as far as goals allowed this season. Also, Sheffield can take advantage here of an Everton club which has been one of the worst in the league in terms of goals allowed on its home pitch this season! We have talked here before about this type of scenario and I feel it again leads to value in a spot like this. That is, I do not see Sheffield going without a goal here. I also do not see heavily favored Everton as not finding a way to win this match. That said, we should be looking at a 2-1 final at the very least and that would put us into the win column with this one. Sheffield has shipped 6 goals in its last two matches. Everton has gone 5 straight home matches without a clean sheet and has allowed 2 goals in 4 of those 5 matches. Look for this one to surprise and see more goals than you would expect even though Sheffield usually struggles to score. I feel strongly they will not have that same struggle today plus Everton should score very well. 10* OVER 2.5 goals in Everton

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach EPL Sunday Free Pick Liverpool -1.75 goals vs West Bromwich @ 11:30 AM ET - Liverpool is rounding into top form at the perfect time and still has hopes of a top four finish. That said, a match-up with West Bromwich should lead to a road rout here. Liverpool has been one of the best clubs in terms of goals scored on the road this season while West Bromwich has been one of the worst clubs in terms of goals scored on home pitch this season. The recent history suggests this will be a tight game but I just can not expect it to play out that way. Liverpool knows what is it at stake and the travelers simply have too much talent for a West Bromwich club that knows its relegation fate has been sealed. Liverpool is off back to back victories by a multiple goal margin and I expect another one here. West Bromwich has been involved in 2 draws and 4 non-draws in last 6 matches. All 4 of the matches in which the spoils were not shared saw the victor win the match by a multiple-goal margin. Look for that run to make it 5 in a row here as the road club gets a comfortable victory. Free Pick LIVERPOOL -1.75 goals