Stephen Nover

The Astros are good. The Yankees are great. How great? The Yankees have matched the best 76-game start in the last 92 years. New York is seeking its 17th win in the last 21 games here.

It is rare to lay such a low price with the Yankees.

I like the pitching matchup for New York with Luis Severino versus Luis Garcia. Houston also is likely to be minus shortstop Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez, their leading power-hitter. Both were injured in a collision on Wednesday. Alvarez leads the Astros in homers and RBI's.

Severino is 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA. That ERA gets reduced to 3.13 if you count just his last six starts.

Garcia is 5-5 with a 3.68 ERA. He is more of a middle-to-bottom end rotation starter while Severino is talented enough to be a No. 1 or No. 2 starter especially if he were with a lesser team.

Laying a short price against the Reds on the road rarely is a bad thing even when the home team is the Cubs. 

Cincinnati is 14-25 on the road this season. The Reds are 3-9 in their last 12 games. 

The Cubs are 4-3 in their last seven games. During this span they are averaging 6.2 runs a game. 

So I feel confident backing the Cubs here. The pitching matchup is Reds rookie Graham Ashcraft versus crafty veteran Kyle Hendricks. 

Ashcraft has been impressive with a 4-1 record and 3.27 ERA. He limited the Giants to two runs in eight innings during his previous start this past Friday. Prior to that, however, Ashcraft was battered for 10 earned runs in his two previous starts spanning 9 2/3 innings. During that two-game time frame, Ashcraft gave up 17 hits, two walks and two homers. 

Hendricks also is coming off an excellent start. He threw 7 1/3 shutout innings against the Cardinals this past Friday. Hendricks' night ERA is a respectable 3.78. 
The weather forecast is for the wind to be blowing out at 10-13 mph. The savvy, experienced Hendricks is better equipped to deal with these elements than Ashcraft, who has never pitched at tricky Wrigley Field. 

The spot isn't great for British Columbia traveling on a short week. But the Lions' offense has gotten off to a great start averaging 51.5 points and 526 yards per game. Both lead the CFL. Nathan Rourke has quieted any critics so far with his quarterback play for BC.

The Over has cashed in seven of the Lions' last eight games going back to last season.

Ottawa should do its part to push this total Over behind QB Jeremiah Masoli. The Redblacks have played two games - both against defending Grey Cup champion Winnipeg and its stout defense.

The Lions' defensive numbers are inflated because they played a pair of weak offenses, Edmonton and Toronto. Those two teams rank last and second-to-last offensively. Ottawa and the veteran Masoli should produce much better numbers against the Lions than the Elks and Argonauts did.

Expect the Redblacks to be fresh and have a strong offensive design since they were idle last week.