Sports Picks & Predictions

This is a play on the SAN DIEGO PADRES for our MLB Saturday Sweet Spot. After blowing a 9-4 lead in the eighth inning on Thursday, the Padres lost this series opener 9-3 on Friday. They are now a game under .500 at 14-15 but send their ace to the hill on Saturday. The Phillies have won two straight games and seven of their last nine to move to 17-10 which is good for second place in the National League East, two and a half games behind Atlanta. We are going against Ranger Suarez who has now gone three straight starts without allowing a run covering 22 innings. This is not sustainable and faces a potent offense tonight. Dylan Cease will look to keep his hot start going as well and give the San Diego bullpen a break. He has allowed two runs or less in all five of his starts and has a 1.82 ERA and 0.74 WHIP over that stretch. He has allowed only 11 hits in his 29.7 innings including just one home run. Here, we play on favorites with a money line of -110 or higher with a bullpen after two straight games throwing five or more innings going up against an opponent with a bullpen whose WHIP is over 1.75 the last 10 games. This situation is 31-5 (86.1 percent) over the last five seasons. 10* (906) San Diego Padres

This is a play on the LOS ANGELES LAKERS for our NBA Signature Enforcer. This series is all but over but we are banking on the Lakers not going away without a fight. No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit and we are not expecting that here but we are expecting the series to back to Denver or in the worst case, this being a one possession game. The Lakers closed as 1.5-point favorites in Game Three and come into Game Four as 3.5-point underdogs and this is just too much of an adjustment. Game Three was the same story as Los Angeles built an early lead only to see it go away and entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers were just 1-14 from three-point range so a couple more of those going in and it could have been a different outcome. One thing we will see is a big game from LeBron James who has played in 54 playoff series over 17 postseasons and this will be the fifth time he has faced a 3-0 deficit and in the previous four Game Fours, he has averaged 29.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 9.5 apg. And it will be up to the role players to show up which they have not thus far, especially in Game Three with the team shooting 30 percent when taking away James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves. Here, we play on teams revenging a straight up loss as a home favorite, off an upset loss as a favorite. This situation is 166-104 ATS (61.5 percent) over the last five seasons. 10* (548) Los Angeles Lakers

This is a play on ORLANDO MAGIC for our NBA Afternoon Dominator. It was a Game Three disaster for Cleveland which lost every quarter and eventually took a 38-point loss which was the worst in franchise playoff history. The money will be flying in on the Cavaliers for a Game Four bounce back which the linemakers expect and the line has been adjusted because of that as the zig zag theorists will be going that way. We like that angle in some occasions but not here. The story in the first two games was the Cleveland defense but that did not show up in Game Three as it allowed 121 points on 51.1 percent shooting but the actuality of it is, the Cavaliers offense has been bad. They have shot 41.6 percent from the floor and have yet to crack 100 points and while the Cleveland defense gets all of the accolades, the Orlando defense is better as it ranked No. 2 in defensive efficiency, No. 3 in turnovers gained and it is top 7 in all rebounding categories. The Magic had no offense and never even had a lead in Cleveland and while the Cavaliers defense gets credit, Orlando did not shoot well as it has missed wide open looks but the return home cured that. After the Thursday win, the Magic are 30-11 at home where they shoot 48.9 percent. Here, we play on home favorites after having lost 5 or 6 of their last 7 games, with a winning record on the season playing another winning team. This situation is 40-15 ATS (72.7 percent) over the last five seasons. 10* (542) Orlando Magic