Scott Rickenbach

Situational Slaughter - MLB Rotation #909 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in St Louis Cardinals vs Washington Nationals @ 7:45 ET - The Cardinals have not hit well early this season but they are at home here against Erick Fedde whom is off a rough start in his first outing of the season. The set up is perfect for the Cardinals bats to have a big day but I do not trust their starter John Gant as he is getting this start only because of injuries in the pitching rotation for St Louis. He allowed 2 base runners per inning in his first start with 4 hits, a hit batter, and 3 walks in just 4 innings of work. That was against a bad Marlins lineup. That does not bode well as now he faces a Nationals team whose .268 batting average ranks them 5th in the majors. I know Washington has not hit for much power yet this season but they only have 6 games in the books and the bigger hits will come. I like the way they are swinging the bats and you can see why, per the above, that I am happy to fade both these starting pitchers. Fedde just 8-12 with a 5.29 ERA in his career. Both bullpens ranking just in the middle of the pack so far this season too. 10* OVER the total in St Louis

Big East Beast - NHL Rotation #3 Monday 10* Top Play Toronto Maple Leafs Money Line (-) @ Montreal Canadiens @ 7:05 ET - Jack Campbell is the confirmed starter for the Maple Leafs and he can't wait to get on the ice and redeem himself. Even though he improved to 11-0 with a win over Ottawa it was a rare rough outing for him. He wants to bounce back here and is 7-0 with a 1.54 GAA and a .945 save percentage in his road starts this season. Toronto is on track to finish with the top spot in the North Division and the Canadiens a likely number four spot. The Leafs have dominated this series thus far this year and do not want to give Montreal any hopes of a first round upset either should these teams meet which appears likely at this point. With Carey Price only practicing as he works on conditioning after his injury, the Habs netminder tonight is likely to be Jake Allen. He has won just 1 of his 7 home decisions this season and has a 3.12 GAA at home. Allen enters this start having allowed 11 goals in his last 3 games. With Montreal having lost 3 straight and the Maple Leafs having won 6 straight and 9 of their last 10, look for this one to be a road rout. 10* TORONTO

ESPN Smash Pass - NBA Rotation #559 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Dallas Mavericks vs Philadelphia 76ers @ 7:35 ET - The last time these teams met the game stayed under the total but the posted total was 227.5 points and now we are dealing with a posted total nearly ten points below that! I know the Sixers are on an under trend but I feel this total has been adjusted too far down compared to the prior meeting in late February. Keep in mind, the Mavericks are in a back to back but they lost versus San Antonio yesterday and are 9-1 SU the last 10 times when off a SU loss. They are going to bring a strong effort here and have averaged scoring 116.5 points the last 6 times when off a loss. The Sixers are averaging 110 points per game their last 11 road games. Each team should get to at least 110 here and that puts this game well past the posted total. The 76ers know the Mavericks are in 2nd game of a back to back and will push the tempo here and try to run them right out of the arena and wear them down in doing so. Good pace to this one. 10* OVER the total in Dallas

Daytime Dominator - EPL Monday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 goals +115 in Brighton & Hove Albion vs Everton @ 3:15 ET - Each club desperate for 3 points here as Everton still has two games in hand on the clubs ahead of them which they are chasing for a higher finish in the table. Certainly Everton is still very much in reach of a strong finish in the table. They need the full 3 though here. At the same time, Brighton is only 6 points clear of the relegation zone so they are not out of danger to say the least. They do not want to settle for a draw here. That said, and you have seen this discussed here before, we should see at least a 2-1 final in this one. I do not see either team producing a clean sheet and I don't see either team settling for a draw. So look for this match to get to 1-1 at some point and then eventually 2-1. Either way we should see at least 3 goals in this one. Each of Everton's last 4 matches have totaled at least 3 goals. Everton is off a 1-1 draw but that was preceded by them allowing 2 goals in each of their 3 prior matches across all competitions. Also, off of the draw where allowing a late goal was an equalizer, Everton will be a little more aggressive on the attack for the full match in this one. They got burned for sitting back in their last match, versus Crystal Palace, and can not afford to make the same mistake here. 10* OVER 2.5 goals +115 in Brighton & Hove

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach EPL Monday Free Pick Southampton Saints +123 @ West Bromwich Albion @ 1 ET - Perfect spot to fade West Bromwich. They are off a huge upset win at Chelsea which certainly deserves plenty of credit even though Chelsea was down a man for much of that match. So off a huge win there could be an emotional letdown. Speaking of emotional letdowns, it had to be demoralizing for West Bromwich to see the team they are chasing, Newcastle, pick up the full 3 points in the table with a win yesterday. That means West Bromwich hopes of avoiding relegation took another hit. West Bromwich has only 2 wins in 15 home matches this season. Southampton enters this game off back to back wins across all competitions. They generally have taken care of business against lesser foes of late and struggled against top tier competition. That said, the road team should certainly roll to victory here. They have won each of the last 5 meetings by a combined score of 9 to 3. More of the same expected here. Free Pick SOUTHAMPTON +123