Scott Rickenbach

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #910 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs New York Mets @ 7:05 ET - This line has gone from an opener in the -140 range to as low as -115. I like the Phillies here as they have staff ace Aaron Nola on the mound and look to bounce back from letting a big lead slip away in yesterday's 5-4 loss to the Mets. Note that Nola has a 1.65 ERA in his last 4 starts. Also, this season at home he has a 1.57 ERA and has held opponents to a .133 batting average. I know Seth Lugo has been pitching well for Mets but the Phillies have 6 hitters who are hitting .278 or better against him. Also, Lugo has not pitched as well on the road as he has at home. He is 0-3 with a 3.77 ERA and a .293 BAA in 7 road games (2 starts) this season. More of the same on tap here and the Phillies improve to 7-3 the last 10 times they were off a loss in which they allowed 5 or more runs. Philly, prior to yesterday's loss, was on an 11-2 run in home games including 4-0 against the Mets. Phillies at home and with Nola on the mound are in the perfect spot to bounce right back and we get a great price here. Lay it! 10* PHILADELPHIA

NBCSN Blowout Rout - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NHL Rotation #11 Thursday 8* Tampa Bay Lightning Money Line (-) vs New York Islanders @ 8:10 ET - The Lightning are 4-0 in this post-season when coming off a loss. I am not wild about laying a big price but this money line is in the -160 range and is still well worth the investment as far as I am concerned. Expecting a tight game in Game 5 Tuesday I went with the puck line on the Islanders. Even though New York prevailed and won the game in double-OT, it was a game that could have gone either way and I was happier to relax having the +1.5 goals on my side then to have to sweat out a double-OT winner. Similarly, in this case I though about laying the -1.5 goals with the Lightning and getting plus money as I do expect a big win. However, if Tampa Bay is up by 2 goals late and then the Islanders pull their goalie that is one of those situations which, as you know, can go either way. So here we are with the money line and I am expecting the Bolts to play a much different style in Game 6 and prove to be too much for the Isles. Tampa Bay was back on their heels a bit in Game 5 and allowed the Islanders to dictate the pace and flow of the game. Look for the Lightning to be much more aggressive in Game 6 after essentially playing a "safe game" which played into the hands of New York Tuesday. I also am expecting Brayden Point to return for the Lightning tonight. I really believe him not playing in Game 5 was precautionary (and for rest reasons) more than anything else. The Bolts only losses in this series have been when he hasn't played. However, even if Point does not play I expect the rest of the Lightning to step up big-time off the loss here and look for Andrei Vasilevskiy to continue to be stellar between the pipes as well. The end result? This series ends tonight! 8* TAMPA BAY Money Line

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NBA Rotation #702 Thursday 10* Top Play UNDER the total in Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat @ 7 ET - The Celtics lost in OT in Game 1 of this series on Tuesday and that was just their 4th loss of this post-season. So how does Boston react after a defeat? They turn to their defense! After their first 3 losses of this post-season their next game has stayed under the total all 3 times. The Celtics have allowed an average of only 92 points per game when off a loss in these playoffs. Boston has scored an average of only 99 points per game when off a defeat in this post-season. With numbers like that this game is unlikely to get to 200 let alone 210. This is particularly true when you also consider that is unlikely the Heat again knock down 44.4% of their three pointers and score 48 points from beyond the arc in the process. Miami's defense is good too and they'll do everything they can to go up 2-0 in this series. That said, look for a low-scoring grinder on Thursday night. 10* UNDER the total in Boston

Primetime Punisher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NFL Rotation #101 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Browns vs Cincinnati Bengals @ 8:20 ET - Both teams games stayed under the total in Week One but yet this total opened up as high as a 46. Not surprisingly, the total has since dropped by about a field goal. In typical contrarian fashion, I am on the other side of the line move and taking advantage of the added value. Of course being on the other side it is not without reasoning of course. For one thing, even though the Browns scored only 6 points in Week One, they faced a very tough Ravens defense. Also, Cleveland had 20 first downs in that game so they were able to "move the chains" decently but were done in by 3 turnovers and a lack of execution at key times. The Browns will undoubtedly be able to execute a little better against a Bengals defense which ranked dead last against the run last season and was one of the worst defenses in the league overall based on yardage and scoring. The Browns defense wasn't a whole lot better as they were #30 against the run last season and also ranked 20th or worse in the categories of overall defense based on yardage and scoring. Cleveland got Hunt and Chubb going on the ground in Week One and Cincinnati got solid yardage on the ground from Mixon plus from QB Burrow. Establishing the ground game can open things up for the aerial attack and both Burrow and Browns QB Mayfield should have stronger games this week. I know the Bengals game totaled just 35 points last week but Cincinnati and the Chargers both had wasted scoring opportunities and also settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. All of this has led to line value with this total this week and I won't hesitate to step in on this one. Both teams will "open up the playbooks on offense" a little more after a conservative Week One efforts that were practically like preseason games for teams to try and work out the kinks after a strange off-season. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland