Cappers Sports Picks

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Game #923 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Houston Astros vs Kansas City Royals @ 7:15 ET - After yesterday's pitchers duel (1-0 Royals win with the only run in the top of the 9th) most will be looking for another under today. After all Lance McCullers has had great numbers this season as well as last year plus Ian Kennedy has a 1.99 ERA in his career starts versus the Astros. In typical contrarian fashion, I am going with the over in this match-up but, as always, it is not without good reason! The fact is that Kennedy allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings in his most recent start versus Houston. Also, on the road this season, Kennedy is 1-3 with a 6.16 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP! As for McCullers, he just faced the Royals Sunday and allowed 4 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits in 6 innings. Kansas City getting a 2nd shot at him in the span of just a week will help them. Also, McCullers has not been as sharp overall in his last 5 starts as he was earlier this season. The Houston right-hander has a 4.91 ERA in his last 5 outings and the over has gone 4-1 in these 5 starts. Even with yesterday's result, the over is still 8-3 in the Astros last 11 games. Prior to the 1-0 loss yesterday, Houston had averaged 11.4 hits and 6.9 runs per game in their 10 previous games. The over is 8-4 in the Astros 12 Saturday games this season. Prior to yesterday's under, the over had gone 11-5-1 in Kansas City's last 17 games versus the Astros. Look for that trend to resume tonight after yesterday's unusual result. 10* OVER the total in Houston

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Game #905 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ 4:05 ET - With yesterday's game going 13 innings, each team was forced to use extra bullpen. That is advantage #1 here. Advantage #2 here is that we're getting an extremely low total to work with here because Zach Greinke is on the mound. Certainly the Diamondbacks right-hander is a fantastic veteran pitcher but the numbers this season don't lie! He is much better at home than on the road and the markets just haven't caught up with this yet! Greinke is just 3-4 with an ugly 5.66 ERA and has allowed 12 homers in his 7 road starts this season! He enters this start on an "over streak" of 4 straight overs in his outings. He has given up 20 hits and walked 8 in the 16 and 2/3 innings spanning his last 3 starts. That included a sub-par start versus the Pirates and that outing was at home! As for Joe Musgrove of Pittsburgh, the right-hander had a strong start at Arizona in that same series in which Greinke pitched. That is causing the markets to over-react to him here (keeping this total low) when the reality is that the Diamondbacks are likely to get much better at-bats against him now that they're seeing him for a 2nd game in a span of less than two weeks. The Pirates are 0-3 in Musgrove's last 3 starts and he has a 6.46 ERA during this stretch. The over is 16-5 in Arizona's road games with a money line between +125 and -125 this season. The over is 15-8 this season in Pirates games with a posted total of 8 or 8.5 runs and now this total has dropped to a 7.5 this morning adding even more value to this spot. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Game #917 Saturday 8* OVER the total in Chicago White Sox vs Oakland A's @ 2:10 ET - Both games of yesterday's double-header went over the total and that sets this one up well for the momentum to continue. The White Sox are starting Dylan Covey. Though the Chicago right-hander has good overall numbers, he has struggled in his past two starts. In Covey's last two outings he has given up 16 hits and 5 walks in 12 innings of work for a 1.75 WHIP. The righty faces an A's team that had won 5 straight games and averaged scoring 7.8 runs per game during the streak, before losing Game 2 of yesterday's double-header. Oakland has gone 9-1 to the over in their last 10 games. The White Sox have now gone over the total in 4 straight games and will take advantage of facing a struggling Daniel Mengden. Although the Oakland right-hander had a strong start versus the Pale Hose earlier this season, a repeat of that is quite unlikely. Mengden is winless in his last 3 starts and has a 10.04 ERA during this rough stretch. Only 5 of his 15 starts this season have stayed under the total. The over is 11-4 this season in A's road games with a posted total of 9 or 9.5 runs. Look for another one here! 8* OVER the total in the Chicago White Sox game

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach CFL Game #357 Saturday Free Pick OVER the total in Toronto Argonauts vs Calgary Stampeders @ 7 ET - In road games with a posted total between 49.5 and 52 points the Stampeders are a perfect 3-0 to the over the past two seasons and a long-term 33-20 to the over. Calgary is also a long-term 22-10 to the over in game played on grass. The Stampeders balanced attack (strong through air and on ground last week) will keep the Argonauts defense off balance. Toronto struggled to score points last week (especially until the 4th quarter) but should fare better on their home field this week. There is some rain in the Toronto area today but it is expected to be light and also likely out of the area by this evening. The weather otherwise features light winds and pleasant temperatures and that means no limitations expected from Mother Nature in this game! The over is 10-5 in the Argonauts last 15 Saturday games. Look for another one here. Free Pick OVER the total in Toronto Saturday.

Game of the Week - Rickenbach CFL Game #367 Saturday 10* Top Play Calgary Stampeders (-) @ Toronto Argonauts @ 7 ET - There was only 1 upset in Week 1 of CFL action and I expect that to be the case again when Week 2 is in the books. That upset happened last night when Hamilton won at Edmonton. As for the other games this week, favored Ottawa rolled Saskatchewan Thursday and favored Winnipeg crushed Montreal yesterday. Look for another one 3-1 SU week for the favorites as Calgary gets the win at Toronto tonight. This is a revenge spot for the Stampeders as they lost the Grey Cup game (for the 2nd straight season!) in November and that defeat came at the hands of the Argonauts. Calgary's defense looked like they are jelling quicker than expected the way the played in Week 1. Also, the Stampeders showed a very balanced attack on offense. Keep in mind Toronto had only 5 points through the first three quarters in their Week 1 loss and this one truly does have road rout written all over it. The East/West dichotomy continues to show the strength of West Division teams compared to those from the East Division. Toronto went just 3-7 against teams from the West last season while the Stamps were a solid 6-1-1 against teams from the East last season. The Stampeders also have gone 14-2 SU (11-5 ATS) the past two seasons against teams with a losing record. The Argonauts have gone 6-10 SU (and ATS) versus teams with a winning record the past two season. 10* CALGARY