Martin Green
FIFA World Cup European Qualifying
Belarus vs. Wales (9 a.m. ET)
Wales to win (-187)
Wales to win and under 2.5 goals (+190)
Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale should be available to start this game against a Belarus team that struggles defensively. Daniel James, who just completed a $41 million move from Manchester United to Leeds, is also expected to line up in attack, so Wales will have a great deal of pace on the counter-attack. It is missing a couple of important players, including Aaron Ramsey, but Rob Page's men should still be able to pick up an away win on Sunday. Belarus has conceded 11 goals in three group-stage games thus far. That is largely down to an 8-0 defeat at the hands of Belgium, but it rarely keeps clean sheets. It lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic on Thursday, and it is highly unlikely to qualify for the World Cup. Wales has a good chance of earning a place at the tournament in Qatar next year -- it is ranked 19th in the world by FIFA, 70 places above Belarus -- but it really needs to win games like this.
England vs. Andorra (Noon ET)
England -4.5 (-118)
This game should prove to be a real mismatch. England is unbeaten in 14 games, and it sits fourth in the FIFA world rankings, while Andorra is marooned in 156th place. The population of Andorra is 77,000, which would not even fit into Wembley, England's 90,000-seat national stadium. The gulf in quality between the two teams will be vast. England manager Gareth Southgate is likely to make several changes to the team that just beat Hungary 4-0 in Budapest, but any fringe players that get the chance to shine will be keen to impress him. Andorra beat fellow minnow San Marino in its last game, but that was just its fourth victory since in made its debut on the international stage back in 1996. It has lost 3-0 to Poland and 4-1 to the Republic of Ireland this year, but England should be able to rack up a larger margin of victory.
Bulgaria vs. Lithuania (Noon ET)
Bulgaria to win and 2 or more goals in match (-105)
Bulgaria win to nil (+115)
Bulgaria's players should be full of confidence after holding European champion Italy to a 1-1 draw in midweek. The Bulgarians have not won a game since November 2019, but they now have a glorious chance to secure victory over a poor Lithuania team. Lithuania is currently on a seven-game losing streak. It suffered a 4-1 defeat to Northern Ireland on Thursday, and it lost 4-0 to Spain in its previous game. Lithuania has conceded 11 goals in its last three road trips, which does not augur well for a match against a talented Bulgarian attack led by Ludogorets forward Kiril Despodov.
Iceland vs. North Macedonia (Noon ET)
North Macedonia Draw No bet (+110)
North Macedonia will bid to maintain its upward curve when it takes on Iceland in Reykjavik this weekend. Blagoja Milevski's men produced an impressive performance to beat Liechtenstein 5-0 back in March. They followed it up by shocking the world with a 2-1 victory over Germany. North Macedonia then acquitted itself well at the European Championship this summer, despite losing all three games to strong teams. It returned to action on Thursday, when it drew 0-0 with Armenia. It dominated possession and created lots of chances, but its finishing was wayward. Star striker Goran Pandev has now retired, so it will be left to Alejsabdar Trajovski and Adis Jahović to pick up the slack. If they sharpen up their finishing, North Macedonia should beat Iceland on Sunday. Iceland has struggled badly over the past couple of years, with star player Gylfi Sigurdsson out of action. It has lost three out of its four group games thus far, and it already trails North Macedonia by four points.
2022 Concacaf World Cup Qualifying
Honduras vs. El Salvador (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET)
Draw +180 (half unit)
Draw and under 2.5 goals +230 (half unit)
FIFA World Cup European Qualifying
Belarus vs. Wales (9 a.m. ET)
Wales to win (-187)
Wales to win and under 2.5 goals (+190)
Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale should be available to start this game against a Belarus team that struggles defensively. Daniel James, who just completed a $41 million move from Manchester United to Leeds, is also expected to line up in attack, so Wales will have a great deal of pace on the counter-attack. It is missing a couple of important players, including Aaron Ramsey, but Rob Page's men should still be able to pick up an away win on Sunday. Belarus has conceded 11 goals in three group-stage games thus far. That is largely down to an 8-0 defeat at the hands of Belgium, but it rarely keeps clean sheets. It lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic on Thursday, and it is highly unlikely to qualify for the World Cup. Wales has a good chance of earning a place at the tournament in Qatar next year -- it is ranked 19th in the world by FIFA, 70 places above Belarus -- but it really needs to win games like this.
England vs. Andorra (Noon ET)
England -4.5 (-118)
This game should prove to be a real mismatch. England is unbeaten in 14 games, and it sits fourth in the FIFA world rankings, while Andorra is marooned in 156th place. The population of Andorra is 77,000, which would not even fit into Wembley, England's 90,000-seat national stadium. The gulf in quality between the two teams will be vast. England manager Gareth Southgate is likely to make several changes to the team that just beat Hungary 4-0 in Budapest, but any fringe players that get the chance to shine will be keen to impress him. Andorra beat fellow minnow San Marino in its last game, but that was just its fourth victory since in made its debut on the international stage back in 1996. It has lost 3-0 to Poland and 4-1 to the Republic of Ireland this year, but England should be able to rack up a larger margin of victory.
Bulgaria vs. Lithuania (Noon ET)
Bulgaria to win and 2 or more goals in match (-105)
Bulgaria win to nil (+115)
Bulgaria's players should be full of confidence after holding European champion Italy to a 1-1 draw in midweek. The Bulgarians have not won a game since November 2019, but they now have a glorious chance to secure victory over a poor Lithuania team. Lithuania is currently on a seven-game losing streak. It suffered a 4-1 defeat to Northern Ireland on Thursday, and it lost 4-0 to Spain in its previous game. Lithuania has conceded 11 goals in its last three road trips, which does not augur well for a match against a talented Bulgarian attack led by Ludogorets forward Kiril Despodov.
Iceland vs. North Macedonia (Noon ET)
North Macedonia Draw No bet (+110)
North Macedonia will bid to maintain its upward curve when it takes on Iceland in Reykjavik this weekend. Blagoja Milevski's men produced an impressive performance to beat Liechtenstein 5-0 back in March. They followed it up by shocking the world with a 2-1 victory over Germany. North Macedonia then acquitted itself well at the European Championship this summer, despite losing all three games to strong teams. It returned to action on Thursday, when it drew 0-0 with Armenia. It dominated possession and created lots of chances, but its finishing was wayward. Star striker Goran Pandev has now retired, so it will be left to Alejsabdar Trajovski and Adis Jahović to pick up the slack. If they sharpen up their finishing, North Macedonia should beat Iceland on Sunday. Iceland has struggled badly over the past couple of years, with star player Gylfi Sigurdsson out of action. It has lost three out of its four group games thus far, and it already trails North Macedonia by four points.
2022 Concacaf World Cup Qualifying
Honduras vs. El Salvador (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET)
Draw +180 (half unit)
Draw and under 2.5 goals +230 (half unit)
Bob Balfe
4:10 PM EST
Rotation #979
Astros -105 over Padres
Garcia/Paddack
The Astros are hitting right handed pitching a little bit better than the Padres and Luis Garcia is having a little bit better of a year over Chris Paddack. Part of the reason on why I give my MLB Picks for free is because baseball has huge money lines and I refuse to play them. Nothing takes a gamblers money more than betting -175 every single night. I like this stick to the games where it’s basically even money. Take the Astros
4:10 PM EST
Rotation #979
Astros -105 over Padres
Garcia/Paddack
The Astros are hitting right handed pitching a little bit better than the Padres and Luis Garcia is having a little bit better of a year over Chris Paddack. Part of the reason on why I give my MLB Picks for free is because baseball has huge money lines and I refuse to play them. Nothing takes a gamblers money more than betting -175 every single night. I like this stick to the games where it’s basically even money. Take the Astros
JM Sports
Game: (977) Seattle Mariners at (978) Arizona Diamondbacks
Date/Time: Sep 5 2021 4:10 PM EDT
Betting Line Provider: Consensus Line
Play Rating: C units
Play: Seattle Mariners -121 C Flexen (RHP), T Gilbert (LHP) Must Start
C unit Seattle Mariners (-121) over Arizona Diamondbacks (Flexen/Gilbert) —
When you look at Chris Flexen‘s stats, you may be a little surprise.. with a 4.55 ERA on the road?! When you look, the team knows how to support Flexen, even with that ERA he has a record of 5-1 on the road! In his L15 starts Flexen has an ERA under 3.00 (2.84) including a 1.86 ERA in the L3 starts and a 3-0 record with a 2.95 ERA in day games! The team as a whole is 7-0 in Flexen‘s L7 vs. a team under .500, 5-2 in his L7 on the road and has pushed his record to 11-5. The Mariners are also only allowing 3 runs per game in the L7 games, helping them win 4 straight wins, and 5 straight on the road, on top of a 7-0 run vs. teams under 40% WP. Arizona has the youngster on the mound, and we obviously know he is CAPABLE of shutting down an offense to zero hits… but since that breakout performance Gilbert is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA. While Gilbert has shown some impressive numbers @ H (1.74 ERA), a 1-2 record shows little to no run support when you have a sub-2.00 EEA with only 1 W. While the offense has struggled, a team that is allowing 5.9 runs per game in the L7 with a bullpen that has a combined ERA of 5.30 is going to struggle to pull out a W. Arizona is also 1-10 in inter league play so far this season (including 0-7 @ H!!), alongside a 27-65 record off a L.
Game: (977) Seattle Mariners at (978) Arizona Diamondbacks
Date/Time: Sep 5 2021 4:10 PM EDT
Betting Line Provider: Consensus Line
Play Rating: C units
Play: Seattle Mariners -121 C Flexen (RHP), T Gilbert (LHP) Must Start
C unit Seattle Mariners (-121) over Arizona Diamondbacks (Flexen/Gilbert) —
When you look at Chris Flexen‘s stats, you may be a little surprise.. with a 4.55 ERA on the road?! When you look, the team knows how to support Flexen, even with that ERA he has a record of 5-1 on the road! In his L15 starts Flexen has an ERA under 3.00 (2.84) including a 1.86 ERA in the L3 starts and a 3-0 record with a 2.95 ERA in day games! The team as a whole is 7-0 in Flexen‘s L7 vs. a team under .500, 5-2 in his L7 on the road and has pushed his record to 11-5. The Mariners are also only allowing 3 runs per game in the L7 games, helping them win 4 straight wins, and 5 straight on the road, on top of a 7-0 run vs. teams under 40% WP. Arizona has the youngster on the mound, and we obviously know he is CAPABLE of shutting down an offense to zero hits… but since that breakout performance Gilbert is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA. While Gilbert has shown some impressive numbers @ H (1.74 ERA), a 1-2 record shows little to no run support when you have a sub-2.00 EEA with only 1 W. While the offense has struggled, a team that is allowing 5.9 runs per game in the L7 with a bullpen that has a combined ERA of 5.30 is going to struggle to pull out a W. Arizona is also 1-10 in inter league play so far this season (including 0-7 @ H!!), alongside a 27-65 record off a L.
Stephen Oh
CHI. WHITE SOX @ KANSAS CITY | 09/05 | 2:10 PM EDT
KANSAS CITY +150
ANALYSIS: My model doesn't usually see value like this. The Royals are +150, but my model says they win 56 percent of the time. White Sox starter Dylan Cease has a far worse ERA on the road (5.37) than at home (2.53), and the Royals bats are hot, churning out 14 runs and 20 hits against Chicago over the last two days.
DETROIT @ CINCINNATI | 09/05 | 1:10 PM EDT
DETROIT +190
ANALYSIS: I'm not sure why the Reds are such huge favorites. The Tigers have the pitching edge with former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize (7-7, 3.59 ERA) going against Luis Castillo (7-14, 4.30). The Reds have lost four of Castillo's last five starts. My model says Detroit wins 45 percent of the time, so you're getting strong value at this plus number.
CHI. WHITE SOX @ KANSAS CITY | 09/05 | 2:10 PM EDT
KANSAS CITY +150
ANALYSIS: My model doesn't usually see value like this. The Royals are +150, but my model says they win 56 percent of the time. White Sox starter Dylan Cease has a far worse ERA on the road (5.37) than at home (2.53), and the Royals bats are hot, churning out 14 runs and 20 hits against Chicago over the last two days.
DETROIT @ CINCINNATI | 09/05 | 1:10 PM EDT
DETROIT +190
ANALYSIS: I'm not sure why the Reds are such huge favorites. The Tigers have the pitching edge with former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize (7-7, 3.59 ERA) going against Luis Castillo (7-14, 4.30). The Reds have lost four of Castillo's last five starts. My model says Detroit wins 45 percent of the time, so you're getting strong value at this plus number.
