Announcement

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 08:39 AM

Wednesday’s betting tips: Gallardo stinks vs. Cardinals

Who’s hot

MLB: St. Louis has won 10 of its last 13 home games.

MLB: Detroit has won seven of Rick Porcello’s last nine starts

NHL: Colorado is 30-9-1 in its last 40 meetings with Columbus.

NHL: The under is 3-0 in Boston’s first three games this season.

Who’s not

MLB: Milwaukee is 2-7 in its last nine meetings with St. Louis.

MLB: Texas is 0-5 in Matt Harrison’s last five starts against the Detroit Tigers.

NHL: Vancouver is 5-11 in its last 16 games against Philadelphia.

NHL: Carolina is 5-14 in its last 19 games as an underdog.

Key stat

1 - Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo is just 1-7 in his last eight starts against the Cardinals. In those 62 innings of work against St. Louis, he has a 5.66 ERA.

Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked

Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was scratched from Tuesday's Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers. Young was on the original lineup card, but was removed as he deals with his ailing oblique injury. Andy Dirks will replace Young, who went 0-for-4 in Monday's Game 2. The Tigers trail the best-of-seven series 2-0 with Games 3-5 (the fifth if necessary) at Comerica Park.

Game of the day

Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals (-155, 7)

Notable quotable

“Oh, yes I did because that’s what we’re about here at the Raiders. We’re gonna fight, and we’re gonna work, and we go out with a purpose every week to win a football game. There’s no question in my mind those guys are gonna give it everything they had. We’re going to continue to be what I know he would want us to be, which is find a way to become champions.” – Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson said Tuesday on the NFL Network’s Around the League about expecting his team to respond following the death of former owner Al Davis. The Raiders will honor Davis in Sunday’s home game against the Cleveland Browns are currently set as 5.5-point favorites.

Notes and tips

Boston Bruins center David Krejci exited practice on Tuesday with an apparent leg injury at Ristuccia Arena. It was not immediately known how severe the injury is to the 25-year-old Krejci, who plays on the Bruins' top line. However, Krejci didn’t travel with the team to Carolina for Wednesday’s game. Boston is set as a -130 favorite.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Stephen Garcia was dismissed from the South Carolina football team on Tuesday. Athletic director Eric Hyman detailed that Garcia did not meet the agreed-upon guidelines put in place after his fifth suspension. Greenvilleonline.com reported that Garcia failed a substance abuse test last week. Garcia was benched in favor of sophomore Connor Shaw, who threw four touchdowns in a 54-3 triumph over Kentucky on Saturday. Garcia threw for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. South Carolina is set as a 3-point favorite at Mississippi State.

Fieldin Culbreth is scheduled to be calling balls and strikes when the visiting Texas Rangers tangle with the Detroit Tigers Wednesday. Culbreth saw home teams go 20-13 during the regular season and the home club has won five of the last six games he has worked.

Texas Tech running back Eric Stephens is sidelined for the remainder of the season after dislocating his left knee. Stephens suffered the injury during last weekend's 45-40 loss to Texas A&M. The junior fell back awkwardly with his leg pinned during a first-and-goal play in the third quarter to sustain the injury. Stephens was averaging 114.0 yards per game prior to the injury and Texas Tech is currently set as a 3-point home favorite to Kansas State this weekend.

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 08:42 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

The six most expensive colleges in America, and tuitions:

6) Northwestern, Evanston, IL $40,223

5) Washington U, St Louis, $41,892

4) Chicago U, Chicago $42,041

3) Wesleyan, Middletown, CT $42,084

2) Sarah Lawrence, Bronxville, NY $45,212

1) Columbia, New York City, $45,290

***********************

Armadillo: Wednesday's List of 13: Random mid-week thoughts.......

13) If you’re not from upstate New York, allow me a minute to digress; an era has ended in Albany broadcasting. John Graney, as fine a talkshow host as there is in this country, hung up his mike last week after 40 years in the business.

Its too bad he never got to work on a national stage, because he’s every bit as good as anyone who is or has been on that stage. He’s a good guy, too, unlike some of the egotistical nitwits who man the airwaves. John’s show will be missed, for sure. Enjoy your retirement, sir.

12) Staying local for one last bit, Siena’s basketball game at Iona will be played at Madison Square Garden January 3rd.

11) What is TCU basketball coach Jim Christian telling his recruits? First of all, the Horned Frogs aren’t any good in Mountain West, then they were moving to deep waters of the faraway Big East, but now, without coming within a year of their first Big East game, they’ve already jumped to the Big 12, whose waters are equally deep but the travel is way easier. Christian is going to have a hard time keeping his job for long in that league, unless he suddenly becomes a bigtime recruiter.

10) For my handicapping purposes, it’s be great if every league was ten teams and played a home/home series like the Big X is doing this year. Pac-12 isn’t doing it anymore; looks like 12 teams is going to wind up more the norm. Anything is better than 16-team leagues.

9) When the NBA re-appears, they should re-engineer the whole league. Cut the schedule to 64 teams to create a better product so teams can occasionally practice. Make the playoffs best-of-3 or best-of-5, to create some drama. Cut ticket prices. Make league more middle class friendly, or at least somewhat so. Awful lot of empty seats at these games the last few years. I know, this has zero chance of ever happening.

8) This will sound silly coming from someone who gets tired driving 26 miles, but do people realize that running a marathon is unhealthy? Its bad for you to run that far all at once- the guy in Greek mythology, who ran the original 26 miles to save the Athenian Army in Battle of Marathon? He dropped dead after finishing his run. A 35-year old fireman in Chicago died running a marathon Sunday. He freakin' died. ‘nuff said.

7) Since 2001, NFL favorites of more than 7 points are 89-90 vs spread in Games 1-5, 161-200-3 in Games 6-14, 47-49-1 in Games 15-16.

6) If I managed a big league baseball team, I’d want a staff member monitoring the game on TV, just in case they could pick something up from TV that you couldn’t see from the dugout. Never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes.

5) Buffalo Bills are already +11 in turnovers; they’ve had a positive ratio in every game so far this season. Want to see how they do in a game when they don’t win the turnover battle.

4) NFL red flags: Lions have 21 penalties for 169 yards in their last two games……..Texans have been outscored in the second half of every game this season.

3) Very surprised to read that baseball teams are going to be more vigilant on monitoring the conditioning of their players during the offseason. Guess my surprise is that its necessary- you’d think with the big money these guys make, they’d keep themselves in shape year-round.

2) If you use trends to handicap the NFL, one of the big obstacles to success is deciding when a team has broken through and rendered their past useless. Looks like the Lions are doing that this season, and the Bills might be too, though still not 100% sold on Buffalo. Detroit is a nasty team with some good offensive weapons. They’re legitimately good.

1) As always, the real loser in the NBA debacle is the little guy, the beer vendor, waiter, bus driver, limo driver, ticket seller who needs his job to make ends meet, but might lose it because millionaires can’t agree on how to split the pie. Just terrific.

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:02 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Boston at Carolina
The Bruins look to take advantage of a Carolina team that is 1-6 in its last 7 games as a home underdog. Boston is the pick (-130) according to Dunkel, which has the Bruins favored by 1. Dunkel Pick: Boston (-130). Here are all of today's picks.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

Game 1-2: Colorado at Columbus (7:00 p.m. EST)
Dunkel Ratings: Colorado 11.223; Columbus 10.590
Dunkel Line & Total: Colorado by 1/2; 5
Vegas Line & Total: Columbus (-135); 5 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Colorado (+115); Under

Game 3-4: Vancouver at Philadelphia (7:30 p.m. EST)
Dunkel Ratings: Vancouver 11.478; Philadelphia 12.270
Dunkel Line & Total: Philadelphia by 1; 6
Vegas Line & Total: Philadelphia (-130); 5 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Philadelphia (-130); Over

Game 5-6: Boston at Carolina (7:30 p.m. EST)
Dunkel Ratings: Boston 11.530; Carolina 10.478
Dunkel Line & Total: Boston by 1; 5
Vegas Line & Total: Boston (-130); 5 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Boston (-130); Under

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:04 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Wednesday, October 12

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COLORADO (1-1-0-0, 2 pts.) at COLUMBUS (0-3-0-0, 0 pts.) - 10/12/2011, 7:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
COLORADO is 22-14 ATS (+38.1 Units) after a non-conference game over the last 3 seasons.
COLUMBUS is 65-102 ATS (-46.1 Units) in all games over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
COLORADO is 7-1 (+6.8 Units) against the spread versus COLUMBUS over the last 3 seasons
COLORADO is 7-1-0 straight up against COLUMBUS over the last 3 seasons
5 of 8 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.7 Units)

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VANCOUVER (1-0-0-1, 3 pts.) at PHILADELPHIA (2-0-0-0, 4 pts.) - 10/12/2011, 7:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
VANCOUVER is 45-23 ATS (+13.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
PHILADELPHIA is 19-22 ATS (-11.5 Units) in a home game where where the total is 5.5 over the last 2 seasons.
PHILADELPHIA is 5-9 ATS (-11.2 Units) in home games after a division game over the last 2 seasons.
PHILADELPHIA is 192-194 ATS (-141.1 Units) after a win by 2 goals or more since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
VANCOUVER is 2-0 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
VANCOUVER is 2-0-0 straight up against PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
1 of 2 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+0.0 Units)

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BOSTON (1-2-0-0, 2 pts.) at CAROLINA (0-2-0-1, 1 pts.) - 10/12/2011, 7:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
BOSTON is 124-112 ATS (+249.4 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5.5 since 1996.
CAROLINA is 26-53 ATS (-38.9 Units) first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 6-2 (+3.2 Units) against the spread versus CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 6-2-0 straight up against CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
5 of 8 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+2.1 Units)

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:11 AM

NHL

Wednesday, October 12

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Trend Report
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7:00 PM
COLORADO vs. COLUMBUS
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Colorado's last 5 games when playing on the road against Columbus
Colorado is 4-16 SU in its last 20 games on the road
Columbus is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games when playing Colorado
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Columbus's last 5 games when playing Colorado

7:30 PM
BOSTON vs. CAROLINA
Boston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Carolina
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Boston's last 7 games
Carolina is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Carolina's last 15 games when playing at home against Boston

7:30 PM
VANCOUVER vs. PHILADELPHIA
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Vancouver's last 6 games when playing Philadelphia
Vancouver is 16-7 SU in its last 23 games on the road
Philadelphia is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia's last 5 games at home

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:14 AM

NHL

Wednesday, October 12

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Ice picks: Wednesday's best NHL bet
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Colorado Avalanche at Columbus Blue Jackets (-150, 5.5)

Things were supposed to be different for the Blue Jackets this season after they made some major moves in the offseason.

Jeff Carter was the biggest fish they landed and the club he’ll mesh well with sniper Rick Nash on the first line and top power play unit. Carter has three assists through his first three games with the new club, but the Blue Jackets are still winless after blowing a lead against Vancouver in the third period.

"More than anything, that was three games in four nights for us," coach Scott Arniel said. "We had nothing left in the tank in the third period."

The Blue Jackets were 0 for 5 on the power play Monday and have yet to score on 16 opportunities with the man advantage this season, but their even-strength play has been solid.

Meanwhile, Semyon Varlamov stole a game for the Avalanche by blanking the Bruins on Monday 1-0, but don’t expect that type of effort from him every night. It looks like this Colorado team will struggle offensively.

Pick: Blue Jackets

Vancouver Canucks at Philadelphia Flyers (-130, 5.5)

If the Vancouver Canucks are going to roll through the regular season and make another deep run in the playoffs, they’re going to need their depth players to step up.

They got just that Monday when backup goaltender Cory Schneider stopped a penalty shot in the third period against Columbus that helped propel the team to its first win of the season.

"We're usually a pretty good road team and sometimes it does take us a little bit to get into it," Schneider told reporters after the game. "There were times we were a bit lacklustre. But that's my job - to keep us in it and let us get our feet going. With this team, it might take three periods but we'll get back into it and make it a game.”

Meanwhile, Cody Hodgson and Chris Higgins scored the club’s first two goals before the big guns put the game away in the third on an Alex Burrows power play marker from the Sedin twins.

That’s the kind of win this team needed heading into Philadelphia’s home opener.

Pick: Canucks

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:15 AM

MLB
Dunkel

Milwaukee at St. Louis
The Cardinals look to take advantage of a Milwaukee team that is 4-18 in Yovani Gallardo's last 22 starts as an underdog. St. Louis is the pick (-150) according to Dunkel, which has the Cardinals favored by 1. Dunkel Pick: St. Louis (-150). Here are all of today's picks.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

Game 913-914: Texas at Detroit (4:20 p.m. EST)
Dunkel Ratings: Texas (Harrison) 15.506; Detroit (Porcello) 16.592
Dunkel Line: Detroit by 1; 8 1/2
Vegas Line: Texas (-115); 9 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Detroit (-105); Under

Game 911-912: Milwaukee at St. Louis (8:05 p.m. EST)
Dunkel Ratings: Milwaukee (Gallardo) 14.759; St. Louis (Carpenter) 15.995
Dunkel Line: St. Louis by 1; 8
Vegas Line: St. Louis (-150); 7
Dunkel Pick: St. Louis (-150); Over

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:18 AM

MLB
Long Sheet

Wednesday, October 12

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MILWAUKEE (100 - 69) at ST LOUIS (94 - 75) - 8:05 PM
YOVANI GALLARDO (R) vs. CHRIS CARPENTER (R)
Top Trends for this game.
ST LOUIS is 70-46 (+15.6 Units) against the money line in night games this season.
ST LOUIS is 75-55 (+7.0 Units) against the money line against right-handed starters this season.
ST LOUIS is 44-21 (+18.0 Units) against the money line in home games when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 24-14 (+12.7 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
CARPENTER is 8-1 (+8.4 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season. (Team's Record)
MILWAUKEE is 101-69 (+22.4 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
MILWAUKEE is 53-30 (+16.0 Units) against the money line against division opponents this season.
MILWAUKEE is 101-69 (+22.4 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season.
MILWAUKEE is 82-50 (+25.0 Units) against the money line against right-handed starters this season.
ST LOUIS is 177-149 (-19.8 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 92-86 (-22.7 Units) against the money line after a win over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 180-152 (-19.9 Units) against the money line in all games over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 23-29 (-17.7 Units) against the money line when playing on Wednesday over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 84-76 (-28.5 Units) against the money line against division opponents over the last 2 seasons.
CARPENTER is 7-11 (-13.7 Units) against the money line in home games this season. (Team's Record)
CARPENTER is 7-11 (-13.7 Units) against the money line in home games in games played on a grass field this season. (Team's Record)
CARPENTER is 2-8 (-13.3 Units) against the money line in home games after a win this season. (Team's Record)

Head-to-Head Series History
ST LOUIS is 10-10 (+0.5 Units) against MILWAUKEE this season
10 of 18 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL this season . (Under=+1.0 Units)

YOVANI GALLARDO vs. ST LOUIS since 1997
GALLARDO is 1-7 when starting against ST LOUIS with an ERA of 5.66 and a WHIP of 1.338.
His team's record is 2-9 (-9.8 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 6-5. (+0.0 units)

CHRIS CARPENTER vs. MILWAUKEE since 1997
CARPENTER is 6-6 when starting against MILWAUKEE with an ERA of 4.58 and a WHIP of 1.318.
His team's record is 6-9 (-6.0 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 8-7. (+0.1 units)

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TEXAS (101 - 67) at DETROIT (98 - 71) - 4:15 PM
MATT HARRISON (L) vs. RICK PORCELLO (R)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 6-5 (+1.4 Units) against TEXAS this season
5 of 9 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL this season . (Under=+0.4 Units)

MATT HARRISON vs. DETROIT since 1997
HARRISON is 0-4 when starting against DETROIT with an ERA of 7.42 and a WHIP of 2.175.
His team's record is 0-5 (-5.6 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 3-1. (+1.9 units)

RICK PORCELLO vs. TEXAS since 1997
PORCELLO is 1-1 when starting against TEXAS with an ERA of 6.30 and a WHIP of 1.900.
His team's record is 1-1 (+0.1 units) in these starts. The OVER is 1-1. (-0.1 units)

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:20 AM

MLB
Short Sheet

Wednesday, October 12

NL Championship Series - Best of 7 - Game 3 - Tied 1-1
MILWAUKEE at ST LOUIS, 8:05 PM ET TBS
GALLARDO: MIL 1-9 revenging home loss of 8+ runs
CARPENTER: 2-11 TSR as a home favorite of -150 or more

AL Championship Series - Best of 7 - Game 4
TEXAS at DETROIT, 4:15 PM ET (TC) | FOX
HARRISON: 14-2 TSR 2nd half of season
PORCELLO: 13-4 TSR 2nd half of season

** (TC) Denotes Time Change

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:21 AM

MLB
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, October 12

Home side won first three games of ALCS. Rangers won Harrison's last six starts (5-0, 2.78) he is 0-2, 7.20 in two starts against the Tigers this year. Porcello is 0-2, 4.50 in his last four starts; he beat Texas 8-1 June 7 in Arlington, allowing one run in six IP. Harrison has 1.82 RA in his last four road starts. Porcello has a 6.31 RA in his last six home starts. Both Beltre/Victor Martinez got banged up tonight; not sure if they play here.

Carpenter is 4-0, 1.56 in his last six starts, blanking Philly 1-0 in Game 5 of last series; he is 2-2, 3.86 against the Brewers this year, allowing two runs in 17 IP in last two. Milwaukee won last five Gallardo starts (3-0, 2.12); he is 0-3, 9.19 in his last three starts vs St Louis, after blanking Cards for eight innings in his first start against them May 7. He has a 2.84 RA in his last three road starts. Brewers lost four of last five road games, including both playoff games in Arizona.

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:29 AM

MLB

Wednesday, October 12

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Trend Report
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4:19 PM
TEXAS vs. DETROIT
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Texas's last 13 games when playing on the road against Detroit
Texas is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Detroit is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Detroit's last 8 games at home

8:05 PM
MILWAUKEE vs. ST. LOUIS
Milwaukee is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Milwaukee's last 12 games
St. Louis is 15-7 SU in its last 22 games
The total has gone OVER in 8 of St. Louis's last 10 games

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:46 AM

MLB

Wednesday, October 12

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Hot lines: Wednesday's best MLB bets
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Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals (-155, 7)

If this does end up being Albert Pujols’ swansong with the St. Louis Cardinals, he’s going out just like he came in as a rookie – with a bang.

Pujols became the fourth player in MLB postseason history with four extra base hits in a game in Game 2’s 12-3 blowout of the Brewers to even the NLCS at one game apiece. Pujols had a homer and five RBIs a game after he came up empty with a chance to tie the game with two men on base.

“Yesterday was so tough,” Pujols told reporters about Sunday’s loss. “Going to bed, I was just thinking about some of the opportunities I missed to help our ballclub to win, but I turned that page.”

That’s what makes the Machine so dangerous. You may hold him down for a game or two, but he’ll break through before long. With Monday’s two-run blast, Pujols now has an all-time best 13 NLCS home runs.

Heading home riding a ton of momentum, the Cards now turn the ball over to Chris Carpenter, who’s coming off his complete-game gem that sent the Phillies packing.

With St. Louis’ offense blowing up and Carpenter on the hill, we expect this line to only move up from -150. Especially with the Cardinals winning 13 of their last 16 at Busch Stadium. We’ll jump on the home chalk before the line balloons.

Pick: Cardinals

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**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 09:58 AM

NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Guys,

Armadillo says NHL writeups (hot/cold list) start October 15.

**Udog** · 10-12-2011, 12:55 PM

NHL
Short Sheet

Wednesday, October 12

COLORADO at COLUMBUS, 7:00 PM ET
COLORADO: 22-14 SU after a non-conference game
COLUMBUS: 19-42 SU after 2 or more consecutive losses

VANCOUVER at PHILADELPHIA, 7:30 PM ET
VANCOUVER: 24-8 SU off a road win
PHILADELPHIA: 5-9 SU in home games after a division game

BOSTON at CAROLINA, 7:30 PM ET
BOSTON: 81-67 SU as a favorite
CAROLINA: 9-14 SU after 3 or more consecutive losses

** (TC) Denotes Time Change

Announcement

Wednesday's Trends and Indexes - 10/12 (MLB, WNBA, NHL, CFL, Misc.)

Wednesday's Trends and Indexes - 10/12 (MLB, WNBA, NHL, CFL, Misc.)

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