Cappers Sports Picks

The Sparks hit the road for the second game of their three-game roadtrip and they are playing their best basketball of the season with five straight wins. This includes a pair of wins over Phoenix and most recently, they beat Indiana 87-73 on Saturday as Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks with 21 points while Candace Parker had 18 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. Many will ride this streak but we will be fading it, especially with this line that seems too good to be true for the overall better team. Connecticut was playing its hoops of the season as it was riding a five-game winning streak but went to Dallas on Saturday and got upended by 14 points to once again even its record at 6-6. That was tied for its worst loss of the season and playing Los Angeles would seem to put them in position for another big loss but this line is telling us different. Based on records and past history, the Sparks should be bigger favorites here so we will see the majority of the betting public backing the road team. However, Connecticut has lost half of its games by two points and all of those came on the road while they also own a road win over Minnesota by five points which is the only loss of the season for the Lynx. Going back, the Sparks are 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games following an ATS win while the Sun are 19-7-2 ATS in their last 28 games following a straight up loss. 10* (654) Connecticut Sun

Seattle opened its homestand with five consecutive victories but dropped the final two games over the weekend against Houston to fall back to .500 on the season. The Mariners now host the Phillies in a two-game set before heading back out on the road and the public is all over them tonight and will be so again tomorrow with Felix Hernandez on the hill. Seattle has been solid at home this season but has gone 5-11 in its last 16 after scoring two runs or less in its previous game. The Phillies poor run continued yesterday with a 6-1 loss at Arizona as they fell to 27 games under .500. The road has been the real struggle but not really as bad as the record indicated. Overall, Philadelphia is 10-19 in one-run games including 12 of those coming on the highway so we are catching value with a team whose record is very skewed. Aaron Nola gets the ball for the Phillies and he has been pretty efficient this season with a 4.32 ERA but a much better 1.29 WHIP through 10 starts. Those numbers improve on the road where he has allowed three runs or less in four of six starts including giving up one run three times. James Paxton got off to a blistering start where he allowed one run or less in six of seven starts but over his last four starts, he has posted an 8.50 ERA and the Mariners are 5-14 in his last 19 starts after allowing five runs or more in their previous game. 10* (929) Philadelphia Phillies

Texas is coming off a brutal loss last night as it blew a 9-2 lead while getting outscored 13-0 to end the game. The Rangers were coming off a series win over the Yankees and despite the loss last night, they are still 8-3 over their last 11 road games with the last seven of those coming against division leaders. Additionally, the Rangers are 6-1 in their last seven games following a loss. The Indians had scored a total of two runs over 31 innings before erupting for those 13 runs over the final four innings last night so that was a much needed for the offense. The home field has been problematic for Cleveland however as it is just 16-20 at Progressive Field this season and that was certainly proven in the Minnesota series. The Indians send Mike Clevinger to the hill and he has been a carbon copy of the whole team as he has pitched well on the road but struggled at home. He has a 5.51 ERA and 1.47 WHIP over four home outings including three starts, all of which resulted in Cleveland losses. It has not helped that he has received just 2.0 rpg of support from the offense. Texas turns to Tyson Ross who is coming off a brutal loss against Toronto after opening the season with a solid effort against Seattle where he was one out away from a quality start. Those games were at home where Globe Life Park is a hitters park so going out on the road is not a bad thing at all. 10* (919) Texas Rangers