MLB Friday OVER 8.5 in San Diego Padres vs Chicago Cubs @ 9:40 ET - The Padres should hammer Taillon. The Cubs righty is off to a tough start this season and I like the fact this total was a 9 and has dropped to an 8.5 in most spots. I totally understand the move but respect the number the odds makers first had up there on this one. That said, Taillon consistently has been roughed up in his starts and though Michael Wacha has been pitching well for San Diego, I am expecting a solid effort from Chicago. The Cubs last road trip last 9 games and started with a 6-2 win and ended with a 2-1 loss. But in the middle were 7 games that all totaled double digits and average 13 runs per game! Perhaps the road will again get the Cubs sticks going again here. I also like the fact the Padres have scored 7 or more runs in 6 of last 10 games. San Diego averaged 6 runs scored per game during this stretch. More of the same here. OVER 8.5 in San Diego

MLB Friday OVER 9.5 in Kansas City Royals vs Colorado Rockies @ 8:10 ET - Lyles has been so consistently bad that you know he is destined to give up a handful of runs here. I know Anderson has pitched well for the Rockies but there are some signs that the wheels are about to come off in one of these starts. Royals do tend to hit a little better at home and Colorado can be counted on to do damage against a struggling Lyles here. That said, and considering a pair of suspect bullpens (as Rockies showed again last night), look for this one to get to double digits in runs scored. OVER 9.5 in Kansas City

Italian Serie B Friday Bari Money Line -115 vs Sudtirol @ 2:30 ET - This is the 2nd leg in a battle for a shot at promotion to Serie A and Sudtirol took the 1st match 1-0. The fact is Bari was a bit unfortunate in that one and now they are at home and they also are the much more dangerous club on the attack. I know Sudtirol is strong defensively and will again try to slow things down here but I don't expect them to be successful in that regard. Bari will be aggressive on their home pitch and they had great chances and possession edges in the first leg of this 2-leg battle. Now they get their revenge and get the win here. Take the hosts to get the win in this one. BARI -115

Serie A Friday OVER 3 in Sassuolo vs Fiorentina @ 2:30 ET - Fiorentina could be distracted with the big match in Prague against West Ham United coming up in 5 days. That plus the fact Sassuolo is at home means they should score some goals here. However, Fiorentina has been scoring well of late and that continues here. With just 4 draws in 18 matches and high likelihood each club scores here, I am looking for at least a 2-1 final and, given the situation, we should see much much more. OVER 3 in Sassuolo

MLB Saturday OVER 9.5 in Kansas City Royals vs Colorado Rockies @ 4:10 ET - Very surprising that Rockies bullpen was successful yesterday. Both these pens have struggled this season and Colorado did explode for a  6-run inning late yesterday but the total fell just short of going over. Look for today's to make up for that here. The Rockies Gomber has a 7.00 ERA this season and opponents are hitting nearly .300 against him. He has an 8.26 ERA in day games and opponents hitting .325 against him in afternoon action. The Royals Lynch is making just his 2nd start since returning from injury and note his injury was a rotator cuff strain to his left (throwing) arm. His shoulder should be okay now but that is still a bit of a worrisome injury. He is 8-19 with a 5.27 ERA in his MLB career and he has been hit at a .290 clip. We should see plenty of scoring from both clubs here considering all of the above and the bullpens of each as well. OVER 9.5 in Kansas City

MLB Saturday OVER 9 in Pittsburgh vs St Louis @ 4 ET - Montgomery 2-6 with a 4.48 ERA. Ortiz is 1-4 with a 4.42 ERA in his career but also has a 1.69 WHIP this season as walks have been an issue too. Yesterday's game totaled 12 runs and that was the 3rd time last 4 games that a Pittsburgh game totaled at least a dozen runs. The Cardinals have seen 8 of last 13 road games total double digits in runs. Look for another wild one this afternoon at PNC Park. OVER 9 in Pittsburgh

NHL Saturday Florida Panthers Money Line +118 @ Vegas Golden Knights @ 8 ET - The Golden Knights, of course, are a great team or they would not be here. However, these Panthers have been very special in their own right. Remember they had to get past the big bad Bruins in round one and they actually trailed in that series 3 games to 1. Once they accomplished that come back effort to get past Boston it seems like this team is nearly unstoppable. Amazingly, Florida has now won 11 of last 12 games and the lone loss was at home. In fact, the Panthers are now 8-0 L8 road games since losing their road opener of the post-season. Look for the streak to reach 9 wins in a row for Panthers road games as they get the job done again here to open up this series. Vegas was a more modest 6-4 last 10 games before winning Game 6 versus Dallas. Also, the Golden Knights have lost 2 of last 5 home playoff games. Grab the underdog Panthers looking to make it 9 straight road wins. FLORIDA +118

Rotation #206805: Romanian First Division Promotion/Relegation Playoffs Monday OVER 2.5 goals in FC Arges vs Dinamo Bucuresti @ 2 PM ET - This is the second of two matches to determine if Dinamo Bucuresti can get the upset on the aggregate score of the two matches and earn promotion to Romania Liga 1 while delivering relegation to Liga 2 for FC Arges. Certainly it looks like they are on their way and we used Dinamo Bucuresti +230 as a big dog winner in the first match Monday and it was a 6-1 winner. That said, it is basically FC Arges now playing for pride here. Of course FC Arges is favored for a reason here and their only hope is to go for it and look to score a huge win by scoring a ton of goals. It will not be easy and I don't see that happening necessarily but I do expect a rather lively wide-open game and I feel Dinamo Bucuresti has the firepower and the talent level to again score well in this one. In summary, you have an FC Arges club that must go for it on their home pitch as they need plenty of goals but you also have a Dinamo Bucuresti club that is very talented and now playing with the added confidence of that blowout in the first stage. This total seems very reasonable given the circumstances and the likelihood of at least a 2-1 final here. This match being played in Mioveni rather than Pitesti and the hosts are in trouble down 6-1 and not even able to play this one in their home stadium. The cities are very near each other but still it just means it is even more likely Dinamo will again enjoy success and we should see plenty of goals again as FC Arges must score plenty but Dinamo can be fearless with already having the 5-goal edge from the first leg. OVER 2.5 in FC Arges 

Rotation #201353: Italian Serie A Saturday OVER 2.5 in Torino vs Inter Milan @ 12:30 ET - Torino has not scored well this season but they will be in an offensive minded 3-4-2-1 formation here and emphasizing the attack against Inter Milan. Of course the visitors have the huge match on deck with Manchester City next week but they still will want to finish the regular season the right way even if they rest a few plays here. Inter Milan still has a shot at finishing #2 in the table and this is a club that has scored an average of 2 goals per match this season. I know that Torino is a lower-scoring club but they will put up a fight here at home and are off a confidence-boosting 4-0 victory. I do not expect either club to deliver a clean sheet and also want to note than Inter Milan's 3 draws in 37 matches this season. In other words, they tend to go for the full 3 points in the table and certainly that is the objective of Torino as well. One can therefore look for at least a 2-1 final in this one and I like the value of the low total in this regular season finale. OVER 2.5 in Torino

Rotation #200402: English FA Cup Final Saturday Manchester City Money Line -170/-190 vs Manchester United @ 10:00 AM ET - I am seeing lines in the -170 to -190 range for this one on City and I am not overly fond of laying big prices as long-time followers know but I just do not see City being denied here. They have the stronger firepower plus are healthier plus are more well-rested entering this match. City was able to dial things back a bit the last stretch of the Premier League season because they locked up the title with a few matches to spare. United, on the other hand, still was pushing hard for a solid finish and a Champions League position for next season. There is only one Haaland in this league too and United just can not match him. This is particularly true when they are dealing with some injuries. That said, the favorite here is worth the price and will not hesitate to lay it here. City with Guardiola as their manager will get revenge for the 2-1 loss in Premier League action earlier this season. City had won the meetings prior to that by a 12-4 count. Also, City has won their English FA Cup matches (5) by a combined score of 17 to 0 to get to this point. United allowed a goal in each of their first 4 English FA Cup matches and then did not even score in the 5th one but advanced on penalty kicks. City just too strong here and is worth the price. MANCHESTER CITY -170/-190