Ben Burns

THE PLAY: Baltimore Orioles -184 G Rodriguez (RHP), M Spence (RHP) Must Start

Ben Burns has cashed 11 straight free plays, including six soccer draws. He's going for 12 in a row with this one. 

After getting embarrassed 19-8 on Saturday, the Orioles will be much better on Sunday afternoon. They're 21-11 off a loss while the A's are 12-21 off a win. Yesterday notwithstanding, the O's are a much better hitting team than the A's. They should also have the edge on the mound. Rodriguez is 10-3 with a 3.45 ERA on the season. Last time out, he allowed just two hits through 6 ⅓ shutout innings. In five daytime starts, Rodriguez is 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. On the other hand, Spence has a 5.23 ERA in five daytime appearances, two starts. O's bounce back. 

THE PLAY: Northwestern -3.0 (-110)

Both these teams are expected to take a step back this season. Miami Ohio is projected to win eight games (8u30 at DK, as of this writing) while Northwestern's projected number of wins is only at 4.5 (4.5o30). (Last year, the RedHawks were 11-3 while the Wildcats were 8-5.) While Miami may be expected to win more games than NW, much of that has to do with their respective schedules. The Wildcats only have one “easy” game, a Week 3 matchup against Eastern Illinois. The rest of their slate includes the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Naturally, Miami's schedule is considerably softer. As winnable games won't present themselves all that often, the Wildcats absolutely need to take care of business in this one. I like them to do so at -3 or better.