8* Run Line Baltimore (7:05 ET): This worked yesterday, so I’m going with it again. As I said in the analysis for Sunday, an odd trend has developed when the Red Sox face the Orioles this season. The road team is now 9-0! Boston won yesterday, 4-3, to improve its record to 6-0 at Camden Yards. But by taking the run line (+1.5), I was a winner with Baltimore. I’ll do the same again today as the O’s look to avoid a four-game sweep at home. Their bizarre home vs. road dichotomy extends beyond facing Boston. They are 11-6 on the road, but only 4-13 at home. Eventually, that’s going to “even out” (a bit).

Only one time this season has Baltimore dropped four in a row. In the hopes of avoiding matching that streak, they will hand the baseball to Jorge Lopez on Monday. Though he hasn’t gone more than five innings, Lopez has allowed three runs or less in four consecutive starts. Baltimore is 2-2 in those games. That his worst start of the year came against the Red Sox is a little worrisome, but this time around, look for Lopez to pitch better.

Starting for Boston will be Martin Perez. He’s winless in six starts with a 3-3 TSR. Two of the three times the Red Sox have won with him on the mound, the margin of victory ended up being just one run. Again, by taking the run line, such a result would be sufficient here. The last time Perez started happened to be the last time Boston lost and that was to the woeful Tigers. Look for the home team to do no worse than a one-run loss tonight and possibly even avoid the sweep. 8* Run Line Baltimore (+1.5)

8* Portland (10:10 ET): It’s a lot of points to lay with Portland tonight, but they are taking on a very bad team that will be playing its third difficult road game in four nights. Houston is last in the NBA with a 16-52 SU record and has lost five in a row, Their last two losses came Friday in Milwaukee and Saturday in Utah. They actually covered both spreads, but with nothing left to play for - and the season winding down - you’ve got to wonder what (if anything) they’ve got left in the tank. Plus, Portland has played REALLY well of late, winning seven of eight. Six of those seven wins have been by double digits. 

These teams have met twice before this season and both games were close, decided by three points or less. Houston won one of them, but that was at home. It’s also important to note that both prior meetings occurred before “the bottom dropped out” in Houston after the James Harden trade. They were 8-9 after beating Portland on January 28th. They’ve only won eight of 51 games since. Bottom line though, the Blazers are going to take this one seriously. Especially since they are trying to clinch a top six spot in the Western Conference to avoid the “play-in” tournament. 

The Blazers are currently one game ahead of the Lakers for sixth. They have the tiebreaker over LA by virtue of winning the season series. Their last game was a 22-point win over San Antonio and they are now 8-2 ATS L10 games vs. losing teams. The Rockets have had only eight players available each of their L2 games, so it’s a minor miracle they were even able to cover. They could have 10 players available tonight, but the returnees would be Christian Wood and Kelly Olynyk, neither of whom are exactly “All-Stars.” Lay the points here. 8* Portland

10* Atlanta (7:35 ET): Washington seems to have played itself into the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament, which will determine the final two seeds in the playoffs proper. Since April 7th, the Wizards are 15-4 with three of those losses coming by a total of five points. Two were by one point and the three-point loss came in OT. But it’s just as important to note the Wiz are still four games under .500, have been outscored on the season and on a per possession basis. Perhaps most important of all is that they won’t have the NBA’s 2nd leading scorer, Bradley Beal, in the lineup tonight vs. Atlanta. 

The Hawks are trying to chase down the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference, which would mean home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Right now, they trail the Knicks by one game in the race for that spot. Losing at Indiana on Thursday did not help, but the Hawks have had three days to recover from a game where they allowed the opponent to shoot 62.1 percent from the floor and score 133 points. The positive from that is Atlanta is a perfect 4-0 SU/ATS this season following a game where they surrendered 130+ points. The rest is also huge, especially facing a team that’s playing it’s fourth road game in six nights. 

While the Wizards’ last three losses have all been very close, what I failed to mention is that they are coming off B2B OT wins as well. Beal scored 50 in a 133-132 win against Indiana on Saturday. He will be sorely missed tonight. For Atlanta, De’Andre Hunter could return to the lineup tonight (gametime decision) as he practiced in full on Sunday. They did just lose at Indiana, but the Hawks have won seven straight at home and their last time here saw them destroy Phoenix by 32. Coming off extended rest, I believe they are well positioned to blow out their division rival tonight. 10* Atlanta