Rating: 3 Units

The Cavaliers are the lowest scoring team in the NBA at 103.7 ppg. But everybody has been filling the net against the Pacers recently. Their saving grace is that they have plenty of scoring themselves. Without the inside presence of Myles Turner, most opponents have been getting to the hoop with no problem against matador Indiana defense. Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has targeted the low scoring output and having his players play at a quicker tempo, taking more shots, which has completely ruined their already ordinary-at-best defensive capabilities.

Rating: 4 Units

The Red Sox have MLB’s #1 On-Base plus Slugging Percentage (a stat known as “OPS”). It’s .778, for those of you scoring at home. (Dodgers are #2 at .748.) Their On-Base percentage against tonight’s Orioles’ starter, Jorge Lopez, is .364. Their Slugging Percentage against him is .665. Add those two up for a Red Sox OPS of 1.029 against Lopez, considerably higher than their current MLB-best number, and it seems like Lopez can be pinata-like for the visiting bats. Which is a good thing for Boston because their starter, Martin Perez, has yet to earn a W in six starts and the Orioles’ On-Base and Slugging Percentages against him are .419 and .672, which adds up to a higher OPS than Boston vs. Lopez: 1.092. Yay-hoo.

Rating: 2 Units

Quick — what Major League Baseball team has been the most profitable on a flat-bet, game-by-game basis this season? If you guessed the Texas Rangers, then you guessed correctly. You’ll recall, of course, that the Rangers were pretty much death to backers in 2020 with MLB’s second-worst Won-Loss record and the absolute worst Run Differential of -88, scoring an average of only 3.73 runs per game. Because so many people expect last season to be duplicated the next, you instead have the Rangers at 18-18, only 3 games out of first place in the AL West, reaping rewards for their backers via generous underdog odds with help from an offense generating 4.39 runs per game, more than a half-run more than last year. It’s been a while since anybody on the Giants has faced Kyle Gibson. Those who have combine for a mere .208 On-Base Percentage against him, earned when he wasn’t pitching as well as he has been lately: six straight quality starts totaling 33 IP, with only 3 ER allowed in that span. Lefty Alex Wood has given the Giants four fine starts, t’is true. But the Rangers have found ways to be 12-4 when the other side starts a lefty and in limited exposure to Wood (21 at-bats) they have 9 hits including 3 doubles and a homer.

Rating: 3 Units

Cleveland had lost 9 of their last 10 games before facing Dallas on Sunday. In that contest Cleveland lost every single quarter. There are some internal issues going on in Indiana but they played hard when losing by a point in overtime on Saturday against Washington. The Pacers are trying to sweep the season series here. Indy handled Cleveland easily early in the season and they beat them in March when they forced 25 turnovers.

Rating: 2 Units

The Predators were the last team to clinch a postseason spot in the division, doing so with a 3-1 home victory against the Hurricanes on Saturday night. That result ended Carolina's 13-game points streak, a string that had matched the franchise's all-time mark. The Predators appeared to be the more motivated team Saturday. The Hurricanes clinched the top seed in the Central Division on Friday when the Tampa Bay Lightning lost to Dallas. Nashville has won only one of the seven meetings with Carolina this season. Some adjustments are to be expected from both teams. Carolina has lost consecutive games -- including Thursday night in overtime to Chicago -- for just the third time since mid-March. "More importantly is going to be for us to finish strong," Brind'Amour said. "We don't want to pick up any (bad habits). We don't want to derail a real good season we've had to date by kind of finishing iffy."  Consider that Carolina is 35-16 in their last 51 games as a favorite.