Saturday’s 6-pack:
— Red Sox 12, Orioles 10- Masataka Yoshida homered, had four RBI
— Twins 4, Rangers 3- Ryan Jeffers homered with a bat painted like a pencil.
— White Sox 5, Astros 4- Loss snaps Houston’s 8-game win streak.
— Cubs 6, Toronto 5 (10)- Seiya Suzuki had the walk-off single.
— Mets 7, Marlins 3- Brandon Nimmo hit a 3-run homer.
— Brewers 5, Guardians 3- Aaron Civale blanked his old team for 6 IP.
Quote of the Day
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard……is what makes it great.”
Tom Hanks in
A League of Their Own
Saturday’s quiz
Who played QB for the Seattle Seahawks, the first time they played in a Super Bowl?
Friday’s quiz
Of all the players would played their entire career for only one team, Mike Schmidt hit the most home runs (548).
Thursday’s quiz
Dave Winfield was the first San Diego Padre to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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AFC
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Baltimore
Ravens visit Arrowhead in Week 1; they lost AFC title game at home to the Chiefs last year.
Last six years, over is 34-16 in Baltimore home games.
Since 2016, Ravens are 8-2 ATS as a home underdog.
Harbaugh brothers face each other in Week 12, on a Monday night at SoFi.
Baltimore won/covered seven of last eight Week 1 games.
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Buffalo
Last ten years, Buffalo is 26-15-4 ATS as a road underdog.
Last eight years, Bills are 21-12-1 ATS vs NFC teams.
Bills visit old friend, WR Stefon Diggs, in Week 5 at Houston.
Last five years, over is 58-24 in Buffalo games, but under is 6-2 in their last eight road openers.
Bills’ games with Dolphins are early in season; they visit Miami on a Thursday nite in Week 2; Dolphins come to Buffalo in Week 9.
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Cincinnati
Last two years, Cincinnati is 9-3-2 ATS as a home favorite.
Bengals are 8-1-2 ATS in their last 11 games vs NFC opponents,
Bengals’ games with Baltimore are fairly early (weeks 5/10); their games with Pittsburgh are later on (weeks 13/18)
Cincinnati is 2-6 ATS in its last eight home openers.
Bengals play a Thursday game in Week 10, have a bye in Week 12, so from November 8-30, they have only one game, Week 11 at the Chargers.
But in Week 14, Bengals have a Monday night game in Dallas, a short week game at Tennessee, then a Thursday home game, another short week game, against the Browns.
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Cleveland
Browns were 6-0 ATS as a home favorite LY; from 2020-22, they were 7-12-1
Last five years, Cleveland is 9-14-1 ATS as a road underdog.
Four of their first six games are against NFC East opponents.
Since 2010, Browns are 5-1 ATS as an underdog in their home opener.
Browns visit Philadelphia in Week 6; Cleveland DC Schwartz was DC of the Eagles from 2016-20.
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Denver
Sean Payton’s Broncos visit Payton’s old team in New Orleans in Week 7.
Since 2017, Denver is 9-20-3 ATS as a home favorite.
Since 2017, under is 41-16 in Bronco road games.
Week 4, Broncos visit the Jets; will Zach Wilson be playing QB against his old team? At what point does rookie QB Bo Nix get the nod?
Denver’s last five home openers stayed under the total.
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Houston
They don’t play an outdoor game until Week 6 at New England.
Texans were 10-7 LY (+12 in turnovers) making playoffs for first time since 2019.
Since 2018, Houston is 6-14-3 ATS against NFC opponents.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.
Texans play in Kansas City in Week 16, then host the Ravens on Christmas Day, which is on a Wednesday this year.
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Indianapolis
Last nine years, Colts are 7-15-1 ATS in home games vs AFC South opponents.
QB Gardner Minshew started Indy’s last 12 games LY; they were 6-6, but Colts let him walk. Now Joe Flacco backs up young QB Richardson.
Three of their first four games are at home; four of their next five games are on road.
Colts are 2-6-1 ATS in last nine road openers.
Their two games with Houston are before Halloween (weeks 1/8).
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Jacksonville
Jaguars visit Philadelphia in Week 9; Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl coaching the Eagles.
Jaguars were 9-8/9-8 the last two years; they were 15-50 the four years before Pederson came to Jacksonville.
Last ten years, Jaguars are 24-32-2 ATS as a road underdog.
Jacksonville is 5-2 ATS in last seven road openers, last four of which went over the total.
Jaguars are playing Bears/Patriots in England in Weeks 6-7; the games are in different stadiums.
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Famous birthdays, August 17:
Robert DeNiro, 81
Ed McCaffrey, 56
Christian Laettner, 55
Jorge Posada, 54
Antwaan Randle El, 45
Dustin Pedroia, 41
Rudy Gay, 38
Jesse Winker, 31
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 26
On the TV show
CSI, Gil Grissom’s birthday was August 17, but William Petersen’s birthday is in February.
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Kansas City
Over last 21 seasons, Super Bowl champs are 11-7-3 ATS in Week 1 the next year, although they’re 0-3 ATS the last three years.
Last five years, over is 33-8 in Kansas City’s road games.
Last ten years, Kansas City is 20-10-1 ATS in games where spread was 3 or fewer points.
Last 7 years, Chiefs are 6-1 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.
Chiefs have cold weather games in Cleveland (Week 15), Pittsburgh (Week 17), Denver (Week 18).
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Las Vegas
Last two years, Raiders are 9-3 ATS as a home favorite, 0-5 as a road favorite.
Last nine years, Raiders are 7-16 ATS on artificial turf.
Weeks 11-14, Raiders have three games in four weeks east of the Mississippi, visiting Miami, Chiefs and Tampa Bay.
Two of their first seven games are on road at SoFi: Week 1 @ Chargers, Week 7 @ Rams.
Raiders are 7-2 ATS in last nine road openers.
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LA Chargers
Jim Harbaugh was 49-22-1 in four years coaching the 49ers, 5-3 in playoffs, winning the NFC title in 2012, before losing Super Bowl to his brother’s team.
Chargers host John Harbaugh and the Ravens in a Week 12 Monday night game.
Host the Raiders in Week 1; the rematch is in the season finale at Las Vegas.
Chargers are 8-3-1 ATS in last dozen road openers.
Chargers have an early (Week 5) bye, which isn’t ideal.
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Miami
Dolphins made playoffs the last two years (lost 34-31/26-7) but they haven’t won a playoff game since 2000.
Since 2017, Miami is 19-7-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Thanksgiving night in Green Bay should be fun, then they finish the season with a couple more cold weather games in Cleveland, New Jersey (Jets) in Weeks 17-18.
Dolphins are 6-2 ATS in last eight road openers.
Play three of first four games at home, with two of the home games at night.
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New England
Patriots won Super Bowl after 2018 season; since then, they’re 41-42 in regular season, 0-2 in playoffs, and they just told Bill Belichick to take a hike. Go figure.
Last two years, New England is 1-8 ATS as a home underdog.
Three of their first four games are on the road.
Games with Buffalo are very late in season, Weeks 16/18.
Their over/under win total is 4.5 wins, tied with Carolina for lowest in league.
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NJ Jets
First seven weeks, they have four night games, and a morning game from England.
Since 2017, Jets are 4-15-1 ATS as a favorite.
Last four years, under is 24-11 in Jet home games.
Jets are 1-5 SU/ATS in last six home openers.
TV people like Aaron Rodgers; Jets have six night games scheduled, which is a lot for a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2010.
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Pittsburgh
Last six years, Steelers are 57-40-2 in regular season games, 0-3 in playoffs.
Last ten years, Pittsburgh is 39-23-2 ATS in games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Weeks 12-16, they play 4 road games in 5 weeks; 3 of the 4 games are divisional games.
Russell Wilson visits his old team/coach in Denver in Week 2. Broncos are paying Wilson $37.8M of his $39M salary this season.
Visit the Ravens in Week 16 on a Saturday, host Chiefs on Christmas four days later.
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Tennessee
Last two years, Tennessee went 6-11/7-10; they told coach Vrabel to take a hike (he was 41-24 the four years before that).
Last ten years, Titans are 28-39-4 ATS in games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Titans host Cincinnati in Week 15; Tennessee coach Callahan was the Bengals’ OC the last five years (head coach Zac Taylor is really the OC).
Titans are 3-9 ATS in last 12 home openers.
Play only one divisional game in first 11 weeks of the season; 5 of their last 7 games are against AFC South rivals.