NCAA football picks Week 7

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 2-2-1 last week, 14-10-1 for the season

Ohio -7 over Eastern Michigan

Ohio State -10 ½ over Wisconsin

Tennessee +13 ½ over Alabama

Arkansas +7 ½ over Mississippi

Notre Dame -3 over Stanford

2016 ALCS preview

By Rick Morris

For the second time in less than six months, Cleveland and Toronto are battling for a chance at the world championship.  This time around, it’s a World Series spot on the line as the Indians and Blue Jays do battle.

Franchises only previously bound by the Len Barker perfect game of 1981, these teams who surprised many by surviving the ALDS meet in an intriguing collision of interestingly-matched teams.  Toronto’s widest advantage is in explosive offense, as the core of their lineup can mash better than just about anyone in baseball.  Overall, they’re a slightly poor-man’s version of the Red Sox in this regard (still ahead of Terry Francona’s overachieving mix-and-match bunch) which should be encouraging to a Tribe team that shockingly swept through powerful Beantown.

However, Cleveland will have to overcome better starting pitching than the Red Sox could muster.  As was the case with Boston, though, none of their big arms can quite measure up to Corey Kluber, who proved himself healthy and dominant in the Division Series.  When you pair this with the Tribe’s monster edge in the bullpen (notwithstanding the Jays’ fine performance against the Rangers) and their moderate edge defensively, it becomes clear that Toronto’s best hope is in exerting their will with their great power production.

You have to believe that it will happen at least once.  There’s probably a 14-1 beatdown in Cleveland’s future somewhere in this round.  But this ride that the Indians are on just doesn’t feel over yet, not least of which because they’d have been more vulnerable to a well-rounded Texas team in the AL finals – in addition to the fact that they wouldn’t have had home field in that scenario.  Somebody up there likes these Indians – and, in fact, loves them if they get to escape the Cubs!  Cleveland in 6.

NLCS

Chicago Cubs over Los Angeles Dodgers in 6

or

Chicago Cubs over Washington in 6

WORLD SERIES

Chicago Cubs over Cleveland in 6

Lounge on YouTube: 2016 Fantasy Football Week 5 preview

By Rick Morris

THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER is Mini-Episode #766 of THE FDH LOUNGE, providing the 2016 Week 5 Fantasy Football preview.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #765 – 2016 NFL Week 5 preview

By Rick Morris                                          

As we referenced previously, our pals at Sportsology are hooking us up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge Dignitaries these days.  We’re happy to report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our great friend Russ Cohen.

Mini-Episode #765 features our 2016 NFL Week 5 preview with FDH Lounge Dignitary and Vegas handicapping veteran Kyle Ross.

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2016 NFL Week 5 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Denver (8-5-2)

2 Pittsburgh (3-1-6)

3 Minnesota (12-6-3)

4 New England (1-2-1)

5 Green Bay (2-7-4)

6 Philadelphia (29-17-5)

7 Seattle (4-10-7)

SECOND TIER

8 Cincinnati (6-8-9)

9 Atlanta (25-20-16)

10 Oakland (11-15-14)

11 Baltimore (13-11-11)

THIRD TIER

12 Dallas (23-19-15)

13 Houston (10-9-17)

14 Carolina (5-4-8)

15 Los Angeles (31-30-20)

16 Kansas City (9-12-12)

17 Arizona (7-3-10)

18 New York Giants (16-13-13)

19 Buffalo (22-29-22)

20 Washington (18-25-19)

21 New York Jets (20-16-18)

FOURTH TIER

22 Jacksonville (14-21-27)

23 Indianapolis (21-27-21)

24 Chicago (17-28-29)

25 New Orleans (27-26-28)

26 San Diego (24-14-23)

27 Tampa Bay (15-18-24)

28 Detroit (19-22-26)

29 Tennessee (28-23-25)

FIFTH TIER

30 Miami (26-24-30)

31 San Francisco (30-31-31)

32 Cleveland (32-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Atlanta (7 spots), Chicago, Jacksonville and Los Angeles (5 spots), Houston, Oakland and Pittsburgh (4 spots), Buffalo, Dallas and New Orleans (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Arizona (7 spots), Carolina (6 spots), New York Giants (5 spots), Kansas City and Tennessee (4 spots), New England, New York Jets, San Diego and Tampa Bay (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1T AFC West 53

1T AFC North 53

3 NFC East 56

4 NFC North 60

5 NFC West 70

6 AFC East 74

7 NFC South 75

8 AFC South 87

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 261

2 AFC 267

NCAA Week 6 Top 4 teams for College Football Playoff

By Rick Morris

1 Alabama

2 Ohio State

3 Clemson

4 Michigan

Next 4 in:

5 Houston

6 Washington

7 Tennessee

8 Texas A&M

NCAA football picks Week 6

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 3-2 record last week, 12-8 for the season

Indiana +29 over Ohio State

Bowling Green +11 ½ over Ohio

Miami -3 over Florida State

Tennessee +7 over Texas A&M

Arkansas +14 over Alabama

2016 ALDS and NLDS picks

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 2-0 record in the playoffs so far.

Toronto vs. Texas: Frankly, there are too few blood feuds in MLB these days, so it’s very refreshing to see perhaps the foremost one on today’s landscape in the playoffs once again.  Security at the former Skydome is going to be of paramount importance, given last year’s riot and the beer can incident in the wild card game.  Both teams can rip the cover off of the ball, but the Rangers’ starting pitching is better and more reliable – and they have the #1 seed’s advantage of playing the team that had to prioritize for the wild card game.  Texas also has the advantage in the bullpen, leaving the Jays with only a (narrow) advantage defensively.  The Rangers take a (justifiable) rap for being a lucky team given their flukish record in one-run games, but their midseason acquisitions have rendered this a different team than the one responsible for the majority of that history.  It’s a different, and improved, Texas team from the one that lost in this round last year to Toronto.  And the result will be different this time, setting up what would be a juicy rubber match in 2017.  Texas in 4.

Boston vs. Cleveland: With both pitching rotations beset by injuries, the teams somewhat mirror one another right now in terms of strengths and weaknesses – with the exception of power in the offense, which decisively favors the Red Sox.  It’s keyed by the opposites of young and fleet Mookie Betts, a megastar in his first postseason and the soon-to-retire David Ortiz.  The Indians have relied much more on timely hitting throughout the year, something which is more luck-based, but also frequently in evidence in this postseason.  If you’re looking for candidates to go on an unlikely October tear, the Tribe is certainly a candidate because they’ve been playing in that fashion for six months.  Cleveland in 5.

San Francisco vs. Chicago Cubs: Whoever emerged from the wild card game was going to present a fierce challenge, at least to the battered psyches of Cubs fans.  The Mets famously upended the North Siders in dramatic fashion in 1969 and then notched a shocking sweep in last year’s NLCS.  And entire books have been written about the Giants’ even-year dominance in the 2010s.  On paper, the Cubs tower over San Francisco dramatically in terms of offense and bullpen.  Granted, Chicago’s advantages defensively and in starting pitching are narrow, but the Giants are going to rue having to burn MadBum in the wild card game.  In short, on paper, it’s not even funny how much better the Cubs are than the Giants right now.  If San Francisco emerges from this series triumphantly, pencil them in to go all the way, because there would truly be forces we can’t understand at work here.  Chicago Cubs in 4.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington: The cynical way to view this matchup of two of this decade’s biggest playoff underachievers is to note that one of them has to make it to the NLCS.  That may not be completely fair, though, as each team is under new management this year and each really accomplished a lot this year – the Dodgers in running down the Giants after their big start and the Nationals in terms of playing better than they did with more talented Washington teams of recent years.  As with Cleveland and Boston, they’re fairly matched in most areas but one: defense, where LA dominates this clash.  That could well be enough in a series that will introduce the October world to budding Dodger megastar Corey Seager.  Los Angeles Dodgers in 4.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Texas over Cleveland in 6

Chicago Cubs over Los Angeles Dodgers in 5

WORLD SERIES

Chicago Cubs over Texas in 5

2016 MLB Wild Card Game picks

By Rick Morris

AL Wild Card Game: Baltimore at Toronto.  Both teams are absolutely capable of pummeling the ball, but the Jays should benefit from a raucous dome crowd and merit the edge in starting pitching.  If the game is tight in the late innings, the O’s could take it based on the bullpens, but they very well might not matter.  Pick: Toronto.

NL Wild Card Game: San Francisco at New York Mets.  Each team is trotting out a bazooka on the mound and each team ranks near the bottom offensively in this postseason, so runs will be at a premium.  The home team has a better bullpen, but the Giants have much better defense, so those factors even out a bit.  In the end, it’s just foolhardy to pick against the Giants in the playoffs unless you have a great reason to do so (which is looming in the form of the Cubs).  Pick: San Francisco.

 

LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

Cleveland over Boston in 5

Texas over Toronto in 4

Chicago Cubs over San Francisco in 4

Los Angeles Dodgers over Washington in 4

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Texas over Cleveland in 6

Chicago Cubs over Los Angeles Dodgers in 5

WORLD SERIES

Chicago Cubs over Texas in 5

2016 MLB Playoffs Team Rankings

By Rick Morris

HITTING

1 Boston

2 Texas

3 Toronto

4 Baltimore

5 Chicago Cubs

6 Los Angeles Dodgers

7 Cleveland

8 Washington

9 New York Mets

10 San Francisco

STARTING PITCHING

1 Chicago Cubs

2 Texas

3 San Francisco

4 Los Angeles Dodgers

5 Washington

6 Toronto

7 Cleveland

8 Boston

9 New York Mets

10 Baltimore

BULLPENS

1 Cleveland

2 Chicago Cubs

3 Boston

4 Texas

5 Baltimore

6 Washington

7 Los Angeles Dodgers

8 New York Mets

9 Toronto

10 San Francisco

DEFENSE

1 Chicago Cubs

2 San Francisco

3 Cleveland

4 Los Angeles Dodgers

5 Boston

6 Toronto

7 Texas

8 Washington

9 New York Mets

10 Baltimore

 

TOTAL

1 Chicago Cubs 9

2 Texas 15

3 Boston 17

4 Cleveland 18

5 Los Angeles Dodgers 21

6 Toronto 24

7 San Francisco 25

8 Washington 27

9 Baltimore 29

10 New York Mets 35

Lounge on YouTube: 2016 Fantasy Football Week 4 preview

By Rick Morris

THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER is Mini-Episode #764 of THE FDH LOUNGE, providing the 2016 Week 4 Fantasy Football preview.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #763 – 2016 NFL Week 4 preview

By Rick Morris                                          

As we referenced previously, our pals at Sportsology are hooking us up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge Dignitaries these days.  We’re happy to report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our great friend Russ Cohen.

Mini-Episode #763 features our 2016 NFL Week 4 preview with FDH Lounge Dignitary and Vegas handicapping veteran Kyle Ross.

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code