Bournemouth hasn't lost a home opener in years. ...

Sean Woodson will have a huge physical edge. ...

Here. We. Go!

These NWSL lines go just totally bonkers sometimes. This is active but another site has nearly -270 San Diego ML so I have no idea. Small leagues like this, one bet over $100 and it swings the whole pendulum. But I do like San Diego. Racing Louisville is one of the worst teams in the league. The Wave just trounced visiting Utah last time out.

Mixed bag Thursday on our first night of FCS football. I was hoping this got to +10.5 and it just did for tonight. Wouldn't go lower. You'd think such a good school like Fordham would have really well-written game notes but the headline is: "Football starts tonight" and it tells you where to buy candy corn and park. That's pretty enthralling writing. May as well let AI do it. The two teams have split the last six meetings with Fordham winning the last at home in 2024.

I almost always have an opinion on these Cubs standalone Friday matinees, and I see no reason why not to back them here -- although this is too high. Minus-1 I think would be your best wager to save 40-plus cents, but I'll roll with this. Seventh straight road game for Cincy, which is playing for nothing. Rhett Lowder has a 6.92 ERA away and is 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA during the day overall. Maybe he's a vampire (I'm Team Jacob). Cubs pitcher David Peterson is meh but better since coming from the Mets. Bit of urgency for Chicago on a two-game skid and its lead to host a Wild-Card Round series down to two. Gotta take advantage of a last-place team.

Welp, Celta Vigo wrecked the parlay surprisingly enough so now I'm getting that back ideally with this play -- although it might get rained out. Gerrit Cole has been sharp of late for the Yanks, and I auto-fade any pitchers the Cubs trade: Houston's Hayden Wesneski, originally drafted by NYY.

Both FCS schools were 6-6 last year in different conferences, but Maine lost its quarterback and Towson brings its starter back. It's not quite that simple, but in this limited space it pretty much is. Carter Peevy started the past two years for Maine and will be replaced by Eddie "Ferris" Buehler. The redshirt sophomore has never taken a collegiate snap. Andrew Indorf (won a few state titles at a Florida prep powerhouse) had a terrific 2025 freshman season for Towson in earning CAA Co-Rookie of the Year and finishing 15th nationally in the Jerry Rice Award voting for top freshman of the year in FCS. There are FCS models and the ones I check all have the Tigers by at least three.

Big number but probably will end up closing low. Wouldn't do this as a straight ML. It's the home opener for Celta Vigo, which drew at Valencia in the season opener Saturday but deserved to win. It has drawn or won 10 of its past 11 including friendlies. Short week for Osasuna as it drew its season and home opener vs. Levante on Monday and was largely dominated. Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan had to make seven saves to keep it scoreless. The sides split last season, each winning away. The original Aug. 16 opener between them was postponed because fungus damaged the Balaídos pitch. A fungi postponement is similar to how the excellent end of the world show "The Last of Us" begins.

Hadn't planned to play this with two terrible starting pitchers on the mound in Gabriel Holmes and Jake Irvin, but the Rockies are pretty much mailing it in with their two best hitters in Hunter Goodman and Mickey Moniak sitting. They are 1-2 on the team in homers and RBI, combining for 57 HR (more than a third of the team total) and 132 RBI.

End of a six-game road trip with no days off on it for the Twins and they are 1-4 on it and probably won't have All-Star outfielder Byron Buxton tonight (.254, 25 HR, 46 RBI) after leaving Tuesday's loss injured. Rookie pitcher Connor Prielipp is 0-4 with a 6.58 ERA in eight road starts. JT Ginn (8-8, 3.60 ERA) has been a modest bright spot for the Athletics, who can win a second straight series for the first time in the second half. Don't care if they win, just lose by a run please. The model has Twins by a half-run.

CBS Sports Network game Wednesday. North Carolina sits sixth in the NWSL standings and has two of the league's leading scorers in Ashley Sanchez (13G) and Evelyn Ijeh (10G). They are three goals shy of the league record for single-season goals from a pair of teammates. Sanchez is one shy of the single-season team mark. Angel City's two leading scorers in Maiara Niehues and Sveindís Jónsdóttir (6G each) both have missed multiple games in a row injured. North Carolina prevailed 2-1 in Los Angeles on May 31. Niehues had the lone Angel City goal. This marks Angel City's first time in the Eastern Time Zone in months.

That Boston lineup looks pretty lame today without Adley Rutschman and Willson Contreras. So hopefully Miami pitcher Ryan Gusto, off his best outing, can keep that group to two runs over F5 because I'm pretty sure that Sonny Gray (16-3, 2.79 ERA) will keep the Marlins to a pair of runs or fewer. Only 87 homers have been hit at pitcher-friendly loanDepot park this year, fourth-fewest in the majors.

Perhaps a sense of urgency for the Padres today as they look to avoid an embarrassing home sweep -- just can't do that when chasing a wild-card spot. Even losing the first two, the Dads are 15-4 in their past 19 at home. Pittsburgh hasn't swept a road series in about 13 months (July 28-30 at SF last season). Both bullpens are wrecked after last night's 12-inning game. Bucs rookie Bubba Chandler is 2-5 with a 4.54 ERA away. San Diego's Randy Vasquez has 2.91 ERA over his past eight appearances.

Giants veteran Adrian "Doogie" Houser doesn't have good numbers overall at 4-7 with a 4.08 ERA but has gone at least five and pitched very well in three straight games. Note that he might follow an opener but I'm OK with that because it seems to be working for Houser. The model has him right at 5.0 innings and I don't expect any more than that.