Handicapper Art Aronson of AAA Sports Plays Free Picks & Best Bets

This is a 10* play on NEW YORK

New York lost its eighth straight game on Sunday, falling to the short-handed Phoenix Mercury by a score of 78-72. Equally as bad is that they just missed out on getting the cash as five-point underdogs. It was a similar story two nights prior when they lost in Dallas by six and were getting four from the oddsmakers. The last game saw the Liberty fall apart in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 28-18. But that's nothing compared to what happened to the Indiana Fever on Sunday. The Fever lost 107-68 to the Mystics, allowing a WNBA record 18 made three-pointers. It was the latest disastrous defensive effort for a team that has dropped 7 of 10 overall. We don't like the notion of Indiana laying this many points, given the recent defensive ineptitude. Also, what happened defensively in that last game also masks the fact the Fever scored only 68 points. Play on NEW YORK

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This is a 10* on CLEVELAND

The Indians split four games with the Yankees in their last series, but aren't out of New York quite yet as now it's time for a pair of games with the Mets. Both the Indians and Mets are among the hottest teams in baseball right now and both can thank easy schedules for that. The Mets are 18-5 the last 23 games, but that includes plenty of games against the Pirates, White Sox, Marlins and Royals. Cleveland has gone 20-3 vs the Tigers and Royals during a 46-22 overall. run. We like the Indians in this one for a variety of reasons. Let's start with Shane Bieber, who has a 17-8 team start record and 0.99 WHIP. Bieber has allowed just eight runs his last five starts with two complete games. The Mets' Steven Matz has not lost a decision at home this year (5-0 in 9 starts), but has not been as effective as Bieber. The Indians have won seven of their last eight Interleague road games and are 16-5 their last 21 road games, period. They're the better team here. Play on CLEVELAND

AAA

This is an 8* Play on the YANKEES

The Yankees and A's haven't met since last year's Wild Card Game, which was of course won by the Yanks 7-2. New York certainly appears to have the more viable path back to the playoffs right now as they have a big lead in the AL East and could end up with homefield advantage. Oakland probably can do no better than a Wild Card, though they did just do themselves a giant favor by taking three of four from Houston this past weekend. But they still have a 7.5 game gap to make up in the AL West. They are just 1.5 game back of the Wild Card. But even after the impressive effort over the weekend, we don't like the A's chances here. Yankees starter German has won seven straight decisions and has an 8-0 team start record his last eight starts. The Yankees are 17-3 in all of his starts this season. Oakland's Homer Bailey has not been nearly as successful, even though he shut the Giants out for seven innings in his last start. Good luck doing that to the Yankees, who are 41-13 vs. starters with a WHIP greater than 1.30. The New York lineup is averaging 6.5 runs/game on the road. Play on the YANKEES

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