In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NBA Model Predictions- Click Here

There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NHL, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchup. That prediction went 0-1 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 3-2

Over/Under Predictions: 1-3-1

Puck Line Predictions: 2-3

Featured Matchup: 0-1

15 MLB games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for all 15 matchups can be found below.

Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Francisco Giants

Model Predicts- Diamondbacks ML, OVER 8, Diamondbacks +1.5

The Arizona Diamondbacks will continue their ten-game road trip on Friday night, staying in San Francisco for Game 2 of their four-game series with the Giants.

Arizona came up short against San Francisco in Game 1, recording just three hits and zero runs in a 5-0 loss. That was the second consecutive loss for the Diamondbacks, who are now 9-11 for the season, while the Giants have won two straight games and also own a 9-11 record this season.

Not much has separated Arizona and San Francisco early on, but our model expects the Diamondbacks to bounce back tonight in a relatively high-scoring contest. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Arizona Diamondbacks

• Enter tonight on two game losing streak

  • Losses to Cubs and Giants. Surrendered five runs in both games

  • Now losers in three of last four contests. -7 run differential in that span

• Will face Blake Snell tonight, and have had success against lefties

  • Rank 4th in wRC+ (129) and BABIP (.338) against southpaws this season (FanGraphs)

  • 15.0% strikeout rate against lefties is second in MLB this season

• Starting pitcher- Jordan Montgomery

  • Making first start of regular season. Did not pitch in spring training

  • 3.20 ERA vs 3.98 xERA last season. Ranked in bottom 35% of MLB in strikeout rate and xBA

San Francisco Giants

• Enter tonight on two-game win streak

  • Wins over Marlins and Diamondbacks. Outscoring opponents 8-1 in that stretch

• Another team that has had success against lefties

  • Rank inside top-ten in strikeout rate (20.5%) and BABIP (.316)

  • Have scored 29 runs with lefties on the mound- 8th most in MLB

• Starting pitcher- Blake Snell

  • Has been crushed early on- Allowed nine hits, 10 earned runs, and two home runs in seven innings this season

  • Owns 9.5% Barell rate and 11.4% walk rate- ranks in bottom 30% of MLB in both

What’s the Play?

Arizona’s offense was ice cold yesterday while San Francisco played to its usual level. However, we expect both offenses to get going tonight, resulting in a high-scoring game.

Blake Snell is bound to get back on track at some point, but tonight likely won’t be the night. Arizona has crushed lefties all season long, so much so that the Diamondbacks have scored 46 runs against lefties this season, 13 more than any other team in the league. The Diamondbacks have also hit nine home runs while lefties have been on the mound, a number that should increase given Snell’s vulnerability to the barrel early on.

However, Arizona pitcher Jordan Montgomery is the wild card here, but we think its wise to fade him early on. Several metrics show he may have over-performed last season, and we should expect some rust early on as he did not pitch in spring training and allowed nine earned runs and two home runs in 7.2 innings in the minors.

Neither pitcher has looked great, and both offenses have performed well against lefties. That’s a recipe for an over.

The Play: Over 8 (-110)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Baltimore Orioles- 12-6 overall this season, 4-0 in last four games

• Milwaukee Brewers- 11-6 overall this season, 7-2 as the away team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Baltimore Orioles- Over is 11-5-1 this season, 7-1 in last eight games with average total of 11.75

• Seattle Mariners- Under is 12-6-1 this season, 4-2 as the away team

Run Line Trends ➕➖

• Kansas City Royals- Run line is 12-7 this season

🤬 Aroldis Chapman suspended after altercation with umpire. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Aroldis Chapman was suspended for two games and fined for misconduct during a game against the New York Mets, as announced by the league on Thursday. Chapman can appeal the suspension, which is set to start on Friday. The left-hander, who joined the Pirates this season, was ejected for inappropriate comments to the home plate umpire during Monday's game, where he gave up three runs before being removed.

🤕 Red Sox place O’Neill on 7-day concussion list. The Boston Red Sox put outfielder Tyler O'Neill on the seven-day concussion list and brought back outfielder Rob Refsnyder, the team announced on Thursday. O'Neill sustained a head injury during Monday's game when he collided with Rafael Devers while trying to catch a fly ball, resulting in eight stitches to his forehead. Despite experiencing symptoms like dizziness and brain fog, O'Neill, who was traded to the Red Sox from the St. Louis Cardinals, aims to return to action on Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians after traveling with the team for their weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Chicago Bulls players DeMar Derozan and Nikola Vucevic were teammates at what university prior to playing in the NBA?

Question #2- NFL quarterbacks Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, and Jalen Hurts all played their final college football season at what Big 12 school?

Question #3- Former MLB star Alex Rodrigues played on two teams before suiting up for the New York Yankees. What were those teams?

Anyone know what has happened on April 19th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On April 19th…

1981- Former NFL star Troy Polamalu is born in Garden Grove, California. Polamalu played his high school football at Douglas High School in Winston, Oregon, where he also played basketball and baseball, and eventually went on to play college football for the USC Trojans. He was then selected with the 16th pick in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he would play for his entire NFL career.

1996- The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 26-7. Texas jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after the first inning, but the real damage wasn’t done until the bottom of the eighth inning, where the Rangers scored 16 runs to blow the game open. Texas recorded 19 hits, 13 walks, and five home runs in the game.

1997- Ohio State offensive tackle Orlando Pace is selected with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. Pace was selected by the St. Louis Rams, a result of being named the Big 10 conference’s Most Valuable Player and an All-American for the 1996 season. Pace would play for the Rams until 2008, and would play one season for the Chicago Bears in 2009.

1. University of Southern California

2. University of Oklahoma

3. Seattle Mariners, New York Rangers