Art Aronson Handicapper at AAA Sports

This is a 10* on HOUSTON

We think the Braves were pretty lucky to have what was - in our view - an undeserved “home field advantage” in the NLCS. They had 18 fewer regular season wins compared to the Dodgers. But because Atlanta won a weak NL East and LA was in the same division as San Francisco (and had to settle for a Wild Card), the rules said the Braves got the home field edge. They took full advantage by going 3-0 in Truist Park in the NLCS and won the series in six games. We bring this up because the Braves won’t have home field advantage in the World Series against the Astros. They head to Houston for Games 1 and 2 and this will present a challenge for the pitching staff as the Astros are a much stronger lineup than what the Braves are used to facing. There’s no pitcher coming up to bat in these next two games. The Astros have scored 6.7 runs/game in the playoffs. Atlanta gets to use the DH too, but we don’t think they can match the American League team’s firepower. Framber Valdez went eight innings in Game 5 of the ALCS and gave up one run on three hits. The Braves’ Charlie Morton is winless in three postseason starts with a 3.77 ERA. Almost every edge goes to Houston in this series. We’ll take them in Game 1. Play on HOUSTON

AAA

This is a 10* on VANCOUVER

The Canucks seek a third straight victory on Tuesday. Only this time they are back on home ice. The previous two wins came in Chicago and Seattle, at the tail end of a six-game road trip. This is actually their first home game of the season! In each of the previous two victories, Vancouver scored four goals. The fact they finished the six-game road trip at 3-2-1 was pretty impressive. The trip took them across all four time zones. Last season, the Canucks were a much more respectable team at home. Minnesota arrives here off its first loss of the young season. They fell behind Nashville 3-0 after one period and could not recover. Penalty killing has been an issue so far for the Wild. They’ve allowed a power play goal in every game thus far. This will be their third game in four nights while the Canucks have had the last two days off. Play on VANCOUVER

AAA

This is a 10* on DENVER

Though this is the second night of a back to back for the Nuggets, we expect them to come out and play hard Tuesday on TNT. It was an embarrassing result for them last night as they finished with just 87 points and lost to the lowly Cavs. Tonight they face a team at the opposite end of the NBA hierarchy, that being Utah, who is off to a 2-0 start. The Jazz have covered the spread in both wins. However, keep in mind that the two teams they’ve faced so far: Oklahoma City and Sacramento. The Jazz are well-rested coming into tonight as they have not played since Friday. But the thing with that is they are 0-6 against the spread the previous six times they’ve played a game on three or more days' rest. No one on the Nuggets, besides Nikola Jokic, scored more than 12 points last night. The team shot 9 of 38 from three-point range and just 40% percent overall. We expect across the board improvement from them tonight and do not believe Utah’s rest advantage will play a significant role. If anything, the Jazz could be a little bit rusty. Play on UTAH

AAA