ASA – American Sports Analysts Handicappers

ASA WNBA play on Golden State Valkyries -5.5 vs. Dallas Wings, 10pm ET - The Valkyries aren’t talked about enough in WNBA circles as one of the elite teams in the league and continue to fly under the radar. This team has the 2nd best Net rating in the league at +8.7 and an average margin of victory of +6.6ppg, second only to the Minnesota Lynx. Golden State has the best record in the league at home with a 14-4 record and has won 7 of their last eight on their home court with an average Net rating of +12.1. Dallas has some injury concerns with Shepard and Fudd both listed as questionable tonight. That leaves too much of a burden on Bueckers and Ogunbowale to carry the load. Dallas has some decent overall numbers this season, but their 12th rated road defense hasn’t traveled well this season. The Wings are 0-4 SU in their last four road game against similar level of opponents to the Valkyries with losses in Indiana, Minnesota and Washington twice. Golden State has had 4 days off and will be well rested and prepared for the Wings who they’ve beaten twice this season and 5 straight times. Lay it with GST.

#919 ASA TOP PLAY ON Atlanta Braves -125 over Minnesota Twins, Monday at 7:40 PM ET - The Braves have one of the best records in the majors plus they are facing a slumping Twins team here and they have the pitching edge too!  Minnesota has lost 3 straight games and 10 of their last 14 games overall!  The Twins are 13-26 in interleague action this season after they just got swept by the Phillies over the weekend.  Atlanta is 46-29 this season against right-handed starters and they face a slumping Bailey Ober here.  The Twins right-hander has just 9 strikeouts in 22 innings over his last 4 starts.  He has a 5.73 ERA in hias last 4 starts and is coming off an outing in which he allowed 3 homers.  The Braves have the starting pitching edge here with southpaw Martin Perez slated to get the start in this one.  Perez has been in fantastic form since the all-star break.  He is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA and batters are hitting only .163 against him since the break!  In fact, the Braves southpaw has allowed only 5 hits in 16 innings here in the month of August and Perez has not allowed a single earned run in any of those 3 outings.  Here he takes on a Twins team that has a -48 run differential on the season and that also is slumping.  The Braves, on the other hand, have a +117 run differential this season and also they are 42-26 this season when facing teams that currently have a losing record on the season.  Also, the bullpen ERA numbers of these teams are at opposite ends of the spectrum with Atlanta in the top 5 and the Twins in the bottom 5 out of the 30 teams in the majors.  Atlanta money line gets the call here in early evening action Monday.  

Spanish La Liga #201813 ASA PLAY ON Elche Goal Line +0.5 Goal (-150) over Deportivo la Coruna, Monday at 3 ET - We like the underdog value here on the goal line. We must lay a little juice to have the 1/2 goal but that means a draw here would also be a win for us at the betting window and this looks like a tight battle. We are expecting Elche to get the upset but we like the added value of the half-goal should this one end up in a draw. Deportivo la Coruna is just now coming back up to the top flight in Spain as they were down in Liga 2 last season. Truly they have floundered for a number of seasons now in recent years and even spent some time in the 3rd league of Spain as well. Certainly there is excitement for them to be in the top league again and they are at home here. However, to be favored the way they are in this one seems a bit of a reach. This is particularly true considering the fact that Elche has looked strong in their pre-season performances. Of course season openers can be tricky as now the games finally count and yet it is the first competitive match seeing teams after transfers during the summer, etc. However, the value here certainly is in challenging the newly promoted hosts to win this outright. We expect at least a draw from Elche here and we confidently grab the 1/2 goal on offer in this one.