Sports Handicapper William Burns's Picks & Predictions

Dallas didn't look all that great defensively in Game 5. They were unorganized and allowed 5 goals in a 5-3 defeat. However, that's expected to happen at least once in a playoff best-of-seven series against one of the best attacking teams in the entire NHL. Led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, the Avalanche are facing elimination once again on Friday. I believe that their season could be in jeopardy. 

All season long, I've loved these Stars. To me, they are the most complete team in hockey. Having said that, I find it hard to see them going home already. Yes, the Avs have the fire-power that every team wants. But, Dallas is very strong defensively most of the time as well. Jake Oettinger is one of the best goalies in the league at bouncing back after a bad game. Look for him to do just that today. Play on the Stars to finish this series. 

Score Prediction: 4-2 Stars. 

Christian Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA) is back on the mound today for the Mets. Yes, he's extremely raw and has yet to really face many opponents yet. However, this kid is going to be good. In his first two starts, he's picked up two quality starts and has been excellent. The Mets are coming off an extra-innings win last night which should give the team some confidence as well. 

On the other side, we'll see Jesús Luzardo (0-3, 5.97 ERA.) Don't get me wrong, his stats look quite bad. Having said that, he is much better than his current stats suggest. In consecutive outings now, he's gone at least five innings while allowing just two runs. He could even be stronger today. 

This line is on the lower side, but it's there for a reason. Both of these pitchers are more than capable of having a strong start and Miami has struggled to put up many runs all season. I've got the "under" here in this one. 

Score Prediction: 4-1 Mets.

The Minnesota Twins enter this series having just been swept by the New York Yankees. As strong as their record currently looks, I believe that they could slowly start falling down the rankings with the injuries that have already transpired this season. Today's starting pitcher will be Simeon Woods-Richardson (1-0, 3.24 ERA.) He's still a very young arm (just 23 yrs old) who doesn't have a lot of experience. A hot team in Cleveland could very well rock him here today. 

Talking about the Guardians, they are coming off a series win against the Texas Rangers. Yes, they may have lost the finale of that series. But, they still find themselves with an awesome 27-17 record on the current season. Triston Mckenzie (2-3, 3.54 ERA) will get the nod today. His record doesn't look great, but he's been solid. Last season, McKenzie battled through injuries and never really got things going. Two years ago, he was among the best in baseball.

Expect Cleveland to come away victorious in the first game of this series as they've got the hotter lineup and more experienced pitcher here in today's matchup at home. 

Score Prediction: 6-2 Guardians. 

In both Game 4 and in Game 5, we saw blowouts. Those blowouts caused the game to stay "under" the total. At the beginning of this series when we saw epic battles come down to the stretch, the "over" was hitting with ease (GM1 & GM2.) I believe that we could be in store for another one of those high scoring battles in Game 6. Let's break it down. 

This season, Indiana averaged to most points per game. They also averaged the best FG% as well as most assists per game. Having said that, they are going to want to come out hot and ready to go on Friday in this must-win game, especially after scoring just 91 points last game. On the other hand, the Knicks were definitely a slower paced team. However, they've already scored 120+ points in three out of the five games so far in this series. Expect a higher scoring Game 6 in Indiana. 

Score Prediction: 119-109 Pacers.

There's no denying that Tarik Skubal (5-0, 2.02 ERA) has been excellent to open up this season. A perfect record is not very common in this day in baseball this far into the season. Especially having started eight games already. Having said that, I do believe that he is slightly overrated at the moment. Let's not forget that these Diamondbacks made the World Series last year. Yes, they've been dealing with injuries. But, they still have a very good lineup at the moment.

For the DBacks, they'll have Ryne Nelson (2-2, 5.33 ERA) on the mound today. Although his stats don't look nearly as good, I firmly believe that he's a lot better than his stats suggest. In his lone career start against the Tigers (last season,) he went 5.2 shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out four. Yes, it's a small sample size. But, he's already faced some of these hitters which gives him confidence.

Detroit enters this series having lost back to back games against a very poor Marlins team. In fact, they got shutout in both of those games. With the Diamondbacks getting an extra run and a half at their home ballpark, I'll gladly take them here today. This is a "GAME OF THE MONTH" selection on Arizona.

Score Prediction: 6-3 Diamondbacks.