Best bets for the weekend plus a simple

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Hello, and welcome to a very special edition of Football Friday! What's special about it? Well, it's got baseball picks too! Baseball is a lot like football when you think about it. They're both sports, they play on Sundays and there's a ball involved. I mean, I'm not even sure how we can tell the difference, but it's definitely proof that we're the most intelligent creatures on Earth.Unle s there's some super-smart fish in a part of the ocean we haven't Josh Archibald Men Jersey found yet. Do you ever think about that kind of stuff and get freaked out? Like, we know more about the moon and other planets than we do about what's on the bottom of the ocean. There could be an entire society of superintelligent fish down there, plotting our demise, and there isn't a thing we can do about it. CBS Sports HQ Newsletter Your Ultimate Guide to Every Day in Sports We bring sports news that matters to your inbox, to help you stay informed and get a winning edge. I agree to receive the "CBS Sports HQ Newsletter" and marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers), and other information from CBS Sports and the Paramount family of companies. By pre sing sign up, I confirm that I have read and agree to the . Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. Sorry! There was an error proce sing your subscription. Ian Cole Jersey Are we doomed? Maybe! I'm not a scientist, but it is entirely po sible this society of superintelligent fish could soon overrun us with weapons capabilities we can't even fathom. We aren't prepared for it! If they attack, there's nothing we can do! You can't fight a land or air war on the bottom of the ocean! We can't even fight a sea battle down there! Oh man, that's terrifying to think about. Let's distract ourselves with sports news and gambling advice so we can enjoy our weekends. . . . .To the picks! The Hot Ticket The Pick: Over 7 (-120): OK, so here's my simple approach to betting baseball playoff games. If the total for the game is 7.5 or higher, I tell myself I'm taking the under and then see if I can talk myself out of it. If the total is seven or lower, I go through the same proce s, except I tell myself I'm taking the over. It's dumb and basic as hell, but you know what? It's worked pretty well for me over the years.I am unable to talk myself out of taking the over here. These teams didn't win 107 and 106 games this season just because they can pitch and play defense. They hit the hell out of the ball, too. The Giants ranked fifth in baseball in wOBA, just ahead of the Dodgers in sixth. In run rate, the Dodgers were fifth and the Giants eighth. In dinger rate (technical term), they ranked third and fourth. They're also two of the top three most patient teams in the league, finishing second and third in walk rate.While I have a lot of respect for tonight's starting pitchers, neither are untouchable. Walker Buehler gives up a lot of fly balls and a good amount of hard contact. Logan Webb has gone largely unnoticed this season, but he's not some unhittable phenom; he just does a fantastic job of keeping the ball on the ground. We don't need an offensive explosion; we just need two great offenses to have their average night. Key Trend: The over is 5-1 in San Francisco's last six games as a dog.SportsLine expert Larry Hartstein is 35 Antti Niemi Kids Jersey -18 on his last 53 picks involving the Dodgers, . The Picks MLB Playoffs The Pick: Red Sox (+130) --I know Chris Sale hasn't pitched a lot this season and that he was kind of meh (for Chris Sale) over his final few starts, but ... he's still Chris Sale, and his team is an underdog. We don't get these opportunities very often. Meanwhile, the Rays will start Shane Baz, who made his debut le s than three weeks ago. Baz has pitched 13.1 innings over three starts, and, while he's been phenomenal, this will be his fourth career start.In a playoff game. Against Chris Sale.My theory is that Baz won't be in the game for very long before Tampa turns the ball over to the bullpen, but there's a good enough chance that Baz will feel the nerves early, and the Red Sox will be able to pounce on him. And you know who I don't want to face when I'm trailing? Chris Sale. The Red Sox don't have the bullpen Tampa does, but this is still a dangerous offense capable of doing damage. The Red Sox are live dogs tonight. Key Trend:The Red Sox are 9-2 in their last 11 playoff games as an underdog. NFL The Pick: Texans +9 (-110) --It's important to eat your vegetables. Sure, they don't always taste as good as the other options, but they're part of a balanced diet. This week, the Texans are our vegetables. Just hold your nose and shove them down your throat as quickly as po sible because, as bad as the Texans are, I'm not here to trust a team with at QB as nearly a double-digit favorite on the road.I thought I was losing my mind on Sunday night with the praise Cris Collinsworth was heaping on Jones. Sure, Jones completed 77.5 percent of his pa ses in the rain against Tampa, but his average pa s covered 5.15 air yards. Of the 40 pa ses Jones threw last week, 24 were either thrown behind the line of scrimmage or fewer than 5 yards away from it. Patric Hornqvist Men Jersey Sure, Jones can dink and dunk the Patriots to a win here, but he won't dink and dunk them to a 10-point win.Key Trend: The Patriots are 2-7 ATS in their last nine games as a favorite. The Pick: Lions +10 (-110) --The Lions lost to the 24-14 in Chicago last week and are back on the road for another divisional matchup this week. While the final score doesn't show it, the Lions weren't Jared Mccann Jersey awful against the Bears. From a succe s-rate standpoint, it was one of their better performances of the season, and a lot like our last pick, I'm not ready to trust the Vikings as nearly double-digit favorites. The Vikings' offense has not been great. While Minnesota is scoring 23.5 points per game as a team, its offense has scored 21.75 points per game, which ranks 18th in the league. Its average of 1.98 points per po se sion ranks 21st and is the same as Detroit's. Then there's the Minnesota defense that ranks 16th in the league in succe s rate. Don't get me wrong, the Vikings are the better team in this matchup and should win, but they're more mediocre than good. I don't trust mediocre teams to cover spreads this large in the .Key Trend: The Vikings are 0-6 ATS in their last six as a favorite. College Football The Pick: Under 63.5 (-110) --I swear, the total for this game is posted too high every season, and this year is no different. Now, that doesn't mean this game isn't capable of going crazy. Last year's game finished 53-45, but it needed four overtimes to get there. The score was only 31-31 when regulation en