Andrew Wilsher

This is purely a numbers and profile play, and it starts with one simple question: why is Chicago laying this many points on the road? The Bulls have been unreliable away from home all season, posting a poor straight-up record of 11-27, while struggling to maintain consistency across four quarters. Their style doesn’t naturally support margin. Chicago relies heavily on scoring bursts, particularly from the perimeter, to create separation.

That’s a volatile way to cover a spread. If the three-point shooting isn’t there, Chicago’s offense can stagnate, and their defensive issues become more exposed. They are a team that can give points back just as quickly as they create them. Washington isn’t appealing, but that’s exactly why this number exists. In games like this, that can actually work in their favor. They don’t need to control the game, they just need to stay within range. When both teams come with their respective question marks, taking points becomes the sharper position. Chicago hasn’t shown it can consistently put teams away on the road, and there is enough potential scoring variance to allow Washington to stay competitive. Grabbing the points provides value as this is a tilt with upset potential.

Bulls vs Wizards prediction: Wizards +6.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to +6.

The Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans will both enter this matchup with sizable losing streaks. The Jazz have lost 9 straight games, while the Pelicans have lost 8 in succession. If either team wants to end their losing streak, they will have to do it without a handful of their leaders due to injury. The Jazz will be without Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr, while the Pelicans will be missing Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray. With both teams near the bottom of the standings, the question we may need to ask is ‘who wants to lose this game more?’ The Jazz would certainly benefit more if they lost their last 3 games. Utah is currently tied for the worst record in the Western Conference, and 3 more losses to end the season would only further increase their odds of gaining a top draft pick in this year’s upcoming draft. The Pelicans sit in the standings above Utah with 4 more wins, but tanking was never an intention for New Orleans this season.

The Pelicans may have left themselves without a pick in this year’s lucrative draft after trading away their rights to their unprotected pick in last year’s draft when they traded up to take Derik Queen. Queen has been solid in his rookie season with 11.2 points per game, but draft positioning for 2026 will not be a key focus for the Pelicans’ front office. The Pelicans will have more talent on the floor tonight than Utah with Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson. Everyone knows Williamson is great, while Bey has shown he can be a key piece toward New Orleans’ rebuild. Bey is 43rd in the NBA in scoring with 17.7 points per game, and he is averaging 33 points per game in the 2 games played against Utah this season. Tonight is the Pels’ last home game of the season, and I expect their players to come out with a good showing in hopes to end on a high note with their fans as they look forward to 2026-27.

Jazz vs Pelicans prediction: New Orleans -11.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

You can bet on our Jazz vs Pelicans pick with BetMGM, where right now new users can activate your new BetMGM account ⚡ and receive $150 in bonus bets INSTANTLY if your first $10+ wager is a winner!

Fresh off their 35-point win over the Utah Jazz, the OKC Thunder are headed to Los Angeles for a date with the all of a sudden injury-riddled Lakers. I will be the fourth meeting of the season between the 2 sides — OKC has won all 3 by a combined 81 points. So, in theory, they should be blowing the Lakers out again — right? There’s still no room for complacency since the #1 seed still hasn’t been secured, and a win here gets the defending champs an inch closer to achieving that goal. This team has won 9 in a row against Western Conference opponents and is 5-1 ATS/SU in the last 6 meetings with the Lakers.

In their first game since Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves’ injuries, the Lakers fell on the road to the lowly Dallas Mavericks. LeBron James did his best with 30 points, 15 assists and 9 rebounds, and while he did gets some help from his teammates offensively, there was not much the Lakers could do about Cooper Flagg in that loss. We learned a lot from that result on Sunday. Moving forward, LA will depend quite a lot on James to carry the offensive burden. The game in Dallas saw him record 117 touches total — his most since 2021. Is that strategy sustainable moving forward for the 41-year old? I have my reservations about that, especially before a game against the defending champs.

I expect the Lakers to come out with a ton of energy. The home crowd is their only hope of keeping this game reasonably close. But, in the end, the Thunder are just way better. Even with Jalen Williams out injured, they should run this team over. They have beaten them by more than 17 points twice already this season, and the Lakers were in much better shape in both those losses compare to what we’ll get from them on Tuesday. I’m backing the Thunder to cover the big spread.

Thunder vs Lakers prediction: Oklahoma City -16 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

If you’re looking for a new sportsbook, check out bet365, the world’s #1 sportsbook. They have an amazing sign-up offer where you can INSTANTLY receive $200 in bonus bets from a $10 wager, regardless of whether that bet wins or loses! There’s no catch, it’s really that simple. Join Bet365 right now ⏰ in time to fade or follow our experts’ Thunder vs Lakers predictions.

The San Diego Padres will look to keep things rolling as they get ready to take on Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Padres took care of business in the series opener, shutting out Pittsburgh 5-0, but today presents a much tougher challenge as they’re set to go up against one of the most talented arms in baseball. Skenes enters this matchup 1-1 with a 9.53 ERA, but don’t let that number fool you. Skenes struck out five and allowed one run in five innings pitched against the Reds, and his inflated ERA is largely due to defensive misplays by Oneil Cruz in the season opener. Taking the mound for the Padres will be Nick Pivetta who enters with a 1-1 record and a 6.75 ERA. Pivetta struggled in his season opener, but was terrific against the Giants in his last start, pitching five scoreless innings and striking out eight. 

Offensively, the Pirates rank 11th in batting average (.239) averaging 4.5 runs per game. San Diego ranks 21st batting .218 averaging 3.7 runs per game. In tonight’s matchup, I trust the Pirates more with Paul Skenes on the mound than I do the Padres With Pivetta. Sure, Pivetta had a strong outing in his last start, but that was against a San Francisco Giants team that’s struggled to put runs up on the board and get on base. Even though the Padres are the more talented team, the Pirates have been the more reliable offensive team to start the season – and they have the better arm on the mound.  Look for the Pirates to bounce back in this matchup and pick up a win on their home field, making Pittsburgh my best pick of the day. 

Padres vs Pirates prediction: Pirates ML (-150) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

The Dodgers offense continues to stay red-hot as Los Angeles put up 14 runs on 17 hits last night. Over their last four games, they’re averaging 11.3 runs per game while hitting .370 as a team. On the other side, Toronto’s offensive struggles continue. The Blue Jays managed just two runs on five hits and have now dropped five straight games. During that stretch, they’re averaging only two runs per game and batting .183 as a team. 

Taking the mound for the Dodgers will be Yoshinobu Yamamoto who enters at 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA. For the Blue Jays, Kevin Gausman will get the nod who enters at 0-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Gausman has been terrific to start the season, striking out 21 and allowing just three hits in 12 innings pitched. While both starters are capable of delivering strong outings, the biggest concern for Toronto remains its bullpen. The Blue Jays hold a 6.14 bullpen ERA compared to the Dodgers 2.92. While I expect Yamamoto to provide a strong outing for the Dodgers against this struggling Jays offense, Gausman should be able to limit the damage done by this Dodgers lineup early on. However, late in the game is where the Dodgers have the advantage and I think that’s where Los Angeles pulls away and steals a win on the road. 

Dodgers vs Blue Jays prediction: Dodgers ML (-160) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

With Monday’s loss to the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners have now lost 3 straight in the division and 5 of the last 6 overall. The M’s managed just 1 run and 2 hits in the loss, with Jacob deGrom taking care of business by striking out 6 and allowing just 2 base runners in 5 innings. Seattle’s Logan Gilbert threw 6 innings and struck out 5 while allowing 6 baserunners. It was a solid outing in that he held the Rangers to just 2 runs, but it wasn’t enough due to Seattle’s lack of run support. 

Game 2 of this divisional series pits George Kirby against Nathan Eovaldi. Kirby struggled in his last start, yielding 4 earned runs, 5 hits and 3 walks to the Yankees last week. That came on the heels of a sterling 6-inning performance against the Guardians in which he allowed just 1 run, struck out 6, walked 2 and gave up 2 hits. Meanwhile, Eovaldi has been really bad, giving up 11 combined earned runs in his 2 starts, as well as 16 hits. He failed to last 5 full innings in either start, while his barrel rate and hard-hit rate are through the roof right now. 

In his career, the current Seattle lineup is only hitting .195 against Eovaldi, but his current form is too difficult for me to trust despite the solid matchup splits. Kirby has been much better at inducing ground balls and weak contact so far this season, so let’s ride with the Mariners to snap the losing streak in this one.

Mariners vs Rangers prediction: Seattle ML (-116) available at time of publishing. Playable to -125.

If you’re looking for a new sportsbook, check out bet365, the world’s #1 sportsbook. They have an amazing sign-up offer where you can INSTANTLY receive $200 in bonus bets from a $10 wager, regardless of whether that bet wins or loses! There’s no catch, it’s really that simple. Join Bet365 right now ⏰ in time to fade or follow our experts’ Mariners vs Rangers predictions.

Tuesday night’s matchup between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings truly feels like a loser-goes-home affair, as both teams have fallen out of the Eastern Conference playoff race due to poor stretches of play. The Blue Jackets were playing with house money after they sat near the bottom of the league before the hiring of Rick Bowness, so missing the playoffs will be disappointing but franchise-altering. However, the Red Wings were once the top team in the Atlantic Division, but yet another March meltdown has raised all kinds of questions about the roster and management. The Blue Jackets were becoming fan favorites because of their strength in an improbable run back to the playoff picture. Bowness was even getting Jack Adams Trophy recognition at one point, until a recent 3-6-1 stretch has the team in a free-fall and the interim head coach questioning their compete in post-game pressers. Columbus feels like a team falling apart, but the Red Wings have a similar outlook.

Detroit has a similar 4-6-0 stretch, but their most demoralizing loss came on Sunday when they were down 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild, mounted a furious three-goal comeback in the third period, but choked it away after a brutal penalty from Patrick Kane in the dying minutes set up Kirill Kaprizov to score his hat-trick goal on the powerplay. It wasn’t a great way for the Red Wings’ playoff chances to potentially end, but it could become a rallying point if they can dust themselves off and grab a win against the Blue Jackets at home. It’s hard to feel overly confident in either of these teams, but the Blue Jackets getting called out by Bowness recently and the Red Wings having home-ice advantage here makes me lean toward Detroit.

Blue Jackets vs Red Wings prediction: Detroit ML (-120) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number. 

You can bet on our Blue Jackets vs Red Wings pick with BetMGM, where right now new users can activate your new BetMGM account ⚡ and receive $150 in bonus bets INSTANTLY if your first $10+ wager is a winner!

For the second time in three days, the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues hit the ice in the NHL. These Central Division opponents played on Sunday in a 3-2 Blues win, which went a long way for their slim but alive playoff hopes. How will this one shake out? Here is our Avalanche vs. Blues prediction to help find out.

It is well-known that Colorado is a front runner for this year’s Stanley Cup, but they need to regain some momentum as the season closes. They are now 2-3-0 in their last five games, which includes three regulation losses on home ice to teams not currently clinched in the playoffs. I expect a better effort from this team who can typically score 3+ goals, and return the favour of a loss as a road team. They have also been elite on the road at 26-7-5. St. Louis is now 6-1-2 in their last nine games, but not many teams could beat Colorado in two-straight games. We are siding with Colorado for our Avalanche vs. Blues prediction.

Avalanche vs Blues prediction: Avalanche ML (-155) available at time of publishing. Playable to -170.

The Edmonton Oilers and Utah Mammoth are set to meet for the 3rd and final time this season on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. Edmonton has won the first 2 meetings by scores of 6-3 and 5-2, but this matchup could produce a different results. The Oilers reeled off 5 straight wins last week, but enter this contest coming off a 5-1 loss to the Golden Knights on Saturday. The Oilers have made a habit of being a bit boom-or-bust this season, and this road matchup presents a tough challenge for Connor McDavid and company to get back on track.

The Mammoth have been great on home ice all season long, but they have lost their last 2 games at Delta Center. The good news is that they are coming off a 3-game road trip that resulted in 3 straight wins. The Utah offense is firing on all cylinders, having scored 19 total goals over those 3 games. Goaltending continues to be an issue for Edmonton, so the Utah offense appears to have a solid advantage in this one. This will also be Edmonton’s first road game since March 26, so they could be a bit out of sorts early on. Playing on home ice, look for the Mammoth to find the win column.

Oilers vs Mammoth prediction: Mammoth ML (-130) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.