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Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2017

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta

Two best-of-five division series remain in play in the opening round of this year's MLB postseason, and in our weekly discussion with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza , we will get his take on how he sees each one panning out over the next few days.

Raphael rose through the ranks to become one of the best sports handicappers in the nation while also putting together a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry. That run came to a conclusion in 2013 with him holding the prestigious position as the Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria. After leaving the sportsbook industry, the former Vegas Sports Informer decided to devote all of his time to running a successful and diverse sports investment service from his home base in Las Vegas as well as from the Big Easy in New Orleans. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: Week 5 in the NFL was a mixed bag for sports bettors with an even 7-7 split between favorites and underdogs against the spread. In light of these results, who got the best of things in the NFL last week; the Las Vegas sportsbooks or the Las Vegas sports bettors?

RE: Most of the bigger books in town extended their NFL winning streak against the betting public to five weeks with a rather solid weekend of gains in Week 5. Pittsburgh losing straight up was huge, and there was quite a bit of money on the New York Giants on Sunday. Sunday night's Chiefs at Texans' game going 'over' the total provided another big shot in the arm for the books.

Doc's Sports: In last week's discussion, we talked about the MLB division series in the National League between the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals, and at that time you were leaning towards the Nationals over your home-town Cubs. With Chicago holding the 2-1 edge heading into Tuesday's Game 4 at home, how do you see things turning out in this best-of-five affair?

RE: The Cubs' chances to end this series on Tuesday at Wrigley hinge on Jake Arrieta turning in a quality start. He got rocked around in his last two starts of the regular season, and he continues to be bothered with a sore hamstring. If the series goes to a Game 5 on Thursday, I would think the advantage swings back to Washington at home in what would probably be a rematch between the Cubs' Kyle Hendricks and the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg after facing one another in Game 1.

Doc's Sports: Over in the American League, the New York Yankees have pushed their series against Cleveland to a deciding Game 5 on Wednesday. The Indians were the best team in baseball during the regular season, so can they find a way to get past the pesky Yankees in this winner-take-all showdown?

RE: Cleveland should be able to win a deciding Game 5 with its ace Corey Kluber on the mound, but all the pressure in the world is on the Indians right now given just how dominant they were down the stretch of the regular season. As a bettor, you always have to keep in mind that anything can happen in a single-elimination game.

Doc's Sports : We also talked about the Big Ten in college football last week, and Penn State was your clear choice as the top team in this conference nearing the halfway point of the season. This week, we will turn to the Pac-12, which is another conference that is near and dear to your heart as a transplanted West Coast guy. There are four teams listed in the AP's current Top 25, but which one is at the top of your list?

RE: USC has become far too unpredictable, and I do not see Washington State staying perfect through the rest of its Pac-12 schedule with Stanford, Utah and Washington waiting in the wings. That would leave the No. 5 Huskies as my top team in this conference. Washington is clearly the most balanced team in the Pac-12 on offense, and it easily has the best defense among the teams that are still in the national rankings.

Doc's Sports: Given the overall diversity of the sports betting selections you release as part of your handicapping services, what else is on your betting radar for this week that we might have missed?

RE : I am actually dialed into the MLB Playoffs and this weekend's football action with no big fights in either boxing or UFC on the board. I will probably take an early look at some of the Breeders' Cup races set for Del Mar the first weekend in November, and I am also working on another pop culture piece for Doc's concerning the opening weekend numbers for the new Justice League movie premier coming up on Nov. 17.

Click here to visit Raphael Esparza's Insider's Page at Doc's Sports for more information on his amazingly-profitable sports handicapping picks. Also, get $60 worth of Esparza's member's picks absolutely free - no obligation, no sales people - you don't even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit for any sport Esparza handicaps. Click here for $60 worth of free picks from Raphael Esparza .

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