Stephen Nover

Baseball is still finding out about Freddy Peralta and Fernando Romero. These young pitchers have been dominant. Peralta made his big league debut a memorable one this past Sunday striking out 13 Rockies in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-3 victory. Peralta yieled just one hit and two walks while holding Colorado scoreless. That was at Coors Field, too, the premier hitter's park.  The Twins certainly aren't familiar with Peralta. They're down two key bats with Miguel Sano out and Joe Mauer not likely to play either after getting injured on Friday.  Romero has made three starts spanning 16 2/3 innings. He's surrendered one earned run and has 20 strikeouts.The Brewers are missing key bats, too, with Ryan Braun and Eric Thames out.   Both pitchers catch a weather break as the wind will be blowing in at 13-14 mph. 

Cleveland is in must-win mode down 0-2 in this Eastern Conference final. The problem for the Cavaliers is that aside from LeBron James, they aren't championship caliber. After James, the Celtics have the three best players in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford. The Celtics also have a monster coaching edge with Brad Stevens against Tyronn Lue. This edge is magnified by the teams having not played since Tuesday.  Boston has covered six of the past seven times when playing on three or more days rest.  James couldn't have played better than he did during Tuesday's Game 2 scoring 42 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing off 12 assists. Still, the Cavaliers lost by 13 points. James had an off-game in Game 1 and the Cavaliers lost by 25 points.  The oddsmaker isn't buying the Celtics' domination, though, making the Cavaliers a mid-sized favorte. Some of this thought process entails Cleveland playing harder, smarter and employing better defense. I do believe the Cavaliers will produce an "A" level effort. I think it's a leap of faith, though, to believe Lue can coach against Stevens and a knucklehead like J.R. Smith can come through.  The line also is skewed high in Cleveland's favor because the Cavaliers are home now. Boston is 1-4 on the road in the playoffs.  The Celtics are playing at a high level. They are not superstar-dependent like the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers are going against a well-coach opponent that is playing excellent team basketball. I don't see the Celtics being intimidated, or rolling over, just because of a venue shift. The Celtics have, after all, covered 67 percent of their last 55 road contests. They are 4-0-1 ATS during their past five visits to Cleveland.  Cleveland has proven bad at home and as a favorite. The Cavaliers have covered just 30 percent of their last 51 games at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland is 4-10 ATS in its 14 overall games and has failed to cover seven of the last nine times when laying points.