Rice on the Mics

The House Has a Microphone

• Ian • Season 1 • Episode 36

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We chart a wild NFL week where the Giants found a real window with a rookie QB, the Jets hit a new low, and three overlooked games revealed who can actually travel in January. Then we go Knicks depth, rookie sparks, an NBA gambling storm, a Dodgers–Jays preview, and the case for protecting sports integrity before it frays.

• Giants’ fourth-quarter collapse balanced by Dart’s identity and rookie-deal window
• Eagles rematch keys: stay ahead of sticks, tight ends vs nickel, no free explosives
• Jets spiral: ownership noise, QB limbo, and a bleak path to first win
• Trade deadline reality and why Breece Hall is an airbag for a new QB
• Three games worth a rewatch: Colts-Chargers, 49ers-Falcons, Lions-Bucks
• Week eight watch list: Bears-Ravens tempo, Cowboys-Broncos fireworks, Steelers-Packers stakes
• Knicks’ grown-up opener, rotation depth, and managing Big Cat’s quad
• Rookie watch: Cooper Flagg’s poise, VJ Edgecombe’s eruption, Wemby’s monster line
• NBA gambling indictments, fragile prop markets, and the house with a microphone
• Concrete fixes: restrict micro-props, audit injury reports, lock access, real-time anomaly flags
• World Series preview: Dodgers’ frontline vs Blue Jays’ contact and gloves
• Aaron Judge and the no-ring pantheon warning
• Fantasy levers: buy lows, sell highs, and matchup-driven starts
• Five-pack card with rationale and bankroll discipline

If you want in on the Wednesday mic check, hit me on Instagram, drop your votes, talk your talk. Mailbags open all week, so fire questions, rants, or some grief counseling for your team into my DMs. If you’re listening on Apple or Spotify, toss a five-star and a quick review. YouTube crew, smash the likes, sub to the channel, clip anything you want to argue with, tag me so I can see it. Schedule-wise, new episodes every Friday, mic checks every Wednesday, and I post some reels throughout the week, so make sure you check those out too.


SPEAKER_00:

Eli siis mun week of my sites. Right on the mice. Hold up a chair, crack whatever it's called in the fridge. Giants minus both rip your hard up and hand it back in a zip bucket. We'll talk about what that fourth quarter told us from Jackson Dark. And why seeing Phil again in this quickly is either the perfect get right spot or a reality check on where New York Giant football actually is. Then we're diving into the Jet Circus. Woody Johnson did the thing again. Front office, off-key, karaoke. And now Aaron Glenn is playing guest the quarterback under the banner of competitive advantage. We'll also map out the path to their first win because I checked the schedule and it isn't exactly handing out freebies anytime soon. Around the NFL, three games from last week that deserve another look. The Colts walked into LA and made the Chargers answer some uncomfortable questions. Sunday night, Christian McCaffrey turned Atlanta's vaunted run defense into a suggestion. And on Monday, Jameer Gibbs put on a track beat against Tampa. Then the week A watch list. Bears-Ravens does Lamar go, and what does that look like? Cowboys Broncos, number one offense versus number three defense. And Steelers-Packers on Sunday night. Rogers reunion with good old Green Bay. NBA time after that. Knicks are 1-0 in the Mike Brown era and the undefeated parades scheduled for June. I'm just kidding. But a clean, grown-up win with OG and Brunson setting the tone. I do have some real concern about Cat's quads lingering if they're not careful. Quick rookie watch, Cooper Flag debut came with a Wemby-sized welcome, and VJ Edgecombe walked into Boston and lit it up. Then the big one, the gambling mess. Phillips, Rogier, Damon Jones, arrests, indictments, crime bosses. We'll talk about what it means for the league, and I got a good rant about the house having a microphone. That'll roll us right into baseball. The Dodgers and Blue Jays are set for the World Series, and we'll set the stakes without turning it into an Outonic documentary. Though, given his recent nothing to see here moment, the optics of this week's news is not great to say the least. We'll preview the series a bit, then I want to revisit the Aaron Judge conversation. Is he tracking towards the best without a ring table if the Yankees keep coming up short? Lastly, we'll close with the fantasy and wallet. Buy lows, sell highs, week eight starts and streams, and then rolling the dice with Rex. We went three and two again last week. The slow climb is on. Overall record is ugly, but we're trending. I got this week's five pack, three games, and both levels. Alright, deep breath, lots to cover this week. So buckle your chin trap, NFL first. Let's do it to it.

SPEAKER_01:

Tranquility base here. The angle has landed.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, NFL time. Let's eat. And we're gonna kick it off with the Giants. Denver was a gut punch and a weird flex at the same time. You're up 19 0 in the altitude. Your rookie QB is dealing. The defense is swarming. And then fourth quarter turns into a fever dream. Prevent defense prevents you from winning the game. Denver scores 33 and 15 minutes. You still answered behind Jackson Dark. You sneak it over the goal line with 37 seconds left on a play where his knee maybe went down, maybe didn't. And then the extra point, you just knew that the kid was going to miss it. And what happens? Broncos go right down the field in two plays, and Lutz drills the walk-off. That's the NFL in a blender. And that's why last week I said that the league has a kicking problem. Here's the real takeaway. The Giants look different with Dart. The ball comes out hot. He's aggressive on money downs, whether it's with his leg or his arm. And the offense actually has an identity now. Play action, middle of the field throws, Scatabow and Tracy Juice on the ground. The mic check poll I ran this week had split vibes. And a lot of you said that a loss is a loss, while others were proud of how it looked. And I get both sides, I do. You should have had that game in the bag. But zoom out. Rookie quarterback on the road, hostile environment, and you still put up 32. That travels. I know you want wins, but it looks like you actually have something in Dart. And this isn't the Daniel Jones, good one year, shit the rest, roller coaster. The kid looks like he can actually ball. And the best part that no one is talking about, you don't have to pay him for the next five years. Guess what, Giant fans? That's a real window. You can now pour money into wide receiver opposite Malik neighbors or stack the offensive line or build up the secondary on top of this great defensive front you've built. Remember Russell Wilson with the Legion of Boom? They could stack a monster roster because they weren't paying Russ yet. And then once they did, they had to ship out two offensive linemen for Jimmy Graham to make the money work. And that ended terribly. So be happy, Giant fans. You found a young stud at the most important position in sports. The wins will come. Let the kid learn from the mistakes. Let the rookie be a rookie. But enjoy this part of him being a rookie before you have to move the goalposts and start asking more out of him. I can't believe I'm going to say this. For the first time in a long time, things look like they're going to be alright for the Giants. Now, Philly again. Right away. Seeing the Eagles twice in three weeks is a pop quiz after a midterm. You learn fast what's real. Philly's passing game woke up last week, and their tackles are still bullies. And they're going to want some blood after last meeting. So the keys for success for the Giants, keep Dart ahead of the sticks and make Philly tackle in space. The Eagles can rush the passer, no doubt, but they don't love living in nickel against tight ends who can run. And surprise, Theo Johnson has made a name for himself. So that with a little bit of play action, some crossers, you'll be alright. And defensively, no free explosive plays. Make Hertz drive the ball, make them work, Saquon. You can't give up two 75 yard plays and expect to win. So it's a grown-up test. Are the Giants fun or are the Giants for real? So now, from a team that looks like it has some hope to a team that looks like it has no hope, that's right. Your favorite time of the week, it's Jets time. Deep breath, Jets fans, but not too deep, because the oxygen tank has been empty since London. Woody Johnson, our thankless and savior owner, I say that in full sarcasm, decided to do his best Jerry Jones impression and hopped on a mic and said the quiet part out loud, quote, if we can just complete a pass, end quote. My brother in Christ, it is your franchise. You can't light the quarterback on fire in public in this media market and then follow it up with, I have full confidence in Aaron Glenn. You either empower your coach or you don't. And then Glenn's up there doing the dance. And to be fair, he he spun it well at the podium. I give him credit. But now he's forced into the quote competitive advantage routine on the QB decision. And he's feisty with the media because he has to be. He knows what this is. It's a five-year rebuild, which is the length of his contract, by the way. So Aaron Glenn isn't going anywhere. And an 0-7 start that exposes every single crack in the building. And the QB room, I mean, Fields has been brutal. You thought you could bring him in, maybe see if you can revitalize him, maybe he just needs a receiver from his college days. No, he's terrible. And Tyrod as your backup is a great call, is a great signing, but his knees are variable and he's always hurt and he's a statue back there. I mean, the offense can't keep a drive alive long enough to charge a phone. And here is the reality check, too. So you're 0-7. Where does the first win come from? I looked ahead at the schedule. This week it's at Bangles. And since he just found a pulse with Joe Flacco, and those receivers can catch everything, and they couldn't be happier that they finally have someone to throw them a ball. Then you're on a buy. Okay. You can't lose. That's not bad. So you hope it's either a mindset, reset, or it's going to be a fire sale because that's when the trade deadline comes up. After the bye, Brown's at home. And say what you want about Cleveland, but that defense is the truth, and it has traveled the last couple years. Miles Garrett versus offensive line is going to be a horror film. Next up, at Patriots. New coach, same hostility, and you're 13-7 in the last 20 against them. Mike Vrabel was a menace when you played against him, and he hasn't softened with a headset either. Follow that game up with at Ravens. Lamar is going to be back. He's going to be angry that they started 1-5. The offense should be clicking by then. And they're probably going to be fighting for games that they lost while Lamar was gone and trying to challenge Pittsburgh for the division. Then November 30th, Falcons at home. Okay, maybe. Circle it as a coin flip. If you can stop the run and you don't trip over your own shoelaces. But if things go bad, Bichon could put up another 200-yard day. So real talk, there is a world where you're 0-12 by the time Miami rolls in in early December. Come trade deadline. You're not even buying guys that could help sustain you in the future. You're answering every call. If someone wants to overpay for an edge rusher that you're on the fence about trading, trade them. If you have an expiring vet, trade him. As far as Brees Hall, you only move him if you're going to get a haul for him. And all the reports are that, you know, because he's on the trade market and teams know you're not going to pay him, there's not going to be a big market for him or a big return for him. Look, if you're going to be drafting a quarterback next year, a legit running back is that young guy's airbag. So hold him. Feature him. Simplify the pass game and build around that. But just know that that means you're committing to him. You're committing to paying him at some point. Because franchising him is going to get ugly. And look, I was wrong in August. I was. I saw a path to competence for this team. And it's not that. This is a full-blown burn it down, send in the nukes, rebuild. And opposite of the timeline, I still think that Aaron Glenn can coach. He was handed a 20-pound bag of shit in a five-pound bag, and now he's trying to get that on an airplane. The bottom line with the Jets is Woody needs to zip it, which he never will. The GM needs to deep dive every college quarterback and find the right one, which doesn't seem to happen for the Jets. And Glenn needs to set the culture, which is also a monumental task. But one band, one sound, right? Oh God, the Jets are in so much trouble. Well, just enjoy tailgating season, I guess, right? Okay, quick spin from last week's games. Games you might have missed while you were apple picking with the wife. First one on the list that I want to go over is the Colts and Chargers. Everyone, everyone tried to bury Daniel Jones. And he walked right into LA and handed out apologies seat by seat. He was calm in the pocket, hit his outside structure, Jonathan Taylor played good, and Indy's defense hit Justin Herbert just enough to rush a few layups. That was a, you sure were a fluke win for DJ, and good for the kid. Danny Dimes is no longer Danny Pennies. He's back to Daniel Dimes. Next game, 49ers at Falcons, Sunday night football. All week it was Atlanta's run D is elite. And Christian McCaffrey took that personally. 201 yards from scrimmage, two touchdowns, and San Francisco won the trench game without Bosa and with Mac Jones managing the offense. When they go heavy and play keep away, you're toast. Last game on the list, Bucks, Lions, Monday night football. Jameer Gibbs, period, stop. Threw on the track spikes, 136 rushing yards and 80 receiving, two scores, turned down oxygen on the bench at one point, said, I'm good. They were sloppy early, but if Gibbs gets 20 plus touches, plus mix in some Amon Ross St. Brown, mix in some Sam Laporta, mix in some Jamison Williams, that offense is terrifying. Now, want to touch on a couple week eight watch list games. Some stuff to flip to if your team's getting cooked. Like my Jets probably will be this week. First game I want to watch is Bears at Ravens. Looks like Lamar is going to play. I want to see the tempo and see if he has any easy money throws after the layoff. Can Baltimore still play Bulleyball? Chicago's offense under Ben Johnson is finding its form, so this is going to be a litmus test for both. These are big games for both teams trying to compete. Next game, Cowboys at Broncos. Number one offense with the Cowboys versus defense that just survived a hundred-snap comeback war. If CD's cooking and Cowboys can protect against that D-line, fireworks. If not, Dallas's D has to finally try and do something that it hasn't all year, and that's get consistent stops, actually play some defense. And the last game on the list, your Sunday night football marquee matchup, Steelers at Packers in Pittsburgh. Aaron Rodgers says it's not a revenge game. He doesn't care about going against his old team. Sure. But that old, fiery, competitive pain in the ass would love to twist a knife against Green Bay. Pittsburgh's defense has fed off primetime games, but Jordan Love is no slouch when it comes to big games on the road either. Either way, this is Monday morning gloating material for whichever team wins. So that's the NFL chunk. After the break, Knicks are 1-0 with a very professional win. Rookie Watch, Cooper Flag meets Wemby, BJ Edgecomb explodes in Boston. And then the big one, the gambling mess. And why the house has a microphone should make every fan a little bit uneasy. Stay tuned, NBA next. And we'll get into the gambling mess in a second. But first, the New York Knicks have started their season. The home opener felt adult. OG Ananobi set the tone. Jalen Brunson lived at the line and controlled the last six minutes. Meanwhile, Mikhail Bridges did all the connective stuff, and Big Cat gave you 19 and 11 while clearly gutting through a bad quad. No Mitchell Robinson, so Aerial Huck Porty, starting at the five, and giving you glasswork and size, that's a different look we hadn't seen yet. Functional, simple, effective, and that's the big difference in the Mike Brown era. He's actually using the depth. Miles McBride came in like a microwave, drilled threes, swung the momentum. Landry Shamit spaced it and had some timely shots. Tyler Kolick looked steady and unbothered running with the second units. Even Jordan Clarkson hunted a couple buckets while it stalled. And you even had Trey Jameson III and Gershon Yasubali say that. Sogan minutes without the wheels falling off. Last year it was always bring in the second unit, and they would completely melt down, and then you had to bring in the first unit. That's 11 real contributors going on right now. Not a museum of DNPs. Now, the cloud, Kat's grade 2 quad isn't uh isn't really tape it and forget it. Quads linger. The blessing is this roster can buy him time. You can keep his minutes sane and ride OG or bridges on the wings, let Brunson steer when he has to, and then lean on the bench to soak up the back-to-backs. Side note, by the way, Thibbs showing up at Celtics practice. I don't know if you guys saw this. Jalen Brown talked about Thibs showing up and how they could get better from how Thibbs beat them last year. Look, I get the politics of how it went after you got fired unceremoniously, but it's that's a weird optic, man. But either way, this version of the Knicks looked organized, physical, and deep. Bank the win, 82 and oh still on the board, managed a quad for Big Cat and keep the rotation wide. So before I get into the gambling scandal that is currently running through the NBA, I just want to touch on a little rookie watch, which was gonna be the focus for this NBA segment of the podcast until everything broke this morning. But Cooper Flag, who I talked about all offseason, all March Madness, uh Dallas pretty much got the lottery rigged for them to get him. Well, his debut came with a Wemby size welcome to the league sign. He missed some bunnies. He looked a little sped up, still walked out with a double-double and a handful of good reads, and that'll be fine. He'll get better and grow bigger into his role. I mean, he's only 18 years old and 10 months. Do you do you know what you were doing at 18 years old? I know it wasn't being uh starting shooting guard for the Dallas Mavericks. But the other rookie we got to talk about is VJ Edgecombe, taking number three in the draft. Different story. 34 in Boston in his first game, highest debut for a sixer since Wilt. And he looked like the moment didn't even raise his heart rate. He got after it. I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk about Weminyama, who's now in his second, third year, but he was in that uh battle for Texas against Cooper Flag, Dallas versus San Antonio. Yeah. 40, 15, three blocks, 70% from the floor, and zero turnovers. That's not a box score. That is a screensaver. The Spurs have an absolute monster. And the game looks small for him already. God bless us if he stays healthy and fills out like Giannis did. Now, with all of that out of the way, it's time to get to the thing. The elephant in the room, the gambling story that broke early this morning that is going to send wavelengths through the MBA. Now, if you've only been half listening or haven't had the time to check ESPN or any of your favorite news sites, that's what I'm here for. That's what you listen for. For Uncle Rice to break it down for you so you could be the smartest man at the water cooler tomorrow at work. And I'll give it to you in a clean English version, not lawyer speak. So first things first. Federal agents ran two connected investigations. One track was illegal sports betting using inside info about MBA injuries slash availability. The other track was a mafia-based rigged underground poker scheme that used tech, meaning marked cards, camera chip trays, even a loaded shuffler to fleece people out of their money. Now, these aren't, you know, me and you, where we're playing two, three hundred dollar poker games. These are guys that have a lot of money. We're talking six, seven hundred thousand dollar anties. That led to 30 plus arrests across multiple states. So some of the names you might know that popped up, well, first on the list, Terry Rogier. Well, he was arrested in Florida. The indictment alleges people used non-public info about his status to hammer unders and that he exited a game early after the information moved money. Former Cavs player slash assistant Damon Jones was also arrested. The feds allege he texted better before a Lakers game in 2023 that a quote unquote prominent player, which is probably either LeBron or A.D., wouldn't play, and bets were placed off that non-public info. Now on the poker side, Chauncey Bills, a name that any Knicks fan should know, was arrested in a related case. Prosecutors allege that he was a quote unquote face card, no pun intended, in rigged games tied to organized crime. There's also a reference to someone whose resume looks a lot like Chauncey Bills, sharing that multiple Blazers wouldn't play in a 2023 tanking game, which influenced some betting also. When the FBI puts together a case from 2023, they're not fucking around. It wasn't they just had some info and knocked on your door and wanted to ask you some questions. This is two years later that they've been putting this case together. The government's words here are quote wire fraud conspiracy and quote money laundering conspiracy. These are indictments, not convictions, but that's the level that we're dealing with right now. So why should you care if you're just here for the highlights? Well, because this isn't a gray area bad beat. This isn't the quarterback through a deep touchdown or somebody missed a free throw. This is a core compact between fan and sport. You watch because you think that the thing you're watching is a fair contest. That I have the same information that you do. Prop markets, points, rebounds, assists, first foul, early exits. They're all uniquely fragile. If even one guy with a gate code and a group chat can move five figures based on uh he's not playing or he'll be on a minutes limit text, that's it. Integrity isn't a vibe, it's a system and it needs to be upheld in sporting leagues. Now, layer two the megaphone. This is something I've been wanting to touch on for a while, but I haven't been sure how to approach it. And with the gambling scandal happening now, I think it's a perfect time to talk about it. I'm gonna call this the the house has a microphone. And what I mean by that is when the broadcast partner also owns a sports book, everything you see and hear has a shadow behind it. Which graphic gets pushed, which stat is highlighted, which injury gets floated in a tease versus buried in a lower third. And it's not that anyone is instructing a host to tank your parlay or go this way or that way. Most folks on air are pros, but micro influencing is a real thing. Tone, repetition, what's framed as certainty, all those things nudge bets in a certain way. Meanwhile, the app link is literally on the ticker below the talking heads. Now look, I I'm about to give you my picks later in this episode. But here's the difference. I don't own a book, I don't clip your losses, I'm not choosing the camera shots or the injury language on the crawl, how bad a guy is hurt, what the defense looks like. The dual role asks fans to trust that the entity selling you action is also a neutral narrator of the action. And that's a big ask. If you are tied directly to a sports book that your company owns. The network has changed over the past years. Some people are good on it, some people are terrible on it. It's one thing to get in bed with gambling companies. It's another thing to have a network and also own a gambling company. Something to think about. And this isn't a uh fake news or don't trust the media kind of thing. But it is a don't get lost looking at the forest. See the forest through the trees, kind of thing. See the macro, not the micro getting shoved in front of your face every day. So anyway. So what do you do if you're the league? What do you do if you're Adam Silver? What do you do if you're the MBA? Well, if I'm Adam Silver, right away, I kill or severely limit low minute player props and late breaking availability props, which he said he's already hinted at. Good. So, but you gotta go further. I uh I immediately harden the injury reporting rules with independent audits and real penalties for gamesmanship. No, he might play, he might not play. I understand, but if you Fudge the injury report, you pay. And most of the time, these guys are load management anyway, but if he's going to be load management, load management, and then all of a sudden he plays, or no info on anything, and then all of a sudden he doesn't play, and he was never listed for any reason, you're gonna have to pay a fine. The other thing I would do is I would lock access. No more quote unofficial staffers just drifting around treatment rooms and walkthroughs and this, that, and the other. Credentials. Credentials, credentials, credentials. And I know that might limit some young beat reporters trying to get a scoop or something, but credentials matter, man. Proximity matters. You need to be able to be vetted and trusted to be around this information. You know, a person is smart, people are dumb. Again, one idiot and a group chat because he heard something, not great. The other thing, too, is books need to throttle and flag outlier prop action instantly and feed that to the league in real time. There should be, if you're gonna be in bed with the gambling companies, you need to be in bed with the gambling companies. You need to be, your books need to be on top of each other. They need to know what everybody's betting, and you need to tell them if there's suspicious betting activity. If 30 max limit under bets hit on a niche player prop under in 20 minutes, the bells should ring before tip, not after the second quarter. It's a little bit of an uh little bit of an ugly time for the NBA here, only two days in. Not exactly the publicity you want at the start of your season. You know, you dealt with refs fixing games, and refs are a little bit easier to handle. You can fire them, you can track them throughout their games to see their tendencies, but as soon as players start getting involved, that's when that's when your league loses credibility. And the last thing you want is people talking about it being rigged, and then actually it is rigged. So where do you land? Uh if you're a fan, bet if you want. But it's important to understand what's soft and what's sharp. Markets on stars are harder to game. Micro props on rotation guys are uh a jungle. Be a little skeptical of certainty, and remember that quote, inside info is just a fancy way to say someone else didn't get a fair shake. We'll keep tracking this story as it unfolds, and I'm sure there's going to be so much more that breaks out. But sports are supposed to be the thing we trust when everything else is noisy or complicated or cumbersome. Sports are supposed to be the thing that we can unwind and this team versus that team. Root for some laundry, root for your favorite player. And all of a sudden now if it turns into WWE, and nothing against wrestling or WWE, but I'm not trying to watch a scripted Jets game or a scripted Knicks game. I'm trying to watch a real sporting event. Something that you can't D VR because you need to watch it live. And that should weigh heavy on every commissioner, not just Adam Silver. Alright, let's uh let's take a beat. We will pivot to baseball. Dodgers, Blue Jays, World Series. And before we even touch the first pitch, going from one gambler to another, we'll address the other big elephant. Shohei Otani being the face of this World Series, and probably the face of baseball, while also going through his own little gambling predicament. Then we'll actually talk ball and make a pick for the World Series. And I also got a judge topic that I want to talk about. Stay tuned, MLB next. On to the baseball, and we just got done talking about the NBA gambling mess, so this is the right moment to remind folks. Baseball's been living in that shadow too. Quietly, but also there. Shohei Otani. Look, legally, he was cleared. The feds called him a victim. MLB closed its investigation. His interpreter, Ipe Muzuhara, pled guilty to bank and tax fraud after admitting that he siphoned millions from Otani's account to fund an illegal gambling habit. And that's the official record. But my opinion, as a gambler, who's seen a lot of bad action and ugly parlays, the whole thing still smells. The story changed, the numbers were wild, and culturally, yeah, sometimes the right hand man eats the blame so that the boss never has to touch it. Look, I can't prove a thing, and it's all hearsay. And I'm not exactly saying that he plays bets, but I am saying that the optics are brutal, to say the least. And the timing couldn't be worse. The face of the sport is chasing back-to-back World Series rings while fans are more and more suspicious of everything in sports than they've ever been. And that's just the reality that we're living in. This story breaking in the NBA couldn't have hit for a worse time for the World Series. Okay, speaking of the World Series, Dodgers Blue Jays. The October classic is set. LA is a machine. They're rolling out Blake Snell in game one. Yoshinobu Yamamoto in game two. I just love saying that name. Lefty Chaos followed by hundreds pitches of precision. Dave Roberts hinted that Glassdown and maybe Otani as the series shifts, which is a nasty runway if you're Toronto trying to steal one on the road. But the Jays are in a knife fight. They just won two elimination games on defense and timely bombs. Springer's heating up. Vlad looks free and easy and seeing the ball the size of a beach ball. And the kids don't seem to know that they're supposed to be nervous. They turn the ball on the infield, they don't beat themselves, and they're perfectly content to win 3-2 if you let them. So game one script, you have to make Snell work. Traffic early, deny him that chase count. If Toronto can keep doing what they've been doing and foul off pitches and work his pitch count up, you'll see LA's bullpen early, and that's their lane. Now, game two, Yamamoto lives in the strike zone. And this Toronto team swings at everything. So be ready to ambush first pitch strikes, or you're gonna spend the night down 01, 02, and eventually end up walking back to the dugout after a dirty slider. Defensively, the Jays can't give LA any extra outs. If they do, Mookie, Freeman, Otani, Teoscar, they'll all tax you for it. My pick, well, my head says Dodgers in six, maybe seven. Frontline pitching usually wins games, but my heart wants chaos. And a game seven in Toronto with Springer writing another chapter. Oh, man, that would be nice. Two coin flip games. I'm taking Toronto just because I hate the Dodgers, but we'll see. Two quick dugout notes. The Angels gave Kurt Suzuki a one-year deal to manage. That's either a prove it or trapdoor. Catchers, especially backup catchers, always make good managers, but you can't manage your way around soft pitching. I think they had a deal with Pujos in line, and he said, I want to go look around, and they said, Screw you, we're going Suzuki. And the Giants, Buster Posey, just keeps doing things that aren't in the normal and probably working. They just plucked Toly Vitello straight from Tennessee. First big league manager hired directly from college. That's program builder thinking over bullpen chess. Bold. And I'm kind of fascinated to see if it translates. Now, the Yankee bit. Aaron Judge. Is he creeping towards the best to do it without a ring list? Yeah. That's where this goes if they don't fix the build. Rings are organizational. Depth, reliable pitching, actual lineup balance, not one superhero dragging eight question marks into October. Judge is everything you want. Elite production, silent leader, big moments. But if the front office keeps patching holes with duct tape and vibes, you risk burning prime year after prime year and putting him in that unfair conversation along with Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Tony Gwynn, Don Mattingley, Ken Griffey Jr. I mean, a great list to be on if you want to be a hitter, but not the list that you want to be on if you never had a ring. Like if you believe 99 gets a ring in pinstripes, your winner has to look like it. You need real rotation help. You need bat-to-ball balance and fewer. Maybe he bounces back, flyer guys. Alright. That's it for baseball. Fantasy and the wild are up next. Buy lows, sell highs, week eight streamers. Little roll in the dice with rice. We went three for two again. Climb continues. Five pack ready. Stay tuned. Well, it's that time of the show, boys and girls. The fantasy and gambling corner. Let's talk like grown-ups trying to save a Sunday. And I got a couple buy lows, sell highs. If you're looking to make a move before the waivers lock, the window is cracked on a couple guys here. Dalton Kincaid off a bye is exactly the kind of amnesia you profit from. Buffalo is going to scheme him free against a Carolina defense that has been soft in the seams. And coming off back-to-back losses, something tells me they're going to go crazy. George Kittle managers are definitely annoyed after a goose egg. They held on to him for all this time after he's been injured and just for him to put up a zero. That's perfect. That's exactly when you buy the weekly 25-pointer. Ashton Jantey's touches dipped because of the game script. The game got sideways. Not because his role changed. He's still living in the top 10 of opportunity share, and he's someone you want to buy if someone's selling. Roma Dunze had two quiet weeks. Cool. That's your discount on the Bears. He's the alpha over there, and Caleb and Ben Johnson seem to be getting it together. Buy on Rome. BTJ, Brian Thomas Jr. is dropping balls and people are bailing on him after his bad couple weeks. I'll buy the routery and the schedule. Don't worry about Trevor Lawrence. They're going to figure it out. Jakori Krosky Merritt, aka Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill. Nah, the science guy. Looks like. Why is this so cheap? Three down juice and receiving work? Yeah. Go get him if you can. And Matthew Golden. His usage is inching up little by little. Stash him now while you can, and thank me and yourself in three weeks. Now, on the flip side, it's time to be cold-blooded. DeAndre Swift. Look, he looks awesome. But the role is getting noisier with Kyle Menungay nibbling at him. He just scored his first touchdown, kid out of Ruckers. So it seems like they're going to maybe share roles here a little bit. And again, Ben Johnson is no stranger to dual running backs. If someone's willing to pay, sell DeAndre Swift at his peak. Next on that list is Ramandre Stevenson. Look, the floor is fine, but the ceiling is capped by inefficiency and matchups, and he's a super fumbler. If you can trade that name into a cleaner weekly starter, go for it. Jordan Addison, he's doing alright. Heater was fun. Waiting for McCarthy to come back, and then we'll see what it is. But if someone wants to pay that price, don't be shy. Go for it. George Pickens, he's a stud. But CeeDee Lamb is back and he is eating first. Plus Jake Ferguson's still getting involved. You're strapping into a roller coaster. The first couple weeks when CeeDee was there, Pickens struggled. And then when CeeDee went out, Pickens ate. Now that the big dog is back, I would expect uh Pickens' usage to go down a little bit. And last but not least, Joe Flacco. Look, you might be in a league where it's two quarterbacks and somebody's struggling and you just happen to pick them up off the waiver. I love this story. But if somebody wants them, go get them. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, yeah, it's great, but eventually the roosters are going to come home to roost. Anyway, uh those are buy lows, sell highs. So now starts it speed round with some reasons. Bo Nicks is in all my lineups. Dallas has been a faucet for quarterback points, yardage, scrambles, all of it. And it looks like the Broncos just unlocked the design quarterback run stuff, too. So go for it. Brees Hall, uh Brees Hall gets one more, I don't care how mad you are, start. Since he has bled both rush and receiving production to backs, and no Garrett Wilson again, the volume matchup is there if the Jets can take advantage of it. Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir against Carolina. I'm bracing myself. The Panthers have quietly smothered wide receiver output, and Buffalo seems to be spreading around a bunch. Like I just mentioned with Dalton Kincaid. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a good bounce back game because both receivers are just smothered by their defense. Okay, that's enough fantasy. It's week eight. You're either in it or you're out of it by this point. So now it's time to take the wallets out. It is now time for the rolling the dice with rice segment. Our gambling picks. We went 3-2 again last week. Still an ugly 11-21 on the season. But we're nudging in the right direction. So here is where I'm planting my flags this week. First game on the docket, Buffalo out of Carolina. I'm laying it. I'm laying it with the Bills, and I'm buying the hook to minus seven. Two weeks to stew after back-to-back losses. Get right opponent, and if Josh Allen stays out of the hero ball bullshit, this can sell up to two scores easy. Coming off a bye, Bills by a landslide. Next game on the list, Miami at Atlanta. A game that probably a lot of people don't want to touch, don't know where to go with it. I'll take it. Give me Miami plus seven and a half. I'm not saying they win, but seven and a half is a big number. And everybody's sold on Tua from last week. Yeah, well, he played outside in 50 degree weather. If you know Tua, you know he cannot play in the cold. That's why he thrives in Miami or thrives in a dome. Well, guess what? He's playing in Atlanta indoors at a dome. I think McDaniel leans into the quick game, and they watch some tape from last week with CMC ripping them up, and HN can maybe do the same thing. If they don't give possessions and turn the ball over, this number's fat. Miami plus seven and a half. Next game, Dallas at Denver. And I'm taking the over. 50 and a half. Simple math. Dallas scores on anybody. Dallas can't stop anybody. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Denver's offense has just found its spark. Look, if you're the anxious type, buy it down to 48. Fine. But the thesis is the same. Dallas' defense is bad, and their offense is good. Okay, now for the locals. Since he minus six and a half. I hate to say it. I'm taking Sincy. Flacco looks comfortable. Chase and Higgins are vacuuming up targets. And the Jets offense just cannot keep a drive alive long enough. I'm done letting Phandom light tickets on fire. I'm done taking Jets money line just because. Lay in Cincy minus six and a half. And as for the Giants, I'm really torn between this game because of the number, but we're going to go Philly minus seven and a half. It did open up at 11.5 last week, and because of the Giants' performance in Denver fell all the way down to a touchdown and a half. That last meeting stung in the Philly building. And the Giants have real juice with Dart, but the Eagles' passing game has finally woken up and those tackles tilt the trench in their favor. This feels like a business like stay ahead in the division win. Give me Philly minus seven and a half. If you're the spicy lotto ticket type player, the five-pack is roughly 25 to 1 on a parlay. I'm doing singles for a little bit of money, maybe a little round robin touchdown bet, but no chasing. Bet responsibly. No live tilt heroics. And if you don't like a pick on the card, don't bet it. You don't have to take it. It's your money, not my money. Okay. I've talked long enough today. Let's uh let's land this plane. After this, I'll give you the socials, where to find the show, and get you out of here on a positive note. And I appreciate you hanging out. Quick housekeeping. If you want in on the Wednesday mic check, hit me on Instagram, drop your votes, talk your talk. I'll read the best ones on the show. Mailbags open all week, so fire questions, rants, or some grief counseling for your team into my DMs. And if you're riding with the rolling the dice with rice, pet responsibly, set limits, and fade me if your gut says so. It's your ticket, not mine. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, toss a five-star and a quick review. It helps a ton. YouTube crew, smash the likes, sub to the channel, clip anything you want to argue with, tag me so I can see it. Uh tell a friend who lies about their picks that we've got the receipts over here. Schedule-wise, new episodes every Friday, uh, mic checks every Wednesday, and I post some reels throughout the week, so make sure you check those out too. We'll be back with Nick's Heat Checks, Rookie Watch, Jet Shines Fallout, World Series Momentum Swings. You know the draw. Be good to somebody today. Text your people. Tell someone you love them. Spread good energy. The world's loud enough without us adding any static. I'm Ian Rice. This has been episode thirty-six of Rice on the Mikes. I'm out. Let's do it to it.