The Washington Capitals are locked in a battle for the top spot in the East Division and will finish the regular season with a three-game homestand, the first of which comes tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington (34-14-5, 73 points) is tied with Pittsburgh (35-16-3, 73 points) for the division's top spot. The Capitals do have a game in hand on the Penguins while Boston (31-14-7, 69 points) and the New York Islanders (31-16-6, 68 points) sit right behind. All four teams have already clinched playoff spots. The Flyers (23-23-7, 53 points) have been eliminated from the playoff race. Consider that Philadelphia is 7-18 in their last 25 games as an underdog.

MLB Play of the Day

The Mets scored 1, 7, 4 runs in the three games after their two hitting coaches were fired. That works out to 4 runs per game, better than the 3.3 or so they were averaging prior. But, of course, that sample is short, and it’s also less than the D-Backs’ average of 4.97 runs per game, 4.5 on the road. All things being equal — which they hardly ever are but let’s ignore that — the Mets still have a ways to go before they can be counted upon to flip-flop and outscore people on a regular basis when favored to do so starting a lefthander like David Peterson. With less than a full season of MLB experience under his belt, Peterson has mastered the Phillies. But tonight’s opposing lineup isn’t the Phillies and is chewing up lefties with MLB’s highest Slugging Percentage and OPS: .511 and .858 in that category. Arizona’s 14 home runs against left-handed pitchers in only 231 at-bats is more than a whole bunch of teams have against lefties in considerably more at-bats.

The unwritten rule in baseball says that after a team concludes a four-game road sweep of a division rival, to vault into sole possession of first place over that rival in their division, you go against it as it changes venues for the next game, especially when it’s an Interleague game. Never seen that rule? Well, we said it’s unwritten. But now we just wrote it. It’s as close as it gets to a “letdown” theory for baseball, something that often gets applied in football and basketball. In only 29 at-bats against him, Reds batters have hit 5 home runs against Indians starter Zach Plesac. Wade Miley of the Reds is no prize, but sometimes ya’ gotta bite the bullet and go with your gut.

The only team that Minnesota’s long, black-bearded mediocrity, Matt Shoemaker, pitches well against is the Tigers. He’s from the Detroit area. He must be angry at them for not drafting him. He went 6 innings against them at Detroit on April 5, giving up only 3 hits and 1 run. They’re 7-for-58 against him lifetime. But the Twins have lost his 5 starts since, and Shoemaker’s ERA and WHIP are 7.83 and 1.57. Even if he pitches his usual gem, note the score of his April 5 win vs. the Tigers: 15-6. These bullpens are horrible. Minnesota’s can’t strike anybody out and the closer they coveted, Alex Colome, has a 6.17 ERA and 1.80 WHIP. Way to go, buddy. Meanwhile, the Tigers have lost all six games in which Tarik Skubal has appeared. His starts have not lasted longer than 5 innings and have mostly been shorter than that. HIs ERA and WHIP are 6.14 and 1.68, and the Tigers’ bullpen that figures to be used for at least half the game has the MLB-high ERA and WHIPs of 6.61 and 1.72.

Despite it being a second of back-to-backs for an 8-16 ATS home favorite merely 6-8 ATS with no rest, it figures as a gimme for the Mavericks given the manner in which the Cavaliers have been going about their business. On the floor for only 26 and 13 minutes, Kevin Love and Isaiah Hartenstein had plus-minuses of -45 and -29 the other night. Jeez.

Denver came from 3-1 down to beat the Jazz in the 2020 post-season. The sides have split two games in Denver. Utah survived 35 and 30 points by Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic to win the first 109-105. They entered the second meeting on an 11-game winning streak, but trailed 79-54 at halftime and that was that. They catch the Nuggets at home for the first time since… a 98-95 loss last February when the Nuggets were just about as short-handed as they are right now with one large difference – Jamal Murray out this time

We have a problem in Houston. The Rockets are reeling with injury issues and only 7 guys played in the loss to Philly on Wednesday. Kelly Olynyk and Christian Wood are iffy for this game and Kevin Porter Jr., who scored 50 the last time these teams met, is out. The Bucks have won 4 in a row including consecutive wins over Brooklyn. Bobby Portis has been solid off the bench for Milwaukee scoring 11 a night and pulling down 7 boards. Houston upset the Bucks and the end of April but Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo only played 46 seconds. Milwaukee will try to run this club out of the gym.

Phoenix had to play extremely hard to beat New York last month. The Knicks were tied with the Suns going into the fourth quarter but lost that stanza by 8, the same margin of the Suns’ victory. The Knicks scored 12 points in the first 12 minutes in Denver on Wednesday but they won every other quarter. The ball stuck on the offensive end and Julius Randle had an off shooting night. New York can’t fall asleep in these final regular season games. New York’s bench outplayed the Phoenix bench in defeat last month outscoring the Phoenix reserves 47 to 32.