ArenaBowl XXV is set to kick off this week, and the Philadelphia Soul and Arizona Rattlers are going to be doing battle in the chase to claim the Foster Trophy. Join us at Cappers Info, as we make our ArenaBowl picks and predictions for what should be a great ending to the 2012 Arena Football League betting campaign.

ArenaBowl 25 Matchup: Arizona Rattlers vs. Philadelphia Soul
Date: Friday, August 10th, 10:30 ET
ArenaBowl Odds: Philadelphia -1 (123)

ArenaBowl 25 Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
ArenaBowl 25 On TV: NFL Network

This is going to be a heck of a battle between two teams that have had great seasons. QB Nick Davila and QB Dan Raudabaugh both had remarkable seasons, throwing for 115 TDs apiece. Both have had their troubles in the playoffs at times, but in the end, both have prevailed and made it here to the title game.

The Rattlers have massive score to settle after last season when they were beaten in the ArenaBowl on the final play of the game on their home turf by the Jacksonville Sharks. Those Sharks were knocked out of the playoffs last week by the Soul in tremendous 89-34 fashion. It was one of the biggest blowouts that the league has ever seen, and it was the most impressive display in playoff history for a team in the AFL ever.

The Soul have been machines this year. They have scored at least 55 points in all but one game, and they set the record for the most 60+ point games, 70+ point games, 80+ point games, and 90+ point games in a season to go with the fact that they averaged 68.2 points per game, the most ever as well. Simply put, this is the best team in the league. Arizona had all sorts of problems last week in its secondary after DB Virgil Gray went down, and though Gray swears that he is going to be playing on Friday night, after suffering what looked to be a brutal leg injury, we just don’t know if he is going to have the goods to get the job done against some of the best wide receivers in the league. Go with the Soul to claim their second ever ArenaBowl title in their return to New Orleans, where they won their first league championship four years ago.

AFL Semifinals Pick: Philadelphia Soul -1

The Semifinals of the 2012 AFL season is upon us, and here at Cappers Info, we are taking a look at all of the games that are on the AFL betting lines and making our Arena Football predictions for the week ahead!

Semifinals AFL Matchup: Jacksonville Sharks @ Philadelphia Soul
Date: Friday, August 3rd, 8:00 ET
Arena Football Semifinals Odds: Philadelphia -14.5 (113)

The Sharks are clearly the luckiest team to still be alive here in the playoffs. They had a 27-point lead against Georgia last week, and coughed it up in a span of just about a quarter’s worth of action. It was K Marco Capozzoli to the rescue though, as he booted a 51-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to take a loss and make it one of the most thrilling victories in the history of the league. Philadelphia meanwhile, is the best team in the league, and it really doesn’t seem to be all that close. The Soul are running up and down the field with ease at the moment, and even though they didn’t nearly have their best game against the New Orleans VooDoo last week, they were able to get the job done by two TDs. We need a bit more than that this time around to cover this spread, and we think that this is going to happen. The Sharks have had their moment, but they are going to end up getting blasted by at least three scores.

AFL Semifinals Pick: Philadelphia Soul -14.5

Semifinals AFL Matchup: Utah Blaze @ Arizona Rattlers
Date: Saturday, August 4th, 10:00 ET
Arena Football Semifinals Odds: Arizona -8 (118)

The Blaze and the Rattlers have played two very different games this season, as both teams were able to win and win big on the road. There is something wrong with the Blaze right now that we really don’t like, though. The team is just not scoring right now, and that doesn’t seem right for a team that featured a signal caller who smashed the record for the most TDs in league history. QB Nick Davila knows what he is doing right now in this stage of the playoffs, but we are concerned that QB Tommy Grady for Utah isn’t going to be able to live up to the hype. We aren’t going to be all that shocked if the Blaze end up winning this game, but in the end, we think that the hosts are going to put together a romp and get back to the ArenaBowl for a second straight year. This is an Arizona team on a mission right now, and we don’t think that anything, especially this Utah team, is going to get in its way.

AFL Semifinals Pick: Arizona Rattlers -8