Posted on 2/29/2008 1:53:44 PM

MLB Baseball Betting - Red Sox, Yankees to Renew AL East Rivalry

By BetUS Staff

Last year Red Sox nation celebrated another World Series win, while Yankees fans were forced to wait ‘til next year for the seventh straight season. Boston may have won the war but as most MLB betting fanatics probably already know, the Yankees actually won the regular season battle last year.

Believe it or not the Yankees actually won the season series against the Red Sox last season. Boston and New York clashed 18 times last season and New York came out on top in 10 of those games. If that were to happen again the Yankees would pay out as underdogs on the season series.

At BetUS the Red Sox are currently a -180 favorite on the MLB odds to win the season series against the Bronx Bombers this year. On the other side of the coin the Yankees are a +135 underdog. Considering the Red Sox are the defending World Series champs and on paper appear to have a much superior team, that’s not much of a surprise.

If you were to look at pitching alone the Red Sox have the Yankees dominated. The Boston rotation has a true ace leading it in power pitcher Josh Beckett. Last season Beckett went 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA and he was practically unhittable in the postseason. However against New York Beckett wasn’t always his mighty self, with a 2-1 record and a 4.39 ERA in four starts. Beckett wasn’t the only Red Sox hurler to have some trouble with the Yankees, as Daisuke Matsuzaka was 2-1 with a 6.12 ERA in four starts against New York. After looking at those numbers from Boston’s best starters, it’s not hard to see why the Yankees took 10 of 18 from Boston last season.

Even looking at those stats all the signs seem to point to the Sox rolling over the Yankees when they collide this season. Beckett, Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz versus Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and either Kei Igawa or Ian Kennedy? Most would take the flamethrower and the young guns over the over-the-hill veterans any day.

Bettors will get their first look at this infamous rivalry on April 11, when the Yankees make their first trip to Fenway Park.

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