Posted on 4/7/2008 3:37:45 PM

MLB Baseball Betting – Hot Team Previews - “Where Have You Gone Detroit Tigers?”

By D.S Williamson

After the first week of Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers, a lot of folks’ pick to win the World Series, are 0 and 6. What’s worst than being 0 and 6? The potential of going 0 and 9 as the Tigers play the Boston Red Sox in their next three games. I have faith that the genius, Jim Leyland, will turn the Tigers around. He has to. The man took the Florida Marlins to the World Series and won it. I mean, he has to.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s take a look at some of the teams who have made a name for themselves during the first week of Major League Baseball. Believe it or not, one of those teams isn’t named the Boston Red Sox. One of those teams isn’t named the New York Yankees. Heck, one of those teams isn’t even named the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We’ve only got one week in the books. We’ve got a long way to go, but these teams have been pretty impressive so far this season.

Impressive Teams in MLB

St. Louis Cardinals/Milwaukee Brewers/Cincinnati Reds - - Since all three of these teams are in the N.L. Central, I decided to group them together. Both the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers are 5 and 1 straight-up after the first week of baseball. The Reds are 4 and 2. Against the BetUS spread St. Louis and Milwaukee are both 5 and 1. That makes them hot. The thing about all three of these teams, and the reason that I potentially think that all three could keep this going, is that they have terrific pitching. The Reds have given up 8 runs only once so far this season. The Cardinals haven’t given up more than 4 runs in any game this season. The Brewers haven’t given up more than 4 runs this season in any game. What does all of this mean? Bye, bye pre-season N.L. Central favorite Chicago Cubs!

Chicago White Sox - - The Baltimore Orioles have a stellar record of 5 and 1 straight-up and against the BetUS spread after the first week. But I don’t think the Orioles can keep it up. That’s why I wanted to highlight this team in the American League. First, the ChiSox are 4 and 2 against the BetUS spread and 4 and 2 straight-up so far this season. What’s really impressive is how they’ve gone on a four game win streak after losing their first two to the Indians. That means that manager Ozzie Guillen is making the necessary adjustments to keep this team competitive. I think it’s safe to say that this team will challenge the Indians for the top spot in the A.L. Central. Guillen has found a nice ace with Mark Beuhrle bouncing back last Sunday against the Tigers after a terrible first game outing versus the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland Indians - - The Indians are only 3 and 3 on the season, and against the BetUS spread, but they did get their clean-up hitter back, Victor Martinez. I expect them to do some magical things this week as nobody has the pitching rotation to match-up with them. There isn’t a whole lot of tweaking that this team needs and those first two wins last weak against the ChiSox, before Martinez got hurt, were absolutely lovely.

Toronto Blue Jays - - Every year MLB prognosticators start talking about the A.L. East and every year they settle on the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. I’m not saying that the Red Sox or Yankees won’t end up fighting it out for this division but I am saying that we would be stupid to forget about the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays are 4 and 2 against the BetUS spread and 4 and 2 straight-up so far this season. They swept the mighty Red Sox with the heart of their rotation - - Shaun Marcum, Jesse Litsch, and Roy Halladay. There are a lot of “bats” in the A.L. East. What about pitching? If the Sox don’t get Beckett right, and one of the young studs for the Yankees doesn’t step up, then, yes, this team could turn into a potential World Series team.

Arizona Diamondbacks/Los Angeles Dodgers/San Diego Padres - - The Padres should be 6 and 1 on the season and 6 and 1 against the BetUS spread. Trevor Hoffman, their closer, blew two games against the Dodgers in that series. You won’t find a better pitcher than Jake Peavy and Chris Young was awesome in his first start of the season. The Arizona Diamondbacks are 4 and 2 against the BetUS spread and 4 and 2 straight-up. With Brandon Webb and Danny Haren, I expect this team to assert themselves in the N.L. West. The potential team who could start losing with regularity actually are the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right now the Dodgers are 4 and 2 against the BetUS spread and 4 and 2 straight-up. The problem isn’t their pitching. It’s their hitting. They aren’t getting the run support for either Brad Penny or Derek Lowe or Hiroki Kuroda. Unless Andruw Jones gets out of his funk, I see the Dodgers as the odd team out in regards to this threesome. This week will tell us more!

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