Posted on
4/22/2008 6:38:49 PM
MLB Baseball Betting Trends – Who’s Hot?
By Mike Rose
1) Boston Red Sox (5-0) (+$500.00) The defending champs hold the top spot this week winning five straight and nine of their last 10 overall. They currently hold a 2.5-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East, and they’ve made their backers a solid seven plus units on the season. They’ve been money in the bank at Fenway Park thus far winning eight of their 10 games, and have a winning mark of 6-5 on the road. The pitching has been below average with a team ERA of 4.67 and WHIP of 1.43, but they’re the second best team in the “bigs” in terms of strikeouts (153) and they’ve received 10 quality starts ranking 9th. The pitching should come around, but it won’t matter as long as they continue to rake like they have. They’re the proud owners of the best batting average in baseball (.297) and 2nk ranked OPS (.822). Big Papi’s resurgence now has them ranked 5th in RPG averaging a lofty 5.3 per contest. Their dominance at Fenway will be put to the test against the Angels starting Tuesday night, and then they’ll finish out the week with a trip to Tampa to take on the Rays for three.
2) Atlanta Braves (5-0) (+$527.00) The Braves eclipsed the .500 mark this past week by winning five in a row against the likes of the Nationals, Dodgers, and Marlins. They’ve won seven of their L/10 overall and sit just two-games in back of the NL East leading Marlins. Offensively, this squad is stacked. They own the 3rd best batting average (.286) and OPS (.821) in the league, and rank 4th averaging 5.4 runs per game. They’ve already gone yard 26 times (4th), and can also kill you with their speed as they’ve stolen 27 bases (5th) through their first 19 games. Starting pitching has also been tremendous of late earning them the 5th best ERA (3.42) and WHIP (1.25), and they rank 7th in K’s with 136. Their fielding has been mediocre though with 12 errors to rank 15th in the league in that category. The bullpen still leaves cause for concern as it has as many saves (3) as blown saves (3), and sports a unit ERA of 4.19 to rank 19th in the league. They’ll look to close out the Nats tonight before taking on both the Marlins and Mets to close out the week.
3) Chicago Cubs (4-0) (+400.00) If the Cubs could take on Pittsburgh for the rest of the season, they would smash both the total wins in a season and runs scored per game records without breaking a sweat. In their six games against the Buccos, they’re 6-0 and they’ve outscored them a lofty 52-24. They’re currently 13-6 and own a half game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals for the top spot in the NL Central. They’ve been the benefactors of having 13 of their first 19 games in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, and have parlayed their success into making close to five units for their backers on the year. Offensively, the Cubbies are on fire averaging 6.2 RPG (2nd), batting a lofty .280 (5th), with an OPS of .818 (4th). Lou Piniella’s also had no problems utilizing his team speed as they’ve stolen 16 bases to rank 7th in the league. Starting pitching has been decent, (3.95 ERA (12) 1.26 WHIP (7th) 134 K’s (8), but I feel it’s the team weak spot that will have to be dealt with further along down the road. The bullpen has had its ups and downs; three blown saves in 10 opportunities, but its currently ranked 9th in the league with a 3.56 ERA and 5-2 mark. They’ll look to take the two-game set from the Mets Tuesday afternoon before closing out the week on the road against the Rockies and Nationals.
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