Posted on
4/28/2008 2:27:24 PM
Online MLB Baseball Betting - Surprising logjam atop AL East
By BetUS Staff
The Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles are both listed as huge underdogs to win the American League East division this season, but anyone who’s been doing some MLB betting lately knows that those two clubs have been playing well. How well have they been playing? They’re tied for top spot in the division heading into online baseball betting action Monday.
The Rays and Orioles are actually in a three-way tie for first place in the AL East, and that third team is the defending champion Boston Red Sox. Boston, though, has been piling up the losses lately – they dropped the last two games of a three-game series versus the Angels last Wednesday and Thursday, and they were then swept in a three-game set by the Rays over the weekend. That puts Boston’s losing skid at five games.
The Rays, on the other hand, have won each of their past six games and eight of their last 10 outings to join the Red Sox and Orioles (winners of six of their past 10 contests) at the top of the AL East standings. That tie probably isn’t going to last very long, however, as Tampa plays against both Baltimore and Boston over the next seven days.
But early-season success has still not translated into much movement for the Rays or Orioles on the AL East futures list. Baltimore is well back at +4000 odds to end the regular season in first place in the division, and Tampa Bay is just a bit ahead of them at +3000 odds. Boston continues to be the favorite on the list at -150 to claim another division crown, with the New York Yankees at +150, and the Toronto Blue Jays at +450.
There’s a team unexpectedly sitting at the top of the AL Central as well, as the Chicago White Sox have taken advantage of slow starts by the highly-touted Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers to grab a hold of first place in the division. The ChiSox took two of three from the Orioles over the weekend (they close out a four-game set on Monday afternoon), and they had a 2.5-game lead over the Indians at the end of Sunday’s action.
And while the Rays and O’s are still big underdogs to win their divisions this season, the White Sox are now at just +200 odds to claim the AL Central crown. That doesn’t make them the division favorite, however, as both the Indians and the Tigers are at +130 odds to end up in first place. The Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals then round out that futures list; the Twins are at +1400 to win the division, with the Royals at +1800.
Things aren’t so tight on the odds list for the AL West, where the Los Angeles Angels sit as big -300 favorites to win the division. The Angels have been finding ways to win despite the absence of starting pitchers John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, and the Seattle Mariners have been playing under .500 over the first few weeks of the season.
However, even though the M’s were supposed to be the Angels’ rival for the AL West crown this year, the Oakland Athletics have in fact been the team jockeying with them for top spot in the division. The A’s beat the Mariners twice in their three-game series over the weekend, so while Seattle is at +275 odds to win the AL West, the Athletics are just behind them at +400. The Texas Rangers are the AL West underdogs at just +1600 odds to win the division, and that line won’t improve after they lost eight of their past 10.
Check the BetUS MLB lines section for all of the latest futures and daily matchup lines.
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