posted February 29, 2008 at 17:32 EST in MLB Betting Trends

The World Champion Boston Red Sox look to dominate the American League again this year, but first they will have to dominate the American League East Division where their hated rivals, the New York Yankees, look to provide the most competition to the champs.

It’s like that every year, isn’t it? The only difference might be the fact that the Rocket, Roger Clemens, has now become the most hated man in all of Major League Baseball. Us baseball fans expect lying and cheating out of Barry bonds, but Roger Clemens? The reason I bring this up is because Roger hasn’t been in a Boston uniform in a lot of years. If anything, he will be remembered more as a Yankee than as a Red Sox.

It’s taken many, many, many years, but the Red Sox finally appear to have gotten some measure of revenge against the Yankees for trading that really good baseball player by the name of Babe so long ago. They’ve won two World Series in the past five years and the most beloved player in the biggest scandal in baseball history was in a Yankee uniform when the scandalous acts occurred.

Of course, Roger’s issues won’t have any bearing on who wins the American League East Division this year.

What will is Boston’s unbelievable pitching staff. I get into that below:

American League East

Boston Red Sox – BetUS odds – 130 - - The Red Sox are the class of not only the American League East Division, not only the American League, but also the entire organization that we call Major League Baseball. This team is rock solid up and down its starting line-up. They have power hitters. They have speed. They have guys that can protect other guys in the line-up. But what they really have is a tremendous pitching staff. Theo Epstein is a brilliant general manager. Signing Daisuke Matsuzaka last year turned out to be a pretty good move, right? Josh Beckett is a shut-down pitcher and Clay Bucholz and Tim Wakefield can dominate at times. These guys are good and even though their odds to win their division are less then even money; I have to believe they are a good bet.

They are definitely a better wager then the - -

New York Yankees – BetUS odds EVEN - - The Yankees will never win another World Series, much less the American League East Division, as long as they continue to forego their pitching staff for hot-shot pretty boy hitters like A-Rod and Derek Jeter. Nothing against those guys - - they’re both very good players - - but both guys can only bat maybe bat four or five times a game. Pitchers are different. Even if A-Rod hits five home-runs in a game, it does no good if your pitching staff is giving up seven runs a game. That could very well happen to this team as their ace, Chien-Ming Wang, isn’t nearly as good as a guy like Josh Beckett for the Red Sox. The BetUS odds are too low on a team like the Yankees. Can this team beat the Red Sox in the division? Of course, they can. Anything can happen, but for even money, I’ll take a stand against.

Toronto Blue Jays – BetUS odds + 600 - - The Blue Jays aren’t a bad team, but the BetUS odds are awfully low for these guys. They do have to play the Red Sox and the Yankees a lot this year. That tells me that they’d have to be a super-team in order to win this division. They aren’t a super team and would need a lot of luck - - injuries to the Boston Red Sox starting line-up - - in order to even compete. I like the Blue Jays to upset some good teams this year, but individual game betting is as far as I will go with this team. 6 to 1 isn’t high enough for me to take a chance on them.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays – BetUS odds + 4000 - - This is why the Red Sox get home advantage in the playoffs. They get to whup up on teams like the Devil Rays every year. This team is terrible. Just bad. They have no chance at winning the American League Division. Forget it.

Baltimore Orioles – BetUS odds + 5000 - - Are the Baltimore Orioles worse then the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Does anybody care? A bet on the Baltimore Orioles to win the division should only be considered if a hurricane blows through both New York and Boston and destroys their stadiums and maybe puts their entire pitching staffs on injured reserve. Even then, the Red Sox might find someone to pitch the Orioles into submission.

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