Baseball Handicapping Articles

MLB Picks: Yankees at Angels Series Predictions and Preview
by Darin Zank - 6/3/2011

The New York Yankees stumbled out of the gate on their current nine-game West Coast road trip, but have recovered behind some good starting pitching to win four in a row. Now the AL East-leading Yanks finish off their trip when they hit Anaheim for three games with the Angels beginning Friday night.

MLB Picks: Rangers at Indians Predictions and Preview
by Darin Zank - 6/2/2011

Defending American League champion Texas recently got a couple of its big bangers back, as OFs Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz returned from stints on the disabled list. This undoubtedly has helped the Rangers recover from a cold spell. Texas just took two of three games from the Rays in Tampa to win its third series in a row, and has won seven of its last 10 games.

The Week in Baseball Betting By the Numbers
by Robert Ferringo - 5/31/2011

The numbers don’t lie. Baseball is a perfect study in dichotomy. With no clock, an outdoor playing area, and a reliance on elemental aspects like wood, leather, dirt and grass, the sport is an allegory of pre-industrial Americana. It’s a game played in communion with nature and seems to be a welcome relic of a distant time and place.

MLB Handicapping: American League East Race
by T.O. Whenham - 5/27/2011

Here’s a shocking headline -- things are tight atop the American League East. The most consistently tough division in baseball has three teams within a game and a half of each other, and those three teams -- the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays -- are all among the top four teams in the conference. At most two of those teams can make the playoffs, so there is a traffic jam atop the standings, and it doesn’t show a lot of signs of disappearing. Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses each team has in their pursuit of a playoff spot along with my MLB handicapping advice. (odds to win the AL Pennant are from Bodog):

MLB Handicapping: Bullpens To Back
by T.O. Whenham - 5/26/2011

There is nothing I hate more than a bullpen that blows a game that the starter had under control. If I bet on the team that blows the lead, that is. Bettors have few friends more important and valuable than a strong bullpen. You can’t predict how much the bullpen will be needed or who will get the call, so having a bullpen that is generally consistent, deep, and reliable makes any bet easier to make, and makes the final innings far less stressful. Here’s a look at five bullpens that have been particularly pleasant to trust for MLB handicappers so far this season:

The Week in Baseball Betting By the Numbers
by Robert Ferringo - 5/24/2011

Bring back steroids. Immediately. That is my professional opinion about Major League Baseball these days. This sport is nearly unrecognizable from the ‘roid-ragin’, HGH-hyped, homer-enhanced, scoring free-for-all that we witnessed from the mid-90s until the Salem Steroid Trails of 2005-2006. Now it more closely resembles a game of tee ball, where everyone goes bonkers when someone just hits it out of the infield.

MLB Handicapping: No-Hitter Bounce Back
by T.O. Whenham - 5/20/2011

It’s not too often that we see two no-hitters in the same month, never mind within five days of each other — and in the same division nonetheless. On May 3 Francisco Liriano of the Twins no-hit the White Sox. On the 7th Justin Verlander got his second career no-no when he blanked the Blue Jays. It’s interesting that the performances happened, but what’s more interesting from a baseball handicapping perspective is how they bounced back in their next start.

MLB Picks: Cubs at Red Sox Series Odds and Predictions
by Darin Zank - 5/20/2011

A couple of teams that don't get together very often headline the first round of Interleague Play this weekend as the Chicago Cubs hit Beantown for the first time in almost a century for a three-game series with the streaking Red Sox.

MLB Handicapping: Top Five ‘Under’ Umpires
by Aaron Smith - 5/20/2011

The baseball season is a long grind and a wise bettor will look for any chance to get an edge over the oddsmakers. While some MLB handicappers like to say that umpire statistics don’t matter, I beg to differ. The numbers don’t lie, and the numbers prove that not all umpires are created equal. Considering the tendencies of an umpire is one of the single best ways to profit in the long haul when betting on baseball. Recently, I wrote about the top five ‘over’ umpires in the league. Now, it is time to look at the top ‘under’ umpires in baseball. These are the guys that the pitchers love to see behind the dish!

MLB Handicapping: Interleague Play
by Darin Zank - 5/19/2011

Interleague Play in Major League Baseball has definitely lost its luster. However, it's probably also here to stay. So as we prepare for this season's first round of American League vs. National League action this weekend let's shine some light on some interleague trends that might benefit the baseball handicapper.

Baseball Handicapping: Streak Systems
by Darin Zank - 5/18/2011

Baseball betting systems are, like the old saying goes, like rear ends; everybody's got one. One of the oldest betting systems involves streaks, both winning and losing. The basic idea being that a great many baseball games, over the course of the long season, fall into one of those two categories. And when a team is hot, bet them to stay hot, and conversely, when a team is cold, bet them to remain cold.

MLB Handicapping: Surprises and Disappointments
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 5/17/2011

There is little debate over who the biggest disappointment in baseball is this season and who is the biggest surprise, but there is some debate over what to do next in terms of a betting strategy. The Cleveland Indians were not expected to do much of anything this season except lose. The Minnesota Twins were expected to compete for yet another division crown.

MLB Handicapping: Top Five ‘Over’ Umpires
by Aaron Smith - 5/17/2011

Do you study the tendencies of the home plate umpire before placing each baseball wager? If you don’t already do this, I strongly suggest you start right away! The home plate umpire has a huge effect on the outcome of the game. Unlike other sports like basketball and football, where all the referees have an equal influence on the game, baseball’s home plate umpire controls the game while the other three umpires often have a minimal impact.

MLB Handicapping: Boston Red Sox
by T.O. Whenham - 5/13/2011

There hasn’t been a team more interesting to follow this year than the Boston Red Sox. I’m not saying that watching them has been fun — it often has been really ugly. Watching them flounder in the face of massive expectations has been fascinating, though. Only the Phillies came into the season with lower futures odds and higher expectations. The team had overhauled their lineup and gotten significantly better and the Yankees had failed to significantly improve, so hopes were high. Needless to say, sitting at 17-20 and five games out of first is not where they were supposed to be almost a quarter of the way into this season.

MLB Handicapping: A Look at Sub-.500 Teams
by T.O. Whenham - 5/13/2011

There are, as I write this, 14 teams in the major leagues that have records below .500 -- just under half the teams in the league. There are some surprises -- eternal losers Washington and Kansas City are not amongst that group, and though Pittsburgh is they sit just one game below .500. Here’s a look at each team to see if they are just hitting a rough patch or if the problems are more severe (World Series futures odds are from Bodog):

MLB Picks: Cardinals at Cubs Odds and Series Predictions
by Darin Zank - 5/10/2011

One of the best rivalries in baseball, especially within the National League, begins its 2011 edition when the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs meet for a three-game series at Wrigley Field starting Tuesday night. St. Louis just took two of three games from Milwaukee, winning the rubber match Sunday, 3-1, behind eight good innings from starter Kyle McClellan, who's now 5-0 on the season.

MLB Betting: The Importance of Defense in Baseball Handicapping
by Aaron Smith - 5/6/2011

When is the last time you sat down and analyzed a Major League Baseball team’s defense? The answer is likely either a long time ago or never. The average sports bettor thinks a lot about defense when analyzing a football or basketball game, but I’m convinced that most people don’t think nearly enough about defense when it comes to baseball. It may not mean as much as the starting pitching matchups, but in a sport where many games are decided by a run or two, defense is definitely worthy of your attention.

MLB Handicapping: Top Five MLB Ballparks Where Weather is a Factor
by Aaron Smith - 5/4/2011

If you are betting on baseball, you definitely need to be well aware of the weather on a day-to-day basis. A baseball isn’t terribly big, so it’s easy to see how a strong wind or humidity levels can change the flight of the baseball. Unless the game is being played in a domed stadium, there isn’t a good excuse for not knowing the weather conditions before placing a wager. Most people hear the word weather associated with baseball and they automatically think of wind.

MLB Predictions: Declining Pitchers
by T.O. Whenham - 4/29/2011

When a pitcher that has long been solid starts to perform well below his reputation it can take a while for the public to catch on. That means that there can be value in being more negative about these guys than the public — as long as that negativity is warranted. Here’s a look at my MLB predictions for five solid starters who are showing clear signs that they could be on the decline:

MLB Picks: Red Sox at Orioles Odds and Predictions
by Darin Zank - 4/26/2011

The Boston Red Sox have bounced back nicely after a lousy start to this season. The Baltimore Orioles, on the other hand, started out hot this season, but have cooled considerably since. So two teams headed in different directions at the moment meet this week when Boston visits Baltimore for three games, starting Tuesday night.