Baseball Handicapping Articles

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Tuesday, September 29, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/28/2015

In some ways, this is the best week of the baseball season to bet. Because you can really take advantage of teams that have nothing to play for. An example: the National League playoff field is set. Well, the Dodgers haven't officially clinched the NL West as of Monday but are about to. They would thus have squat to play for the rest of the week. Ditto the Chicago Cubs, who are all but locked into the second wild-card spot in the NL.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Saturday, September 26, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/25/2015

Saturday afternoon's Bay Area interleague game between the Giants and A's in Oakland means nothing in terms of the playoff race. But it's by far the most interesting game on the schedule thanks to a cool move by the A's. That's because former A's teammates Tim Hudson and Barry Zito -- part of Oakland's terrific Big 3 in the early 2000s with Mark Mulder -- will square off. Hudson has been a part of the Giants' rotation all season and is retiring after this year.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Friday September 25, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/24/2015

Could be a wild day at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon as the Cubs' magic number to clinch their first playoff berth since 2008 was at two entering Thursday. Chicago was off Thursday, so if the San Francisco Giants were to lose on Thursday night in San Diego, the Cubs could clinch simply with a victory on Friday. If the Giants win, then the Cubs can't do it in front of the fans and would have to potentially wait until San Francisco's result on Friday night.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Thursday, September 24, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/23/2015

Apparently the dysfunctional Miami Marlins aren't going to wait until the offseason to decide on a manager to replace interim skipper and former general manager Dan Jennings. Reports are that the Marlins have spoken to both Manny Acta and Dusty Baker. Acta previously managed the Nationals and Indians, while Baker led the Giants, Cubs and Reds. Baker is a great regular-season manager but not in the playoffs. And I think Jennings may want to get his resume handy.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/22/2015

So let's talk about Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke -- still can't really call him the team's ace because of Clayton Kershaw. Greinke can opt out of his contract after this season and obviously will because he's having the best year of his career and will command some $200 million extension. I do think he stays with the Dodgers because he credits L.A. pitching coach Rick Honeycutt with his success. Greinke is 18-3 with a 1.65 ERA this year.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/21/2015

I don't pretend to know whether the Philadelphia Phillies are going to give interim manager Pete Mackanin the full-time job after this season. I would guess not as new team boss Andy MacPhail likely wants to pick his own guy. But I almost hope the Phillies do hire him now. Do I care about the Phillies? Not in the least.

MLB Betting Advice and Handicapping: Totals Trends Report
by Aaron Smith - 9/18/2015

While football season is now in full swing, remember there is still money to be made on the diamond. In last month's report, I talked about how the 'over' had been dominating, and absolutely nothing has changed in the past three weeks. 'Under' bettors have been getting burned constantly, while over bettors are getting rich in the past month. How strong is the trend? In the past month, the over is a whopping 223-163 in Major League Baseball.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Saturday, September 19, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/18/2015

I start writing these preview stories around 11 a.m. ET so they are ready to go when the opening next-day odds are released at BetOnline, usually no later than 1 p.m. ET. On Thursday when previewing Friday's games, I happened to be watching Cubs at Pirates while waiting on odds and mentioned in that story it looked like excellent Pittsburgh rookie shortstop Jung Ho Kang had suffered a major knee/leg injury while being taken out on a slide at second base in the MLB Network game. And it turns out I was right.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Friday September 18, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/17/2015

The last time the New York Yankees and Mets both made the playoffs was in 2006. The team from Queens hasn't been there since. It's going to happen again this October as the Mets are closing in on clinching the National League East, and the Bombers probably will be the AL's top wild-card team but still have a shot at the AL East title.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Thursday, September 17, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/16/2015

It's the time of year where you shouldn't just be paying attention to the good teams in the standings -- i.e. the AL East and West races and AL wild-card chase, etc. (not much drama in NL) -- but also what the worst teams are doing in an effort to land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft. There are no projected superstars in that draft like a Bryce Harper or Kris Bryant, but it's reportedly a deep Top 10 group of guys.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Wednesday, September 16, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/15/2015

If the slumping Kansas City Royals aren't careful, they are going to lose the top seed in the American League playoffs. They seem to have taken their foot off the gas way too early. Entering Tuesday, they had lost eight of 10 and are just 4-9 in September. In the first half of the season, the Royals allowed 3.69 runs per game. In the second half, they've allowed 4.44 runs per game. In September, they've allowed 6.62 runs per game.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/14/2015

So should a guy who plays only 60 or so games in a league be up for MVP honors? I certainly don't think so, but Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is at least entering the conversation. In 40 games with New York, Cespedes is hitting .308 with 16 homers and 41 RBIs for the Mets, who have the majors' best offense since he arrived from Detroit. No player switching leagues during the season has won an MVP award, and only one, Rick Sutcliffe of the 1984 Cubs, has won a Cy Young.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Saturday, September 12, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/11/2015

In what classifies as no surprise to me, reports out of Detroit on Thursday were that the Tigers are going to fire Manager Brad Ausmus after the season. He led the Tigers to 90 wins and the AL Central title in 2014, but Detroit was surprisingly swept in the ALDS by Baltimore even though the Tigers started a former Cy Young winner in each game. I definitely expected the Tigers to take a step back this season, but I didn't expect them to finish last in the division. But that's where they are.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Friday September 11, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/10/2015

Is Boston's David Ortiz a Hall of Famer? Only one true designated hitter is in Cooperstown, and that just happened last year with the White Sox's Frank Thomas, who was a superior hitter to Ortiz, although Big Papi has been amazing in his postseason career. I bring up Ortiz because he might unofficially punch his ticket to the Hall as early as Friday.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Thursday, September 10, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/9/2015

I am definitely not a fan of Alex Rodriguez. The guy had the talent to go down as perhaps the best offensive player in baseball history. He was that amazing. Yet A-Rod had to use steroids not once but twice (that we know of) and lied about it both times. So Rodriguez will never get into the Hall of Fame in my lifetime. Nor should he. But I have to give it up to A-Rod this season. At age 40, he hit his 30th homer of the season on Tuesday night to join Hank Aaron as the only MLB players with 15 seasons of at least 30.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/8/2015

Washington's Bryce Harper is one of the five most popular players in baseball. So you think he would know better than to criticize his own team's fans. The vastly underachieving Nationals opened a huge series with the Mets on Monday -- maybe the most important regular-season series in team history. Washington lost 8-5, and Harper had this to say about the fans: "I mean, they left in the seventh, so that's pretty brutal," Harper said. "I don't know. Whatever."

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/7/2015

I get that agent Scott Boras is just looking out for his client. But he has no right, at least in my opinion, to tell the New York Mets how to use their ace pitcher Matt Harvey. Of course, Harvey missed all of last season due to Tommy John surgery and the Mets are keeping him on an innings limit. A few years ago, Washington did the same with Stephen Strasburg, and in my mind that wrecked the Nats' best chance to win the World Series.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Saturday, September 5, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/4/2015

Not a San Francisco Giants fan in the least, but it sure fun watching Tim "the Freak" Lincecum pitch for them when he was in his prime. As expected, his season is over because of hip surgery. Needless to say, you need your hips to be fairly flexible and be a good pitcher in the big leagues -- especially someone like Lincecum who is a little guy and uses his legs/hips as his point of power.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Friday September 4, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/3/2015

I enjoy baseball's infatuation with statistics. And thus I give you another one. On Wednesday night, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels hit his 35th homer of the season and No. 555 of his career. This latter number tied Manny Ramirez for 14th on the all-time list. The former number surprised me: He is just the fourth player with at least 35 dingers in his first 15 seasons. I definitely thought that number would be higher. But he joined Willie Mays (10), Mike Schmidt (11) and Alex Rodriguez (12) on that short list.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Thursday, September 3, 2015 Opening Line Report
by 45 - 9/2/2015

Have you had chickenpox in your life? You probably have, as a young child, and don't even remember it. It may have left a small scar or two, but generally it's just something American kids get resolved early (either by getting them or getting inoculated) because doing so as an adult can lead to some serious problems. Alas, in Latin America chances of childhood inoculation are lower.