Expert Baseball Betting Predictions: MLB Teams with Nothing to Play For

by Trevor Whenham - 5/18/2018

We are only a quarter of the way through the baseball season. There should still be plenty of hope and possibility - lots that can still happen. For at least six teams, though, none of the games left to play this year matter. Their seasons are over. They are done. Cooked. Finished. Totally without hope. They are a waste of the oxygen that fills their stadiums. Let's look at those poor, pathetic squads, what their future holds this year, and what, if anything, there is to be excited about concerning them. (Odds to win the World Series [like that's happening!] are from Bovada )

Baltimore Orioles (+75000): I don't know how the Orioles got to this place. They were pretty good quite recently - a playoff team. But they have let that all slip away. It happens - teams change, rosters don't work anymore, and changes are needed. But Baltimore has seemingly convinced themselves that they didn't need to make any of those changes. They just sat back and watched their opportunity pass them by. And did nothing. They have no pitching. They don't have a roster that makes sense. What do they have? Manny Machado - or, more accurately, whatever they can get in a trade for him. They seem to believe that that will fix everything. It will be positive, but it isn't an answer. Someone is going to give Machado a truly massive contract soon, but no one is going to give Baltimore an entire team in exchange for him - and that's pretty much what they would need. What an ugly, ugly mess.

Chicago White Sox (+50000): Like the Braves, the White Sox were a decent team not too long ago, but they were forced to regroup, go young, and build for a brighter future. The difference, though, is that it's working in Georgia much better than it is in Illinois. There are some positives - Reynaldo Lopez was looking very good on the mound, for example, until his last disastrous outing in which he allowed seven earned runs in two innings. But far too many guys are not where they need to be. It's going to be a long season on the south side of Chicago. To make matters worse, the Cubs currently have the lowest odds to win the World Series in the National League.

Kansas City Royals (+75000): The Royals were bad for a long time. Then they slowly got good. Then they won it all. Then, it seems, they lost interest. They kept guys around until they couldn't afford to anymore, and they have continued to field a team, but they aren't doing too much to actively pursue wins. Their rotation seemed like a bad joke heading into the season, and in reality it has actually been even worse. Some teams that struggle clearly have a plan. A vision. If the Royals do then it is a closely guarded secret. Maybe they think they are only allowed to be a competitive franchise once every 30 years.

Texas Rangers (+25000): Bartolo Colon has a healthy lead in the ERA race for this team. And he's less than an inning away from leading the team in innings pitched, too. And Colon turns 45 next week, and his listed weight of 285 seems impossibly conservative. If Colon is your ace then you have some structural issues - and I say that as a guy who loves Colon. He's not alone in terms of older guys, either - Cole Hamels and Doug Fister are both 34. This is not a pitching staff built with a long-term view right now. Only the Royals have allowed more money, and a team that often relied on their offense with great result just doesn't have the pop in the lineup right now to overcome those pitching issues.

Miami Marlins (+75000): We don't need to spend much time here. The team traded away any asset with value that they had. And they didn't get immediate value in return for them. So, every game they win is a tiny little miracle. There haven't been a lot of miracles this year, and there won't be a lot more down the road. Great job, Jeter.

Cincinnati Reds (+75000): Remember many years ago when it seemed like Homer Bailey was going to be the next great pitcher? Well, this is not the year that is happening, and since he's 32 now we should get used to the idea that it never will. He's been actively bad this year, and yet he fits in perfectly with this joke of a lineup. Even Joey Votto seems to know how hopeless it all is as his production has declined measurably this year. The sad thing is that at 15-29 I would argue this team is overachieving versus my expectations. I mean, they are still on track to lose more than 100 games, but there is a whole level of awful they haven't touched yet.

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Start:	November 22, 2024 @ 11:59 PM
Expert:	Arun Shiva (Indian Cowboy)
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Expert Baseball Betting Predictions: MLB Teams with Nothing to Play For

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