Baseball Handicapping Articles

MLB Handicapping: Players off to Slow Starts
by T.O. Whenham - 5/31/2012

The biggest story in this young baseball season has been the slow starts of several high-profile players. Here’s a look at four of the biggest names with the biggest early-season struggles. Can they turn things around, or are they destined to struggle all year? More importantly, what does that mean for bettors?

MLB’s Top Hitting Teams and the Totals Line
by David Schwab - 5/30/2012

The 2012 MLB regular season is almost a third of the way into its 162-game schedule, so we now have more than enough figures and statistics on all 30 teams to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. The key for baseball handicappers is to be able to use this information to gain an edge when researching a particular matchup, particularly in terms of wagering on the total line.

MLB Betting and Handicapping: Scouting The Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 5/28/2012

The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best record in Major League Baseball and the biggest cushion of any division leader. In addition, NL MVP candidate Matt Kemp is set to come off the disabled list on Tuesday, presumably making L.A. that much better again. It’s easy to understand why Los Angeles is the huge -1200 favorite on Sportsbook.ag to win the NL West and the +300 favorite to win the National League pennant.

MLB Handicapping: Can Baltimore Orioles Keep Winning?
by T.O. Whenham - 5/25/2012

I would struggle to come up with anything more surprising in baseball this year than the start the Baltimore Orioles are off to after more than a quarter of the season has passed. This is more surprising than the struggles of Albert Pujols, the hot start by the Dodgers, or the weakness of the Red Sox or Phillies.

Best Under-the-Radar Pitchers for MLB Betting
by Robert Ferringo - 5/24/2012

Even though they reside in one of the loudest echo chambers in baseball – an American League East populated by big market behemoths New York and Boston – the only thing more impressive about Baltimore’s daring vault to the best record in the American League has been their ability to stay under the national radar while doing it.

MLB Handicapping: Five Pitchers Burning Bankrolls
by Aaron Smith - 5/24/2012

Baseball handicappers don’t have to be told how important starting pitching is to their wager. There are some pitchers who are dominant nearly every time out. There are also some pitchers who seem to get shelled nearly every outing. Today, I wanted to take a look at the pitchers who are burning bankrolls the most so far in 2012. You’ll likely be surprised at some of the guys on this list.

MLB Handicapping: How to Handle Bad Early Starts
by T.O. Whenham - 5/24/2012

In baseball a .400 batting average is an almost mythical accomplishment. A .400 win percentage, though, is far less impressive. In fact, in my mind it marks the boundary between a team with troubles and a team that is just plain bad. If a team has played a quarter of a season or more and is below .400 then they probably have some pretty significant issues.

Home Plate Umpires Role in MLB Handicapping
by David Schwab - 5/23/2012

A team’s current form as well as its starting pitcher in any particular matchup are two major factors to take into consideration when doing your MLB handicapping, but a third and sometimes overlooked factor is which umpire is slated to be behind home plate calling balls and strikes.

MLB Picks: Reds at Yankees Series Odds and Betting Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/17/2012

Interleague play returns to Major League Baseball this weekend and there were several good series to choose from: Red Sox-Phillies, Braves-Rays, Orioles-Nationals, not to mention the battle for Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area. But I had to go with the Cincinnati Reds-New York Yankees three-game set in the Bronx.

MLB Betting and Handicapping Update – Top Money Line Returns
by David Schwab - 5/16/2012

The 2012 MLB regular season is approaching the quarter pole of its 162-game marathon and we have already seen dark horses streak to an early lead out of the gate and we also find a few preseason favorites lagging behind the field.

MLB Betting and Handicapping: Scouting The Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 5/14/2012

I wrote last week in this column that it might be time to jump ship on the Washington Nationals’ futures, and it appears that with the latest injury to hit the club that my timing might have been dead on. Already having lost outfielder Jayson Werth perhaps for the season to a wrist injury, the Nats lost an even more important piece this past weekend when catcher Wilson Ramos went down with a likely season-ending torn ACL.

MLB Series Picks: Indians vs. Red Sox Predictions
by Darin Zank - 5/9/2012

The Cleveland Indians held the lead in the AL Central last year past the all-star break before fading. This year Cleveland also holds the early lead in the Central. The Boston Red Sox, meanwhile, have picked up this year the way they finished last year. They are playing pretty poorly right now.

Best and Worst MLB Teams for Baseball Betting
by T.O. Whenham - 5/8/2012

You could try as hard as you wanted to convince me that the Orioles would lead the league in wins at this point in the season and I still wouldn’t believe you. It’s an incredible story — though one that seems destined to end at some point along the way. Right now, though, they are the perfect recipe for betting success — a team that wins a lot, is very strong on the road, and which has no real stars or big names to attract the betting public.

MLB Betting and Handicapping: Scouting The Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 5/8/2012

Are the Baltimore Orioles for real? The Birds entered this week atop the ultra-tough American League East and with the best winning percentage in all of baseball – Buck Showalter is easily the early AL Manager of the Year. And it seems that perhaps the fates are smiling on the Orioles, who are still +1500 long shots at Sportsbook.com to win the AL East.

MLB Odds and Predictions: Rangers at Indians Series Picks
by Alan Matthews - 5/3/2012

For the second week in a row, my Friday MLB series preview will involve division leaders. Last week it was the Nationals-Dodgers, and unfortunately I missed on the Nats taking that series in L.A., although Washington easily could have won the first two games – hopefully you did follow my advice and take the Dodgers and the ‘under’ in Game 1.

MLB Betting and Handicapping: Scouting The Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 4/30/2012

Do you still think the Los Angeles Angels are a playoff team? Certainly no club has been more disappointing than the Halos so far as they enter this week tied for the most losses in the American League with 15 and they are already a whopping nine games out of first place in the AL West. L.A. opened as the division favorite there but is now at +450 to catch the Texas Rangers, who are huge -1500 division favorites.

MLB Picks: Rangers vs. Blue Jays Series Betting Preview and Predictions
by Darin Zank - 4/30/2012

The Texas Rangers are the best team in the American League in the early going of this season, and they'll look to continue their winning ways when they head North of the border for a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays starting Monday night.

MLB Odds and Predictions: Nationals at Dodgers Series Picks
by Alan Matthews - 4/26/2012

Raise your hand if you had the Washington Nationals having the best record in the National League entering the final weekend of April. If your hand is up, I’d like your selections for this weekend’s Powerball numbers, please.

MLB Handicapping: New Managers Having An Impact
by T.O. Whenham - 4/20/2012

The start of this Major League Baseball season saw five teams start the year with different managers than they had last time they played a regular season game. Miami and St. Louis made changes due to retirement, the Red Sox and Cubs fired their former bosses, and Ozzie Guillen left the White Sox before he was fired. It’s too early to get a meaningful sense of how well the new guys are going to do with their new teams in the long term. It’s a good time, though, to check in and see what kind of start they have gotten off to:

MLB Odds and Predictions: Yankees at Red Sox Series Picks
by Alan Matthews - 4/19/2012

It’s the Duke-North Carolina or Michigan-Ohio State of Major League Baseball when the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox get together, and the archrivals and ESPN staples play their first series of 2012 together starting Friday afternoon. Naturally, every game is on national television (MLB Network, Fox on Saturday, and then, of course, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball).