Baseball Handicapping Articles

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/17/2017

Baltimore Orioles All-Star closer Zach Britton, otherwise known as the guy Manager Buck Showalter stupidly didn't use in the 2016 AL Wild-Card game in Toronto, is going to miss 10 days or so with a left forearm strain. Britton had arguably the best season ever by a reliever last year and has converted 54 straight save opportunities, tied for the second-longest American League streak of all time. Five of those are this season. Sometimes forearm strains can lead to major problems, but the Orioles are confident this is minor, and the southpaw hasn't had any problems previously. Since the start of the 2014 season, Britton has 125 saves and a 1.38 ERA along with a 0.94 WHIP. Brad Brach should take over Britton's role.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Friday, April 14, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/13/2017

The Atlanta Braves have been just about unwatchable so far this season, but there will be a sellout crowd on Friday night when the team plays its first game at the new SunTrust Park, which is nowhere near downtown Atlanta and the old Turner Field but in a northern Cobb County suburb. The park looks beautiful, but I'm still not clear why the team would move away from a 20-year-old stadium in the heart of the city. Oh yeah, for money. It's going to be a traffic nightmare getting to the new stadium. In perhaps a bad omen Wednesday, several boxes carrying foam Braves tomahawks fell off a truck in Atlanta and blocked two lanes of traffic on a busy interstate.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Thursday, April 13, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/12/2017

To little surprise, the Atlanta Braves have the worst offensive team in baseball, and if you weren't already betting under the total in their games, well shame on you. I'd start now that the team's second-best hitter, outfielder Matt Kemp, has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 8, with a strained right hamstring. Kemp has been easily the best Braves hitter at .500 with two homers and four RBIs. He actually had become a durable player the past three years. Emilio Bonifacio likely will play left field most nights while Kemp is out.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Wednesday, April 12, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/11/2017

Corey Seager deserved to win National League Rookie of the Year in 2016, and he's going to win an MVP Award or two before his career is done. That said, I would have liked to have seen what kind of numbers Washington's Trea Turner would have put up in a full season. He finished second to Seager in the ROY voting after batting .342 with 13 homers, 40 RBIs and 33 steals in 324 plate appearances. He's going to be a perennial All-Star. Alas, the Nationals are going to be without him for the next 10 days or so as he was placed on the DL Monday, retroactive to Sunday with a hamstring strain.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Tuesday, April 11, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/10/2017

I really didn't understand why many experts were picking the Los Angeles Dodgers as the NL pennant winners in 2017. Yes, I expected L.A. to win the NL West for a fifth straight year, but injuries ravaged their pitching staff a year ago, so why wouldn't it happen again? It's like everyone assumed L.A. would stay healthy this time and that the Cubs' staff would get hit with injuries because it was so healthy in 2016. Well, L.A. already is down two guys. Scott Kazmir opened the season on the DL and now Rich Hill has joined him.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Saturday, April 8, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/7/2017

If you were pondering a bet on the Detroit Tigers to win their home series with the Boston Red Sox this weekend, this might cinch your decision on the Motor City Kitties: Stellar Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts will miss the series as he has been placed on the on the bereavement list. Bogaerts will rejoin the team on Monday. He was 2-for-9 in two games after hitting .294 with 21 homers and 89 RBIs last year. Brock Holt figures to start at short while Bogaerts is out. The Red Sox also put reliever Matt Barnes on the bereavement list. He'll be back Sunday.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Friday, April 7, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/6/2017

The Milwaukee Brewers have some interesting pieces on their team but weren't going to be competing for a wild-card spot this season - the NL Central is going to be owned by the Cubs for at least a few more years so it's wild-card or bust for the other four in that division. Ideally, the Brew Crew would flip a few of their veterans at some point before July 31 to stock up even more in the farm system. Probably trade candidate No. 1, pitcher Junior Guerra, couldn't even make it through his first start of the year healthy. He's going to miss at least six weeks with a significant calf strain. He was hurt as a batter on Monday. Guerra is 32 but super-cheap and would have some value if he was anything close to his 2016 rookie season when he was 9-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 20 starts. Now the team's starting pitching depth, already a weak spot, will be even more tested.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Thursday, April 6, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/5/2017

Usually we are spared hearing the term "closer by committee" until at least mid-April after a few blown saves. But Angels manager Mike Scioscia isn't waiting that long. Presumed closer Huston Street started the season on the 10-day disabled list with back troubles but is likely out bit longer than that. He has been sidelined since March 3 because of a lat strain. Thus Scioscia will go with Cam Bedrosian, Andrew Bailey, or perhaps even a third guy depending on the matchups. Doesn't seem fair to the fire-balling Bedrosian, who was the best Angels reliever in 2016 -- recording a 1.12 ERA over 40 1/3 innings before undergoing season-ending surgery in September to repair a blood clot in his pitching arm - and he did not give up a run in spring training.

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Wednesday, April 5, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/4/2017

The biggest trade of the MLB offseason happened early in December when the Red Sox stole the thunder at the Winter Meetings by sending their top two prospects, as well as two other minor leaguers, to the Chicago White Sox for lefty Chris Sale, a perennial Cy Young candidate. Sale did open the season as the 2017 betting favorite to win his first Cy Young. I'm interested to see how he fares in Boston because Sale is a bit of a hothead at times - remember how he cut up all those uniforms last year? - and it's a lot different playing under the microscope in Boston than it is on the South Side of Chicago. I do expect Sale to reach 20 wins for the first time if he stays healthy with that terrific lineup behind him.

MLB Handicapping: Most Interesting Series in April
by Alan Matthews - 4/4/2017

After a very long offseason, baseball is back, baby. The first two days of the season have already offered some memorable games and surprising outcomes. And that's just a tiny taste of things to come. You never really know what you are going to get in April, and there are always going to be teams that are much better than expected and others that are much worse. From where we sit right now, though, there are five series that stand out from all the rest in April as the ones that promise both to be the most interesting and the most informative:

Five to Follow Expert MLB Betting Picks: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 4/3/2017

Welcome to my first "Five to Follow" story of the 2017 Major League Baseball season, otherwise known as Year 1 P.C. - as in Post Cub. Seriously, can anything happen this year that could top the Cubs ending their 108-year title drought last season? I doubt it, but that's what makes baseball great is there are always unexpected story lines. The purpose of these stories is to get you the lines almost immediately after they are posted each day (usually in around 1:30 p.m. ET) to get a jump-start on any possible betting advantages. Certainly a large part of these will be focusing on the pitchers, but also injuries or where you might see a key guy sit out. Those getaway day games are often when I recommend betting heavily against the road team, for example. It's usually when a manager will rest a key player or two. I'll be here all season, for the most part, every Tuesday-Saturday. Let's make some money.

2017 AL West Picks and Expert MLB Betting Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/31/2017

The American League West should again provide one of the most entertaining division races in all of baseball. With two-time defending West champions in Texas, potential powerhouses in Houston and Seattle, and under-the-radar spoilers in Los Angeles and Oakland, this division has a little bit of everything.

2017 NL West Picks and Expert MLB Betting Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/31/2017

The Dodgers are absolutely loaded and one of the favorites to win the World Series, finally. The Giants have to be respected for the fact that they've won three championships already this decade, and they are always a threat. Arizona has a pitching staff that, with a break or two, could be one of the best in the N.L. and Colorado has a lineup that is among the best in all of baseball. The Padres, well, they are pathetic. But the West has four teams that I expect to be competing for postseason opportunities.

2017 NL East Picks and Expert MLB Betting Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/30/2017

It's hard not to think of the National League East as a division full of losers. Sure, that's a bit misleading. The East has been one of the deepest and most consistently competitive divisions in baseball for the past two decades. But there is also no denying that the East has also been home to some of MLB's biggest postseason underachievers during that same stretch. From the old Braves teams that you just knew weren't going to win in October, to the loveable loser Mets, to the current Nationals, who are still waiting for their first postseason series win, the East has become a breeding ground for playoff futility.

2017 AL East Picks and Expert MLB Betting Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/29/2017

There are outstanding rivalries throughout every division in baseball. But the American League East still sets the standard for all-out war in terms of its division race. All five teams in the East are more than capable of putting together a playoff run, and there is absolutely zero margin for error with a group as stacked as this one. Throw in some good old-fashioned hatred and longstanding feuds, and this entire division is a powder keg.

2017 AL Central Picks and Expert MLB Betting Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/28/2017

Last fall Cleveland was one excruciating extra-inning loss in Game 7 away from its first World Series title in nearly 70 years. With a core of ascending talent locked up, a loaded young rotation, and a reasonable payroll situation on the heels of last year's success, the Indians look like a very stable franchise with a multiple-year window open for winning that first championship since 1948.

MLB Betting Advice: Cubs Championship Repeat Worth a Bet?
by Trevor Whenham - 3/16/2017

Last year the Chicago Cubs pulled off the seemingly impossible by winning the World Series. Luckily, the fabric of space and time was not ripped open when it happened. Now they face another significant task this year - doing it again. Repeating is tough, but so is this team. So, the question is simple - can the Cubs repeat? We will, of course, look at both sides:

MLB Betting Picks for BetOnline Pitcher Win Totals in 2017
by Trevor Whenham - 3/16/2017

This is a rough time to be a baseball fan. The novelty of spring training has worn off, the World Baseball Classic isn't interesting enough to consistently overcome its flaws, and all I want now is to start the season and watch, and bet on, games that actually matter. It's not too far off now, thankfully, so all we can do is wait. And to fill our time, BetOnline has a long list of pitcher win totals to peruse. Here are nine that stand out as the most interesting to consider. Some of them are packed with value:

MLB Betting Advice: Underrated Pitching Staffs in 2017
by Trevor Whenham - 3/9/2017

Baseball teams are only as good as their pitching staffs let them be. There are teams that get universal praise for what they have to offer on the mound - Boston, obviously, and the Cubs and Nationals among others. Everyone knows about those teams, and they will be bet aggressively. What I'm more interested in as a bettor are rotations that are better than the public seems to expect. Here we have three such teams - two that were just awful last year and a third that doesn't get enough praise for how good they were.

World Baseball Classic Expert Predictions: Q&A With Doc's Handicappers Esparza and Harris
by Doc's Sports - 2/28/2017

Sports bettors looking to get an early jump on a new season of baseball have a golden opportunity to cash in on the upcoming 2017 World Baseball Classic with the help of two of Doc's Sports top expert handicappers; Alan Harris and Raphael Esparza.