Baseball Handicapping Articles

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.

Tracking the Nationals: MLB Picks and Handicapping for Washington Baseball
by Dave Schwab - 9/2/2015

The Nationals started the season as heavy favorites to not only repeat as NL East Champs, but to make a strong run towards a World Series title. That is no longer the case after losing 12 of their first 16 games in August. A small ray of hope was a 6-3 record in its final nine games of the month, but Washington is now sitting 6.5 games off the pace in the division race set by the red-hot New York Mets.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Wednesday, September 2, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 9/1/2015

Monday night was the deadline for teams to acquire players in trades who cleared waivers and have them eligible for the postseason. Four contenders added some outfield help. The Cubs got Austin Jackson since Jorge Soler might miss the rest of the regular season with an injury; Jackson is the best player on this list. The Giants, who have battled outfield injuries all season, added Alejandro De Aza from the Red Sox; the Royals acquired Jonny Gomes from the Braves; and the Dodgers got Justin Ruggiano from Seattle.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Tuesday, September 1, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 8/31/2015

So we are into September, the final full month of baseball's regular season. Thus, let's look at how the standings were on Sept. 1 last season and see which of those teams made the playoffs. In the American League, your division leaders were Baltimore (8.5 games), Kansas City (half game) and the LA Angels (4.5 games). Oakland and Detroit led the wild-card standings.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Saturday, August 29, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 8/28/2015

If you follow these stories daily, you know I am pretty much obligated to touch on a pitcher's first start after a no-hitter. And to remind you that just one pitcher in big-league history, Cincinnati's Johnny Vander Meer in 1938, ever had consecutive no-hitters. Houston's Mike Fiers no-hit the Dodgers last Friday, striking out 10 and walking three. It was the fifth no-no in the majors this season, along with Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma, Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, San Francisco's Chris Heston and Washington's Max Scherzer.

Five To Follow MLB Betting: Friday August 28, 2015 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 8/27/2015

No doubt it will be a bittersweet return to San Francisco's AT&T Park on Friday night for St. Louis in the opener of a three-game series with the Giants. The last time the Cardinals visited there was Game 5 of last year's NLCS, which St. Louis was favored to win. However, the Giants finished it off with three straight home wins, capped by a walk-off series-winning three-run homer by Travis Ishikawa.