Baseball Handicapping Articles

MLB Spring Training Betting: Lessons we have Learned
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2015

It’s very early in spring training still, so it would be ridiculous to read too much into what is happening now. It has been a long time since we have seen meaningful baseball, though, so I can’t help but pay attention — and look for some things that could prove to be useful down the road. As spring rolls along we will know more, but at this point here are seven storylines that have stood out to me because they could be relevant in our search for value once the season starts.

2015 NL West Predictions with Odds and Expert MLB Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2015

Los Angeles was home to two division winners and two of the four best records in baseball last year. San Francisco is home to the Commissioner’s Trophy (again) for the World Series win. And San Diego is the new home of the biggest and most headline-grabbing acquisitions of the offseason.

2015 Al West Predictions with Odds and Expert MLB Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2015

The American League West was the best division in baseball last year. Not only did they host the league’s top regular-season team, but three clubs won 87 or more games and they were just two games (and a late Kansas City surge) away from sending three teams to the playoffs. It was a banner season for this bunch.

2015 NL Central Predictions with Odds and Expert MLB Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

For the second straight year it looks like the National League Central will be the deepest and most parity-driven division in baseball. Now that the Cubs have pulled their heads out and put together an actual functioning organization, there can be an argument made that any one of five teams could capture the Central crown this year.

2015 NL East Predictions with Odds and Expert MLB Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

The National League East is the Senior Circuit’s construction zone. With four teams actively rebuilding, the division is a mess. Washington appears like a legitimate contender for the N.L. pennant, and no one in the East seems capable of derailing them during the regular season. In fact, the East is so one-sided the Nationals are the largest favorite to win their division in baseball, sitting at nearly 1-to-4 odds. This one appears to be just a formality.

MLB World Series Futures Odds: Beware of Betting these Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 3/6/2015

Spring training has only just begun. That means that we are a month away from games that actually count for anything and at least a couple of months away from really knowing which teams are for real and which ones are just playing out the string. That doesn’t mean that we can’t speculate now, though. In fact, speculating is the fun part. In most years, the teams at that are favored right now are destined to burn the money of the public bettors that back them.

2015 Al East Predictions with Odds and Expert MLB Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/5/2015

It wasn’t long ago that the American League East was the clear-cut best division in baseball. In 2013 they boasted four teams with 85 or more wins, and in 2012 they featured three teams that won 90 or more. But like the current epidemic with America’s infrastructure, the franchises in the East are rotting at their foundations. Age and unfulfilled hype have crippled the Yankees and Red Sox, financial limitations and no fan support continue to shackle the Rays, and the Blue Jays and Orioles continue to fight a three-decades-old inferiority complex (and weak pitching) compared to their most successful rivals.

MLB Home Run Crown Betting Props Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 3/5/2015

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s love of the juice has tainted the race for the home run crown a little bit, but there are still few things more exciting in sports than the long ball. As fun as seeing someone go deep is trying to figure out who is going to go deep more than anyone. Sportsbook.ag has odds on dozens of players to lead the league in home runs this year. There is always a chance a guy can come from nowhere to win it, but for now we are going to focus on the seven favorites:

MLB 2015 Season Win Totals: Shopping for the Best Betting Odds
by Dave Schwab - 2/23/2015

Pitchers and catchers have already started reporting to MLB spring training sites, and the exhibition season gets underway in early March. Once the games start counting for real, all 30 teams will be under the gun to see if they can surpass the oddsmakers’ projected win totals for this season.

MLB Spring Training Betting: Keys to Preseason Handicapping
by Trevor Whenham - 2/22/2015

I would never bet on the NHL Preseason. I would never even watch the NFL Preseason for the most part. NBA offers little of note in their preseason. Baseball, though, has managed to make their spring training romantic and intriguing from a fan perspective and even somewhat interesting for bettors as long as they are choosy. Bettors who want to have betting success during spring training, though, need to do their homework and think about how the spring differs from the regular season and what they need to do to adjust and exploit those differences.

MLB Handicapping: Aces Who are Tough to Judge
by Trevor Whenham - 2/21/2015

When it comes to judging pitching staffs, there is no guy who gets more attention — or is more important to bettors as a result — than the ace. The public pays the most attention when he is on the mound, and in many cases the team responds better behind him than other pitchers, too. There are some aces out there that are easy to judge — Felix Hernandez can be counted on to be Felix Hernandez, for example. Others, though, are more challenging for handicappers to understand.

MLB Handicapping: Pitching Rotations to Keep an Eye On
by Trevor Whenham - 2/17/2015

Pitchers and catchers are now just a couple of days away from starting the long process that won’t end until the last team is standing in October. Since pitchers are the first to get going, it only makes sense that we look at them to see what has changed and what it can mean. A team can do more to change their fate by overhauling their rotation than any other single move, so it pays for handicappers to pay close attention to what pitching staffs have changed and which ones are worth watching closely.

MLB Handicapping: Major Odds Shifts for Futures
by Trevor Whenham - 2/17/2015

We are now just hours away from the real start of baseball for another year — pitchers and catchers start to report on Feb. 18, and the first position players are due on Feb. 23. At this time every year I start to get really itchy for things to get underway. Spring training is the only preseason in sports that matters, and then the long, glorious season will be underway in no time.

MLB Futures Betting Odds: Long Shots with Value
by Aaron Smith - 2/9/2015

It's never too early to start preparing for the Major League Baseball season. Pitchers and catchers start reporting in less than two weeks. It doesn't feel all that close with the current weather, but the boys of summer are less than two months from the beginning of the regular season.

MLB Odds and Trends: Nationals Clear Title Favorites with Max Scherzer
by Alan Matthews - 1/20/2015

Baseball's Hot Stove League had been rather quiet for a few weeks, but that all changed on Monday when the No. 1 free agent on the market this offseason, former Tigers pitcher and Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, signed a whopping seven-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals -- the one team that didn't need starting pitching.

MLB Predictions: Who Won Big Cardinals-Braves Trade?
by Alan Matthews - 11/18/2014

Major League Baseball's Hot Stove League is really starting to heat up now. For example, the Toronto Blue Jays surprisingly signed perhaps the top position player free agent, former Pirates catcher Russell Martin, on Monday. That came out of nowhere as it was widely presumed that Martin was going to sign with the Chicago Cubs, who have been taking a huge amount of futures action at Bovada since hiring Joe Maddon. Martin would have shortened those World Series odds even more.

MLB World Series Betting: Game 6 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 10/27/2014

Let's hope the Kansas City Royals win Game 6 of the World Series back at home vs. San Francisco on Tuesday, although I did project Giants in six before the Fall Classic began. I'd definitely like to see a Game 7, although I will have to switch back and forth from the baseball to the Bulls-Knicks NBA opener on Wednesday. The last Game 7 of a World Series was in 2011 when the Cardinals -- at home -- beat the Texas Rangers. Before that you had to go back to 2002 when the Angels beat the Giants in seven games. I do think another World Series title stamps San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy's ticket to Cooperstown.

MLB World Series Betting: Game 3 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 10/23/2014

Thank you, Kansas City Royals. I don't really care who wins this World Series, although like most outside of the San Francisco Bay Area I am pulling for the underdog Royals because they haven't won anything in 29 years. Before this series began, I leaned the Giants in six games, and I still feel that way. However, I am thrilled the Royals won Game 2 on Wednesday night -- this is just the second World Series where the first two games were both decided by five runs or more -- because other than K.C.'s wild-card win over Oakland, these playoffs have been rather dull.

MLB World Series Betting: Game 1 Opening Line Report
by Alan Matthews - 10/20/2014

Well, here we have the World Series that I correctly projected back in spring training: San Francisco Giants against Kansas City Royals. Uh, NOT! I am stunned this is the Fall Classic matchup. I didn't think San Francisco would beat Washington or St. Louis. I thought Kansas City would get stomped by the Los Angeles Angels, although beating the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS wasn't a shocker. But you will never convince me these are the two best teams in baseball. They are just the two hottest right now.

2014 World Series Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 10/17/2014

I am not a fan of the wild card in baseball. Not even remotely. This postseason has warmed me up to the concept somewhat, though. First, the two wild card games were interesting in different ways — Kansas City for the incredible drama, and San Francisco for the crushing dominance. Then the two teams showed that they had just been saving themselves for the postseason.