[Prior]

Anyone have an idea approximately when to expect the regular season MLB Division odds to be released? All the big name free agents are gone, the odds of significant trades are rather slim, and Spring Training is due to begin soon.

Also do most sites let free play money go towards future bets (like picking someone to win the NL Central). I'm a Cub fan and they're the clear cut NL Central favorites. Should I expect all the main books to offer about the same line? And if so any predictions on what that line would be to win the Central? Thanks.

[cala56]

Hi! 5Dimes release it in March. Second week, your cubbies will be at plus 120 to win, i think. Pirates will have a nice value between 600 or 700. Good Luck.

[EXhoosier10]

Last year, i first saw them on Feb 22.

[Prior]

Hi! 5Dimes release it in March. Second week, your cubbies will be at plus 120 to win, i think. Pirates will have a nice value between 600 or 700. Good Luck.

+120 is pretty fair in my mind. Brewers and Reds have no shot to win the Central. And even though the Bucs won an additional game than the Cubs they lost Burnett and Happ in their rotation. And their lineup, outside of McCutchen, isn't dominant by any stretch of the imagination.

So it comes down to the Cardinals. I'd be shocked if their offense was more effective (as outside of Carpenter the rest of the lineup could potentially produce at only league average paces). It comes down to their rotation health. If St Louis can get 450+ innings out of Wainwright, Garcia and Martinez they have a chance to be a real threat (as all three have serious upside).

Do most sites tend to have similar odds when it comes to future MLB lines? In other words is it a legit possibility one site could have the Cubs at around +120, and another could be +140? I'd definitely be willing to pick a site based upon an additional bit of leverage in their line.

[EXhoosier10]

at any point of time basd on last years numbers,
-- Sportsbook.ag averaged ~10.0% vig on a division,
-- Betonline average ~ 15.7% vig
-- Bovada averaged 14.7%
-- Heritage averaged ~20.7%
-- 5Dimes averaged ~15.6%
-- Compared to pinnacle, which averaged ~10.2% vig per division

By playing at all these books and using the best odds for each team, the overall vig for a division averaged ~5.2% vig, with a couple instances, where sites have stale lines, that a dvision had negative vig.

To give you an example form the NL Central, the vubs on Apr 3 were +300 on bovada, +350 on sportsbook, and +404 on pinny. ON Feb 22nd, the cubs were +275 at bovada vs +400 at sportsbook. Another example is the cardinals ranging from +100 to +140, or +115-+130 on Apr 3.

So to answer your question, shopping around for lines is lucrative. If you're going to be betting volume, line shopping is the best thing you can do for yourself; better than bonuses, reduced juice, etc. Being able to hit stale lines which normally give 0.5-2% "discount" with the occasional 5% "discount" is worth a ton of money in the long run.