[Chance Harper]

Interleague betting over, MLB slate returns to normal

Betting baseball during the interleague portion of the schedule proved mighty easy this year with the American League once again dominating their counterparts in the National League. Two AL teams that truly benefitted from playing NL clubs were the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins who went 13-5 and 14-4 versus the Senior Circuit to climb back into the AL Central race. The two teams meet to open this week.

We’ve finally reached the end of the latest interleague MLB long march. This past weekend provided some incredible highlights – none more so than the no-hitter that wasn’t. On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels 1-0 on the strength of three walks, two errors and a sacrifice fly. The Angels were the road team, and the Dodgers didn’t have to go to bat in the bottom of the ninth, so no no-hitter for Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo.

Even with the Dodgers getting away with grand theft ballgame, American League teams are 121-88 against their National League brethren this year, making about 35 units in the process. That’s an impressive haul, especially with the junior circuit favored in the vast majority of their interleague matchups.

Having the designated hitter in place since 1973 hasn’t rendered the AL game completely unrecognizable from the original, but it has forced the league’s pitchers to develop their craft – no more pitching around the No. 8 hitter just to get an easy out. Even when the AL and NL play under the same rules (no DH when playing in NL parks), the pitchers from the junior circuit have still evolved to the point where they can be counted on to outperform their NL counterparts as a group. It’s like picking cherries off a tree for handicappers.

Now it's back to a regular schedule with one big series on tap to start the week.

Tigers at Twins
Game 1: Monday, June 30, 8:10 p.m. Eastern
DET: Armando Galarraga
MIN: Glen Perkins

Game 2: Tuesday, July 1, 8:10 p.m.
DET: Nate Robertson
MIN: Scott Baker

Game 3: Wednesday, June 30, 1:10 p.m.
DET: Eddie Bonine
MIN: Nick Blackburn

The Detroit Tigers (12-3) and the Minnesota Twins (13-2) took turns annihilating their NL opponents this month. Now they get to pick on someone their own size. This has been a particularly important stretch for the Tigers, who are finally above .500 at 41-40 (-6.24 units) after a horrible start to the season. They’re still five games back of the White Sox in the AL Central; Minnesota is 1.5 games off the pace at 45-37, collecting 13.39 units in the post-Johan Santana Era.

Detroit’s starting rotation is back on track, but we’ll be seeing some unfamiliar faces on the mound during this series. Armando Galarraga (3.32 ERA, 4.52 xFIP) has saved the Tigers’ bacon by leading his team to 10 victories and 8.07 units of profit in 12 starts as a rookie. Eddie Bonine (3.98 ERA, 4.75 xFIP) has held his own after three starts at the major-league level.

Life will be harder for the Tigers now that Magglio Ordonez (.866 OPS) has been put on the shelf with a pulled right oblique. This is great news for the Twins, who are getting by with a collection of relatively unknown starters. The three men scheduled to pitch in this series have all been far more effective than presumptive ace Livan Hernandez, although he leads all Twins pitchers with 9.5 units of profit. Minnesota has gotten the most from the least in the hitting department, scoring 394 runs (fifth in the majors) despite a mere 55 home runs, three more than San Francisco for last place. Minnesota leads all clubs with 33 sacrifice flies.

The Twins can’t expect to continue scraping together runs like that. Detroit, however, has posted a .825 team OPS in the month of June, living up to the promise of their revamped batting order. A healthy Curtis Granderson (.937 OPS in June) and Gary Sheffield (.983 OPS) make Miguel Cabrera’s underwhelming .788 OPS far less problematic for Tigers supporters.

Detroit is a -125 road favorite in Game 1 with a total of 9½ runs.

[Bread]

I'm lovin this run by the Tigers. Better late than never.

[capperwizzard]

That melt down by Todd Jones Saturday cost me a easy under win.

[Bread]

I was watching that meltdown. I am not a Todd fan. At all.

[pico]

only people who like todd jones are those who bet against the tigers

[willyback]

Interleague play wasn't that bad. With exception of a few strong teams - the American League simply slaughtered the National League. That's why bum ass teams like Kansas City and Minnesota were able to get back on track (they picked on the NL). Lets see how long the "good times roll" now that they have to face tough AL teams again.

[SBR Lou]

Good, I was getting tired of that interleague stuff.