MLB betting comes down to final weekend
MLB betting comes down to final weekend
The MLB playoff races have come down to the final weekend with the AL Central still up for grabs and two of the four NL races yet to be decided. Prince Fielder and his Milwaukee Brewers will host the Chicago Cubs this weekend at Miller Park with the Brew Crew tied for the NL Wild Card alongside the New York Mets who trail the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East race by a game. Got all that?
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in. The Arizona Diamondbacks are out. But we still don’t have our complete MLB playoff picture yet with just three games left to go for most teams.
The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers remain tied for the National League Wild Card, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins are duking it out for the American League Central, and the Boston Red Sox could still take the AL East from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Battling for a playoff spot is a great source of motivation and a major consideration when drawing up the MLB betting odds. This year, so is the fight for last place and a shot at the No. 1 draft pick – almost certain to be San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the lone collegiate on the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. The Mariners were the first team to lose 100 games this season; not to dance on their grave or anything, but…nailed it.
Yankees at Red Sox
Game 1: Friday, 7:05 p.m. Eastern
NYY: Alfredo Aceves
BOS: Daisuke Matsuzaka
Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
NYY: Sidney Ponson
BOS: Josh Beckett
Game 3: Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
NYY: Mike Mussina
BOS: Tim Wakefield
The Red Sox are going to make the playoffs. It’s just a question of whether they get the Wild Card or win the division. They’ll give it their best shot; Boston is 55-23 (+19.03 units) at Fenway Park and 39-42 (-5.61 units) elsewhere, so home-field advantage is a big deal for them. And because it’s a big deal for the Red Sox, the Yankees (87-72, -7.33 units) will want to play the spoiler role that much more.
The Yankees are sending rookie Alfredo Aceves (1.38 ERA in 26 innings) to the mound in the opener against Daisuke Matsuzaka (2.80 ERA, 4.13 tRA). Dice-K has a deceptively low ERA, stranding 80.9 percent of runners this year and racking up 14.77 units of profit as a result. That’s second only to Florida’s Ricky Nolasco (14.94 units).
New York goes into the opener having used five relievers in Thursday’s 8-2 loss to Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yanks had won nine of their last 10 before that. Boston is 4-2 in its last six and 8-7 versus the Yankees on the season.
Cubs at Brewers
Game 1: Friday, 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
CHI: Ryan Dempster
MIL: Jeff Suppan
Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
CHI: Ted Lilly
MIL: Ben Sheets
Game 3: Sunday, 2:05 p.m.
CHI: Jason Marquis
MIL: CC Sabathia
The Cubs extended their bullpen on Wednesday, and it came back to bite them on Thursday when they let the Mets come back from a 6-4 deficit in the eighth to win 7-6 and stay even with Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card race. It’s not that big a deal for the Cubs – they’ve clinched the best record in the senior circuit at 96-62 (15.92 units). Chicago is 4-2 versus the Mets this year and 8-5 against Milwaukee.
The Brewers (88-71, 6.53 units) have their two best pitchers lined up to play the final two games of the season against the back end of the Chicago rotation. But the series opener is heavily tilted toward the Cubs. Ryan Dempster (2.99 ERA, 3.53 tRA) is having an unbelievably good year for Chicago, collecting 8.92 units of profit and leading the Cubs to victory in 22 of his 32 starts. Jeff Suppan (5.06 ERA, 6.06 tRA) is having one of his worst years ever, but he’s gotten away with it. Milwaukee is 16-14 in his 30 starts for a profit of 1.11 units. The over is 16-11-3 when Suppan pitches.
Milwaukee is a -125 home chalk in Game 1 with a total of nine runs. The over is 9-2-2 in Cubs-Brewers matchups this season and 22-8-4 the past 34 games.
The MLB playoff races have come down to the final weekend with the AL Central still up for grabs and two of the four NL races yet to be decided. Prince Fielder and his Milwaukee Brewers will host the Chicago Cubs this weekend at Miller Park with the Brew Crew tied for the NL Wild Card alongside the New York Mets who trail the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East race by a game. Got all that?
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in. The Arizona Diamondbacks are out. But we still don’t have our complete MLB playoff picture yet with just three games left to go for most teams.
The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers remain tied for the National League Wild Card, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins are duking it out for the American League Central, and the Boston Red Sox could still take the AL East from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Battling for a playoff spot is a great source of motivation and a major consideration when drawing up the MLB betting odds. This year, so is the fight for last place and a shot at the No. 1 draft pick – almost certain to be San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the lone collegiate on the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. The Mariners were the first team to lose 100 games this season; not to dance on their grave or anything, but…nailed it.
Yankees at Red Sox
Game 1: Friday, 7:05 p.m. Eastern
NYY: Alfredo Aceves
BOS: Daisuke Matsuzaka
Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
NYY: Sidney Ponson
BOS: Josh Beckett
Game 3: Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
NYY: Mike Mussina
BOS: Tim Wakefield
The Red Sox are going to make the playoffs. It’s just a question of whether they get the Wild Card or win the division. They’ll give it their best shot; Boston is 55-23 (+19.03 units) at Fenway Park and 39-42 (-5.61 units) elsewhere, so home-field advantage is a big deal for them. And because it’s a big deal for the Red Sox, the Yankees (87-72, -7.33 units) will want to play the spoiler role that much more.
The Yankees are sending rookie Alfredo Aceves (1.38 ERA in 26 innings) to the mound in the opener against Daisuke Matsuzaka (2.80 ERA, 4.13 tRA). Dice-K has a deceptively low ERA, stranding 80.9 percent of runners this year and racking up 14.77 units of profit as a result. That’s second only to Florida’s Ricky Nolasco (14.94 units).
New York goes into the opener having used five relievers in Thursday’s 8-2 loss to Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yanks had won nine of their last 10 before that. Boston is 4-2 in its last six and 8-7 versus the Yankees on the season.
Cubs at Brewers
Game 1: Friday, 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
CHI: Ryan Dempster
MIL: Jeff Suppan
Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
CHI: Ted Lilly
MIL: Ben Sheets
Game 3: Sunday, 2:05 p.m.
CHI: Jason Marquis
MIL: CC Sabathia
The Cubs extended their bullpen on Wednesday, and it came back to bite them on Thursday when they let the Mets come back from a 6-4 deficit in the eighth to win 7-6 and stay even with Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card race. It’s not that big a deal for the Cubs – they’ve clinched the best record in the senior circuit at 96-62 (15.92 units). Chicago is 4-2 versus the Mets this year and 8-5 against Milwaukee.
The Brewers (88-71, 6.53 units) have their two best pitchers lined up to play the final two games of the season against the back end of the Chicago rotation. But the series opener is heavily tilted toward the Cubs. Ryan Dempster (2.99 ERA, 3.53 tRA) is having an unbelievably good year for Chicago, collecting 8.92 units of profit and leading the Cubs to victory in 22 of his 32 starts. Jeff Suppan (5.06 ERA, 6.06 tRA) is having one of his worst years ever, but he’s gotten away with it. Milwaukee is 16-14 in his 30 starts for a profit of 1.11 units. The over is 16-11-3 when Suppan pitches.
Milwaukee is a -125 home chalk in Game 1 with a total of nine runs. The over is 9-2-2 in Cubs-Brewers matchups this season and 22-8-4 the past 34 games.