With nearly two months and a third of the Major League Baseball regular season in the record books and with an eye toward the rapidly approaching Dog Days of Summer, fans of MLB betting would be wise to assess what's worked and what hasn't worked so far in 2010.
The cry of "Play ball" won't be heard around MLB ballparks for a while but Major League Baseball betting enthusiasts need not wait until opening day, April 4, to get some action on the upcoming season.
We're about a third of the way through the regular season, a time when many Major League Baseball betting fans assess their future book wagers and look to improve their position. It turns out that MLB futures also reveal quite a bit about day-to-day baseball betting, as well.
There's no doubt that the Red Sox and Yankees are the bullies of the American League East but baseball betting aficionados understand that straight up achievement doesn't always translate to wagering success, arguing for a more sophisticated analysis of the upcoming Major League Baseball campaign.
The Indians were the surprise team in the American League Central Division a year ago, not only winning on the field, but at the wagering windows, as well.
The Angels may have coasted to a comfortable victory in the AL West but astute
MLB betting fans also were able to find winning plays for the other three teams
in the division last year.
Proving that MLB betting is a difficult pursuit for even the most studious sports bettor, the Nationals, who finished a distant fourth in the NL East, were a lot more reliable a bet that the heralded Mets, who were in the division hunt until the final weekend of the season, last year.
The Cubs won last year's National League Central title (and are favored to do
so again in 2008) but savvy baseball betting fans were more than able to find
wagering nuggets throughout the division by either betting on or against
certain teams in certain situations.
With four teams over .500 and three teams involved in the post-season (the
Rockies beat the Padres in a one-game playoff for the wild card), the National
League West was a high-profile division last season, not just for baseball fans
but for fans of MLB betting.
The marathon Major League Baseball betting season starts at the end of this month but for those gamblers for whom the cry of "play ball" can't come soon enough or for those other bettors who consider the 2,430-game diamond campaign little more than a walk in the (ball)park, future book wagering is available right now.
The Mets came within a game of the World Series and hope that better health, especially in the pitching staff, and a good mix of emerging young players and veteran performers, will get them to the October Classic this year.
Chicago's fall from World Series champion to also-ran can be traced to a pitching staff that yielded exactly one more run per game (3.61 to 4.61) than in 2005.
The Yankees scored the most runs in baseball last year and a lineup that features Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, Hidecki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano figures to be every bit as potent this season.
