Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays were hoping that their team could make a splash in the market during the offseason to land a starting pitcher and even though they came up just short in their bid for Japanese superstar Yu Darvish, they managed to land Sergio Santos as their closer, which should help them keep runs down and that is a trend that has invaded the major leagues in recent years.
In the post-steroid era, pitchers have the advantage now as hitters aren’t swatting it out of the park as easily anymore. Even March Madness betting players will tell you that ERAs in both leagues are as low as they have been in the modern era, and pitchers are getting as much publicity as the big bats now.
That means you’re probably not going to find totals coming in very high nowadays, which makes looking at the starting pitcher that much more important. You can take last season’s Cy Young winners, Detroit’s Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and you can see that the totals for their games are probably going to be lower than they would for another pitcher on their team.
Then you have certain parks that don’t normally treat hitters well, and you’ll find lower totals there as well; places like PETCO Park in San Diego or Safeco Field in Seattle, you’re likely to find a lower total there than you would in the Ballpark in Arlington. These are all factors you must consider before making MLB selections in your best online sportsbook.
