Now that the World Series is over, baseball betting fans are watching as all of the individual hardware is being given out. From CY Young awards to Rookie of the Year, fans sports betting on baseball are winning their wagers on which players should be honored this year.
The 2010 edition of the Rookie of the Year awards saw the MLB award two of perhaps the best new stars we have seen in the last decade. This got us thinking, about all of the other top rookies in the last decade to make an impact. Here are two that come to mind.
1. Dan Uggla, 2005 Florida Marlins – Entering the MLB knowing your job isn’t secured is no easy task let alone putting up big offensive numbers. However in 2005, Dan Uggla debuted with the Florida Marlins and since that time has continued to grow into one of the elite talents of the game.
How is this for an impact, by season’s end in 2005, Uggla had an average of 282, 27 home runs, and 90 runs batted in, in 154 games. Uggla was traded from the Marlins yesterday after contract extension talks fell through to rival Atlanta Braves. It is hard to believe that the Marlins couldn’t get any prospects back in the deal, as Uggla has continued to put up impressive numbers since his debut in 2005.
2. Ryan Zimmerman, 2006 Washington Nationals – The Washington Nationals will likely be an MLB powerhouse in the same fashion as the Tampa Bay Rays. One of the biggest reasons why is third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Debuting in 2006, Zimmerman burst onto the MLB scene as an offensive corner infielder, hitting .287 with 20 home runs, 110 runs batted in and an 822 on base percentage. Initially his defense lacked, but Zimmerman has since fixed his flaws while turning into one of the most complete baseball players in the league today.
Similar to MLB betting sites, as soon as Brian Wilson closed out game five of the World Series, the 29 other General Managers in the league were on the phones negotiating contracts with free agents for next season. All 30 MLB ball clubs have exactly a week to talk about extensions with their clubs free agents. Meaning to say,baseball betting fans hoping Cliff Lee moves to New York will have to wait until next Monday for him to do so. With that said, here are two free agent hitters who could switch teams this offseason.
- Lance Berkman 1B / DH -The long time Houston Astro first baseman was traded to the New York Yankees this past July in a move that was supposed to put the team over the top when defending its 2009 World Series. Instead, Berkman was a flop and at $15 million on a club option, the Yankees weren’t willing to give the big guy a second chance.
Now although the Yankees Berkman experiment can be considered a disaster, that isn’t to say that Berkman won’t have many suitors vying for his services. He would look great on a team such as the Tampa Bay Rays who could use an experienced designated hitter with some offensive flare.
- Carl Crawford OF -The long time Rays product is finally a free agent and will be looking for a serious long term contract. With the Rays depth at the outfield positions, both in the dugout and farm system, the writing is on the wall that Crawford won’t be back in Florida this season.
However, while he may not be back in Tampa Bay, that isn’t to say, he won’t be back in the American League East. With the Boston Red Sox looking to improve their outfield and the New York Yankees always looking for another outfielder, Crawford could find himself with a lot of money in a passionate baseball city.
With the MLB betting playoffs getting underway Wednesday night, featuring three of the four series’ overall, there appears to be a dramatic fall off between the teams projected as favorites, and the rest of the league. After consecutive years of making it to the World Series, and with one championship apiece, the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are considered the obvious top dogs as the postseason begins. Meanwhile, with the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants coming out of seemingly nowhere to win their respective divisions, neither is expected to make much of a splash. However, there is one more team that should join the Yankees and Phillies as one of the top three teams in baseball this year, and unfortunately for the reigning World Series champions, that team is the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins and Yankees will battle in the first round of the playoffs, with Minnesota getting home-field advantage for the five-game series after New York failed to hold off the Tampa Bay Rays for top spot in the AL East. Despite 95 wins in the regular season, the Yankees will now have to travel in the opening round of the playoffs, which could prove to be a crucial factor given that the Twins have the best home record in baseball. The Phillies get the Reds in round one, which isn’t as difficult of a task, but it will be interesting to see nonetheless if Philadelphia and New York can three-peat, with the Twins rounding out that group as the three best betting teams in baseball.
The only team from the American League that has been able to give the New York Yankees a baseball betting challenge over the past couple of seasons is the Tampa Bay Rays, and once again in 2010-11, it’s the Rays that are challenging the Yankees for AL supremacy. The Minnesota Twins are right there with them for top spot in the AL, but the AL Central division is a lot less talented than the ultra-competitive AL East, with two of the five teams in the division, both with records 16 games below .500 or lower. The Yankees are built to succeed during the regular season, but after consecutive years of going all the way the pressure may be too much to repeat, and that could allow a team like the Rays to take advantage and steal their spot.
While the Rays are an excellent example of a sports betting team built for the postseason providing a legitimate threat to the favorite, the National League is a little more complicated, as the current division leaders in the Central and West divisions aren’t exactly built like playoff teams on paper. The Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres have had the benefit of excellent management, timely hitting, and some excellent pitching deep in their rotations over the course of the season, but when it comes to three-on-three playoff pitching, and clutch situations, there is no reason to think that either can challenge the Phillies. That is why although Philadelphia is destined to repeat, they will play the Yankees rather than the Rays in this year’s World Series.
If late season surges are any indicator, MLB betting fans would be making a ton of money on the play of the big three in the Philadelphia Phillies pitching rotation. Over the last three months, the Philadelphia Phillies had been trailing divisional rival the Atlanta Braves for the division lead. However, as many baseball betting fans found out last night, the Phillies are here to contend for third consecutive trip to the World Series.
At the July trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies dealt away star pitching prospect JA Happ to the Houston Astros for veteran flamethrower Roy Oswalt. With Oswalt’s early season struggles, fans and critics alike had many questions surrounding the Phillies decision to acquire the disgruntled ace of the Astros.
Two and a half months later, the move has paid dividends, as Oswalt has returned to flamethrower form. When he was with the Houston Astros as we noted above, Oswalt was abysmal at best. He posted a brutal record of six wins and 12 losses with an earned run average well over three while playing for Houston this year.
Nevertheless, since the trade, Oswalt has gone five and one and the Phillies are an astounding seven and one when he pitches. Meaning to say, Oswalt has allowed for the Phillies management to once again appear as geniuses when making a deadline day pitching acquisition.
If we had to predict who the best starting trio would be in the entire league come playoff time, it would be the Philadelphia Phillies, (and that is no betonline scam). Led by former Blue Jay staff ace Roy Halladay, the starting rotation has kept the Phillies alive, while the offense works out its kinks. The trio in Philly is rounded out by longtime Philly Cole Hamels. Hamels a former World Series MVP had struggled to begin the season, but has since rebounded to put together a strong campaign.
Never has there been a more hyped up prospect than Stephen Strasburg in the history of MLB betting. Since he went first overall in the 2009 entry level draft, seeing his MLB game previews Strasburg has been praised in a comparable way to that of other baseball betting pitchers that are now in the hall of fame. Debuting for the Washington Nationals on June eighth against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Strasburg has lived up to the hype during his rookie year. Here is a recap of the rookie season for one Stephen Strasburg.
Debuting on June eighth in a night game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Strasburg looked like a grizzled veteran rather than a man playing in his first major league game. Strasburg has been the most talked about pitching prospect in the game over the last decade. Not since former Chicago Cubs starter Mark Prior has this much pressure been placed on a top prospect. In his debut, Strasburg helped the Nationals make a lot of money, as his debut was watched in front of the largest crowd in the MLB’s history. The stadium was sold out and several million baseball fans watched a game that would have otherwise been ignored.
What’s more, during Strasburg’s debut game he went seven strong innings giving up two runs off of home runs and striking out a Washington Nationals record 14 batters. Strasburg became the first pitcher ever to strike out 11 batters in their debut without giving up a walk.
Since his debut, Strasburg has been placed on the disabled list twice with shoulder woes. The hard throwing righty may be the most hyped prospect but also may have the shortest career. In the starts following his debut, Strasburg has averaged at least eight strikeouts a game. However, with the majority of his pitches being clocked between 95 and 100 miles per hour, it is only a matter of time until he blows his arm out.
MLB betting for the Washington Nationals has never been greater as Monday and Tuesday night showed two dominant reasons for why fans should start betting on this team. On Monday night, with the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB entry draft the Nationals took 17 year old outfield phenom Bryce Harper. Then last night, the Nationals top pitching prospect and 2009 first overall pick Stephen Strasburg made his debut in the big leagues. Strasburg and Harper have both been hyped up by the baseball experts as having the biggest ceilings in professional sports. As a result, Nationals fans betting on the team to dominate the NL East for years to come have plenty to be optimistic about.
In his debut last night against basement dweller the Pittsburgh Pirates Strasburg picked up the win in a five to two victory, logging seven strong innings of four hit ball while striking out a career high 14 batters. Let me repeat, last night June 8th 2010 was Strasburg’s MLB debut and he struck out a career high 14 batters. There are pitchers pitching in the league for the last five years who have yet to fan 14 batters in a single game, and Strasburg did it in his debut. The way Strasburg pitched, one would not have known that he was making his debut as he appeared as confident as the league’s greatest pitchers, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee to name a few. If Strasburg can continue to be as dominant this season as he was in his debut, no one should be surprised, if he wins the 2010 CY Young.
Conversely, Bryce Harper, the Nationals 2010 pick, is the much needed outfield bat the club has not seen since its days in Montreal. Harper has been described by experts as the Lebron James of baseball, and while we have yet to see if Harper has James’s swagger, we do know that he has the talent to live up to the comparison. In an all star game home run derby last year, Harper hit a home run which was over 500 feet. Furthermore, Harper is only 17 and switched schools specifically to play with wooden bats instead of Metal so he would feel the same as a big league hitter.
If both Harper and Strasburg can reach their potentials and avoid injuries, the Nationals will have perhaps the brightest future of all the teams in Major League Baseball. The team has yet to win a World Series, but with Strasburg presently on the team and Harper waiting in the wings, a championship can be seen in the not so distant future.
MLB betting and fantasy players alike don’t know what to do with David Ortiz, the aging Boston slugger who is coming off one of his best months in recent memory. So when it comes to your fantasy team, do you hold onto “Big Papi”, or trade while the value is high?
In April, Ortiz had a .143 average with a single homer and four RBIs, and like last year, many were wondering if the big slugger was done. Ortiz exploded on the media, manager Terry Francona, and for all of May, he exploded on the opposition. Ortiz went deep 10 times with 27 RBIs in the month of May, and he also hit .363 at the plate. That has sparked a comeback by the Red Sox, who struggled through the first month of the season.
Over the last three years, Ortiz has been generally a slow starter, but he picks up the pace in June. This year, he started a month early and the Red Sox are hoping that he can continue to keep this trend up. From 2007 to 2009, Ortiz hit .264 with 39 homers and 142 RBIs in 796 games before the All-Star break. In 710 games after the All-Star break during those three years, Ortiz knocked out 47 homers with 163 RBIs and a .297 average.
We would hang onto Ortiz for at least another month to see if his upward ascent is for real, and we think it is. We think Ortiz has one more huge year left in him before he hangs them up, and that will be huge for Boston’s betting odds.
It’s getting close to the time where we start looking at NCAA point spreads once again – no, not college football betting as we are still a ways away from football and NFL betting tips – we are referring to the NCAA World Series.
It’s once again that time to embrace the ping and if you haven’t watched the college baseball world series before, you are definitely missing out on one of the best events you can bet on in the sportsbook.
The Florida Gators are expected to make a run at this year’s title, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to anyone. The Gators are perennially a sports juggernaut – mostly in college football – but the are expected to be a contender in the NCAA World Series as well.
They won the regular season SEC championship with a record of 22-8. The surprise Gators squad that went to the finals back in 2005 only had 20 wins, so the expectations have climbed significantly for this squad.
Keep an eye on this squad as they are much deeper than in year’s past. They have plenty of good pitching and as we all know, pitching gets you wins in baseball. Don’t be surprised if it’s this team from Florida – and not Miami or Florida State – that makes a big splash in the college world series.
“If at first you don’t succeed try again” For the Tampa Bay Rays this phrase has never been truer. Through the first decade of existence, the Rays were the laughingstock of not only the American League East, but the entire league. Suddenly in 2008, out of nowhere, the Rays turned their fortunes around, getting off to a strong start and finishing as the American League Champions by season’s end, as they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. Regardless of the outcome of 2008, the season would go down as a success for the team, as 2008 not only was one of their winning seasons, but they almost won the World Series too. In the two years since their Cinderella season, the Rays have become one of the best teams in baseball. Further fans have gone from betting against the Rays, to betting for them.
This season, could end up as the team’s best as they have accumulated a record of 32 wins and 13 losses thus far. Also, the average age on the team is an astonishing 26. The team’s backbone has been its starting pitching staff. Each pitcher has the goal of throwing a complete game, and if that falters, the bullpen is strong enough to maintain the lead and eventual victory. Starting pitcher and top prospect David Price, leads the league with a 1.30 ERA, even though, he is the number four starter in the rotation. As seen with the average age on the team, the majority of the roster came from the Rays farm system, proving that being bad for years can have its benefits. Similar to other AL East teams, the Rays offense has a lot of depth at each position, led by the power of first and third basemen Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, the Rays continue to lead the league in stolen bases with outfielders Carl Crawford and BJ Upton leading the charge on the base path’s. Given how strong of a start the Rays have gotten off too, it appears that they will soon claim their title as the best team in baseball, while assuring their Cinderella story comes to fruition.
