You knew it wouldn't last...we did an article
a few weeks back highlighting the most profitable teams in baseball for bettors
and one club that stood front and center was the Toronto Blue Jays. Not so much
now.
The Dodgers were also a big part of that
last column, but they've demonstrated some real staying power, even without the
services of the suspended Manny. LA are still the most profitable team in all
the majors.
The Dodgers are currently 18-5 at home,
16-10 on the road (34-15 overall) and when looking at their future odds at SPORTSBETTING.com, they are now listed
at -3000 to win the National League West, +250 to take the NL pennant and +500
to win the World Series.
Another surprise is the team that is the
best money team in the American League.
As mentioned above, it isn't the Toronto
Blue Jays, who have fallen back to earth, the Boston Red Sox or even the New
York Yankees-the current top money team in the AL is, wait for it, the Texas
Rangers.
The Rangers are 15-8 at home, 12-11 on the
road and 27-19 overall and while they are one of the faves to win the AL West
at +100, the odds aren't as favorable for an AL title, +1000, or a World Series
championship, +2000.
When it comes to World Series futures
betting, one of the usual suspects is the odds-on favorite and that would be
the Boston Red Sox at +400.
In case you're keeping count, the BoSox are
also +120 to take the AL East and +200 to take the AL pennant.
Home
Run Future Betting
The Home Run Futures betting is always fun
to watch, both before the season and as the schedule moves along.
Online
sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com has been seeing steady action come in on Jason
Bay of the Boston Red Sox the last few weeks as he has jumped on to everyone's
radar screen. Bay has 14 HRs and would
pay out at +3000 if he finished the season at the top of the heap.
As of this morning, San
Diego's Adrian Gonzalez leads all MLB hitters, including those in
the NL, with 18 long balls while Tampa
Bay's Carlos Pena is second in the
majors and tops in the AL
with 16 homers. Both have been getting attention from the sports betting public
since the start of the season.
Should Gonzalez maintain his pace and
finish the regular season as the top home run hitter, he'll pay out at +800 in
Most Regular Season Home Run propositions.
Should Pena overtake Gonzalez for the HR
lead, he would pay out at +500.
In terms of the odds-on favorite, the honor
goes to 1B Mark Teixeira, who was signed by the New York Yankees in the
offseason; he's listed at +300 to finish on top of the HR race.
Amongst the other options in this prop are
some familiar faces.
Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals
currently has 14 homers and is listed at +450 and ditto for the Philadelphia
Phillies' Ryan Howard who currently has 12.
Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins has
been a reliable home run hitter thus far in his career, currently sits with 14
homers and is listed at +2000 to finish as the leader of the pack.
Despite admitting to taking steroids
earlier in the year, New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez is still on the betting
menu for the HR leader prop and is listed at +800.
There are also some normally reliable
players that are actually listed as longshots.
New York Mets CF Carlos Beltran is being
hampered by a knee injury and has only hit 6 homers through 44 games and is
listed at +10,000.
A hip injury has Beltran's teammate Carlos
Delgado on the 15-day DL with a hip injury and could miss 8-10 weeks according
to some reports.
Delgado only has 4 homers so far and, like
Beltran, is a +10,000 longshot to win the home run race.
Boston Red Sox power hitter David Ortiz has
averaged 24 homers a season but is struggling mightily so far in 2009.
Big Papi has one measly HR through 43 games
and is also +10,000 to win the regular season home run derby.
The MLB season is a marathon and one of the
things that keeps the long season interesting is the HR race.
