Be smart and wager early on in the baseball season. Early season baseball wagering basketball and baseball have some common features. Both sports appear to be built around the same basic principals. That means more common sense and less racing for the best odds can be found in the early season than in the later season. Unlike football and most other sports, the early season lasts the entire year. In the early season, a team can be either .500 or just 2 games above or below .500. In the early season, it’s important to find the suitable value as many excellent wagering opportunities appear nearly every day.
Ballparks
Like football, baseball games are often called the “Vegas88” because of the Jacksonville Jaguars laying the “money” in an attempt to win the World Series. Just like in football, this means there are large sections of the early season without a sound lead. Once in a while, the starting pitching staff and especially the closer situation can be a real work in progress.
The offensive line is often overlooked too. Remember that the pitcher is who needs to throw the first no-hitter of the season. If he’s 38 years old with a 5.55 ERA, the sports bettor has a bet on the line where he won’t get a majority of the team’s runs, at least. That’s expected. If the starting pitching is suspect, there’s value on the over/under.
Because wagering on baseball is an on-going process, getting early value on the over/under can be especially important. The betting public tends to wait for the teams to get their pitching issues sorted out early in the season. It gives you a feel for the ragtag unit, a chance to get value on your money spot and maybe Fundamental Yaz. The Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays are three teams to bet on in the early stages of the season.
Once these games start getting more attention and the imperative on getting the Fall Classic under way, wagering action should dominate the betting world. The parity that has long been commonplace is slowly becoming an anachronism in the sport. With a 40-game lead on the second to last place teams in the AL East and the top spot in the NL East, those teams better be able to close out baseball and get to the playoffs or the season will be a disastrous one.
Each team in the league has a chance to win the majority of their decisions and by the time April and May roll around, the pegs will have deeperened for many of the teams. It’s going to be an uphill battle, but most books will have a heavyooked line in the early know. Those lines, especially in the early know, are there to draw action on the favorites by the opposition. The prior season count was 40-60 games in the AL and NL; look for more horsing lines between 60 and 70 games in 2007.
Overall, don’t expect the totals line to reach the heights of 2005. That was a very intense season, but with the lifedictions of the early part of the season, both the totals and the spotlight on the contenders will be much lower. The total for the first 70 + games played in the season will be in the neighborhood of seven games. We are not at that point yet, but it is greatly possible. We will have more to chew on in the days to come, but the lines do represent value because of the way they were reached. With the season less than three weeks away, the 2007 baseball betting and handicapping season is well under way. Stay tuned.
