Baseball Betting: Injuries Impact Top Contenders
Written by Chad Rogers
Sat, 3 Jul 2010
Category sportsbook
Feedback Rating - no votes
There’s been a bit of an injury outbreak over the past few days on the baseball diamond. So the sports betting public is going to want to keep an eye on rosters as we head toward the All-Star break.
Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward was having quite a season before he suffered a left thumb injury.
He knicked it up about six weeks ago, but tried to play through the injury before being placed on the 15-day disabled list (DL) on Monday. The rookie RF was batting .251 with 11 homers and 45 RBIs through 71 games – tops amongst rooks in the National League (NL).
Heyward’s stint on the DL is estimated to end around the All-Star break, but don’t bet on seeing him at the Midsummer Classic despite being the second-highest vote-getter in All-Star balloting for NL outfielders.
Heyward doesn’t seem to mind though, telling reporters that the Braves are “doing the best thing” by holding him out and he’s probably right.
The Atlanta Braves currently sit in top spot in the NL East, 1.5-games up on the New York Mets and at the moment, online sportsbooks have them as the odds-on favorite to win the division at +100.
Weekend Baseball Betting Action:
So how will the Braves fare without Heyward?
Heading into the weekend, the Braves begin a three-game home set against the division rival Florida Marlins and seeing as their opponents are in the lower part of the NL East standings (second-last) Atlanta has a chance to distance themselves from the Mets.
However, the Braves haven’t been all that sharp in their last nine home games against the Marlins, going only 3-6 straight up.
Over/Under Alert: In the last eight overall matchups between these two, there have been 7 Overs and 1 Under, in fact the last five overall games between the Braves and the Marlins have all gone Over the total.
Philadelphia Phillies:
The two-time defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies won’t be three-timers if they keep piling up bodies on their disabled list -- they are currently 3.5 back of the Atlanta Braves for the division lead.
Already with five bodies in the sick bay, the Phillies recently added starting infielders Placido Polanco (elbow) and Chase Utley (right thumb) to the walking wounded.
Worse yet, according to reports, the ball club doesn’t know exactly when the two will return. MLB.com has Utley and Polanco both set to return “possibly in mid-July.”
The Phillies aren’t far behind the Atlanta Braves in terms of NL East futures betting, currently listed by sportsbooks at +125 to take the division and are both +330 and +750 to win the NL pennant and World Series respectively.
The Philadelphia Phillies are in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates currently, with Game 2 of 4 set to go on Friday.
The ageless one, Jamie Moyer takes the mound and in his last 10 starts, there have been 3 Overs and 7 Unders.
Keep an eye on the injury situation for these contenders as you look for your daily baseball bets.
Enjoy all the weekend action and Happy Independence Day.
link: http://wheretobet.com/redirect/sportsbetting.com-205/all