MLB Futures: Cubs Still Destined to Suffer

READ MORE: Chicago Cubs, MLB Betting, MLB Futures, World Series

The long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans were filled with more ire as their crosstown rivals the White Sox finally won a championship this year. However, Cubs fans did see some hope in what is apparently Major League Baseball’s underdog era as we’ve seen with the Chicago White Sox winning this year and the Boston Red Sox last year. Well, not so fast. According to BetCRIS, the odds on the Chicago Cubs ending their 97-year championship drought before other deserving sad sacks is only 3.2 to 1. The favorites are last year’s runner-up the Houston Astros with a 1.8 to 1 chance of winning a World Series sooner than the others. Full list, after the colon:

WHICH TEAM OF THE CURRENT TOP 5 LONGEST DROUGHTS WILL WIN THEIR NEXT WORLD SERIES?

CHICAGO CUBS – 1908, 97 YEARS 3.2 to 1
CLEVELAND INDIANS – 1948, 57 YEARS 2.5 to 1
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS – 1954, 51 YEARS 4 to 1
TEXAS RANGERS – 1961, 44 YEARS 5 to 1
HOUSTON ASTROS – 1962, 43 YEARS 1.8 to 1

MLB Futures Betting [BetCRIS]

MLB Betting: Betting On The Mystery Juicer

READ MORE: Deadspin, Gary Sheffield, MLB Betting, MLB Futures, Steroids, Will Leitch Sucks

Surprising as it may be, a sportsbook has hopped on the whole AL outfielder guilty of steroid-usage controversy that has captivated(well, not captivated, actually. We’ll go with “bemused”) the sports world and oddly enough, they seem to have taken its list from our brother site(who actually does have an extremely hot sister, mind you) Deadspin for its odds list. Observe:
(Sportsinteraction.com’s odds)

Gary Sheffield: 2-1

Johnny Damon: 6-1

Manny Ramirez: 6-1

Steve Finley: 6-1

Jermaine Dye: 7-1

Vladimir Guerrero: 8-1

Trot Nixon: 9-1

Garret Anderson: 11-1

Scott Podsednik: 11-1

Bernie Williams: 16-1

Aaron Rowand: 21-1

Hideki Matsui: 21-1

And Deadspin’s poll results:

Gary Sheffield, New York Yankees: 32 percent (425 votes) Johnny Damon, Boston Red Sox: 19.8 percent (263 votes) Steve Finley, Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim: 14.1 percent (187 votes) Gabe Kapler, Boston Red Sox: 8.5 percent (113 votes) Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim: 7.0 percent (93 votes) Scott Podsednik, Chicago White Sox: 5.9 percent (78 votes) Jermaine Dye, Chicago White Sox: 5.3 percent (71 votes) Aaron Rowand, Chicago White Sox: 4.8 percent (64 votes) Hideki Matsui, New York Yankees: 2.7 percent (36 votes)

We think our floppy-haired pal at Deadspin deserves all of the resulting handicapping vig fees from Sportsinteraction.com. The man loves dining on sushi and purchasing Arizona Cardinals’ jerseys. That stuff’s expensive, you know.

AL Outfielder Steroid Odds [Sportsinteraction]
The Mystery AL ‘Roider: Sheffield, Says You [Deadspin]

MLB Futures: And The Favorite To Win the 2006 World Series Is…

READ MORE: Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Future Bets, Houston Astros, MLB Betting, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals

The Yankees. Christ. Yes, New York’s overpaid, underachieving goon squad is once again a 6/1 favorite to win the World Series next year according to the oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com. The newly crowned Chicago White Sox and runner-up Houston Astros are at 12/1. Respect.

Other favorites include the Boston Red Sox at 8/1 and those plucky St. Louis Cardinals at 7/1. The turd-dweller of the bunch is the always entertaining Kansas City Royals, who now sit at a health 500/1 to win the World Series. Get your season tickets now!

Sportsbook.com Posts 2006 World Series Odds [PR News Wire]

MLB Betting: Is There Any Reason At All To Bet on the Astros?

READ MORE: Betting", Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, MLB Betting, Series, World

Tomorrow night the Houston Astros are heavy -180 favorites against the Chicago White Sox, which seems like a generous number for a team in a death spiral. The number is for Roy Oswalt( the sexiest man alive)and the utter dominance he’s displayed so far in the playoffs. But, given that it seems like everything is going the White Sox way this post-season, we’re a little skeptical about overpaying that much for Oswalt so far. Right now, 55% of the betting public is throwing money at the White Sox which, in most cases, gives the Astros a little bit of an edge. But Jeez, can anybody trust Byung Hyun Lidge anymore? Will Garner pull a Bob Brenly and trot Lidge out to face anybody in clutch situations just because he’s supposed to? We’ll wait and see and, right now, we think it seems pretty obvious we’ll bet on the White Sox, but we’ll see if the number comes down at all tonight and decide tomorrow.
Asros in Deep Hole At World Series After Lidge Loses Again [Covers]

NLCS Betting: Wise Guys Love Oswalt

READ MORE: Houston Astros, MLB Betting, NLCS, St. Louis Cardinals

With the public jumping all over the St. Louis Cardinals and Mark Mulder for tonight’s NLCS tilt-a-whirl, the bookies have all piled on to Houston Astros’ pitcher Roy Oswalt and his +140 underdog price. Not good news for Cardinals’ backers and fans as we know that all that money going one direction usually spells disaster for a team. In gambling terms, of course. However, we cannot overlook the fact that, well, stranger things have happened before. But we also can’t forget the Astros were christened that lovable “team of destiny” early on. We’ll admit that if the Cardinals’ do pull off the comeback in this series we’ll be curious to see if Astros’ knock-out closer Brad Lidge becomes the next Donnie Moore.

Sharps Throwing Cash at Houston Hurler [Covers]
Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals [Covers]

Chopping Lines: If The Cardinals Don’t Win, Tony La Russa Will Kill This Dog

READ MORE: Cardinals", Chopping Lines, Houston Astros, Louis, MLB Betting, National League Championship Series, St.

8:05 p.m.

(HOU Leads Series 3-1)

Best Line: STL -130, HOU +130

Bad news for St. Louis Cardinals’ fans—the betting public is now throwing heavy money on the chalk line and in these small favorite situations, that usually spells disaster. However, we’re idiots as well and think that Chris Carpenter will once again out-pitch Andy Pettite and Tony La Russa will take out his strike zone frustrations on motivating his team. The Cardinals’ lack of offense is startling and with everything unraveling last night, it appears bleak that they will actually make it back home in time to give Busch Stadium a fitting end. We’re not buying it. This series has to go seven games. Enough of these goddamn short series. We’re almost tempted to even play the run line in this just because we think a pissed off La Russa has to account for something. He just might resort to smacking his players in the dugout if they don’t hit.

PICK!: STL -130

MLB Prop Betting: Dismantle The Yankees

READ MORE: Joe Torre, MLB Betting, MLB Props, New York Yankees

After a disastrous post-season which left many, many questions sportsbook BetCRIS has put the New York Yankees on the betting slab. With rumors swirling about the future of sad sack manager Joe Torre and the astronomical price of the payroll, it’s obvious that there will be changes forthcoming in the future of Yankee baseball. BetCRIS offers both managerial bets and payroll bets that Mel Stottlemyre is jumping all over:

WILL JOE TORRE BE THE MANAGER OF THE YANKEES IN 2006?

YES -550 / 1 to 5.5
NO +350 / 3.5 to 1

WHAT AMOUNT OF MONEY WILL GEORGE STEINBRENNER MAKE THE NY YANKEES PAYROLL IN THE OFFSEASON, IN ORDER TO TRY AND WIN THE 2006 WORLD SERIES. (ACTUAL PAYROLL: $208,306,817)

YANKEES 2006 PAYROLL WILL BE:

$209-$224 MILLION +135 / 1.3 to 1
$225-$249 MILLION +200 / 2 to 1
$250-$274 MILLION +300 / 3 to 1
$275-$300 MILLION +400 / 4 to 1
MORE THAN $301 MILLION +475 / 4.5 to 1
LESS THAN $208,306,817 +400 / 4 to 1
NO CHANGE AT ALL +4900 / 49 to 1

MLB Futures [BetCRIS]

Chopping Lines: Roy Oswalt Shall Make Us Whole

READ MORE: Chopping Lines, Houston Astros, MLB Betting, St. Louis Cardinals

8 p.m.

St. Louis Cardinals

Best Line: HOU +140, STL -142

Oh, how we suck at baseball picks. Even though we won that White Sox game last night, well, we still don’t really feel like we won it. We’re sure you know what we mean. So, tonight’s pick means great news for St. Louis Cardinals’ fans as we take our mush MLB picks and once again side with the underdog Astros. We’re always perplexed when Roy Oswalt pitches because of his body type. On paper it says he’s close to six-feet-tall, but when you watch him pitch, it’s like watching one of those half-dwarfs on the mound. Yet, the half-dwarf can dominate and we think Mark Mulder will get shelled tonight. Just a hunch. Look for the Astros bats to strike first tonight and stave off the Cardinals’ offense and their crowds’ new bizarre fascination with Thunder Stix. Honestly, were rally towels getting too expensive?

PICK!: HOU + 140

Chopping Lines: Back to the Meth Lab

READ MORE: American League Championship Series, Chicago White Sox, Chopping Lines, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB Betting

8:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox

Best Line: CHW -184, LAA +180

Hmm, last night caught a lot of people by surprise. Not tonight, though. If Ozzie Guillen’s White Sox lose tonight’s game they are the biggest fraud in major league sports. A team with this much advantage and a team that’s been strident about how disrespected and overlooked it’s been all year has to come to play tonight. We’ll take last nights loss as a wake-up call for the White Sox. Mark Buehrle’s been a little sluggish after the All-Star break but he’s been a number one starter for the Sox at times as well. Jarrod Washburn is suffering from, er, a strep throat or the runs or something. Needless to say, the White Sox should be bigger favorites in this game then they were last night and we’d be shocked as pink pickles if this doesn’t go their way.

PICK!: CHW -184

Chopping Lines: Welcome to Astrodome

READ MORE: Chopping Lines, Houston Astros, MLB Betting, National League Division Series, St. Louis Cardinals

8 p.m.

St. Louis Cardinals

Best Line: STL -160, HOU +164

With the concerns over Andy Pettite’s health going into this evening, we’re a little skeptical about hopping on this underdog pick even though we really, really want to. We’re actually trying not to follow our instincts for once when it comes to MLB betting because the results of our flawed logic have led to nothing but one disaster after another. As you may have noticed, our pick last night also went to mush. But tonight we’ll continue to be stubborn and continue to hope for good things. We saw last night that an exhausted team does not neccessarily make a lesser team. Andy Pettite has had strong outings against the Cardinals in three starts—but only one victory. However, we’ll take the Pettite points, wait for more Chris Burke heroics, and let destiny cash us in.

PICK!: HOU +164

MLB Betting: Should You Stay Away From the Sleepwalking Astros?

READ MORE: Houston Astros, MLB Betting, National League Division Series, St. Louis Cardinals

We were thinking the same thing as we looked at tomorrow’s NLCS rematch between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals. How could these guys have anything left after the 18-inning game against the Atlanta Braves? We get tired going outside to get the mail and walking up a flight of stairs. How must Phil Garner’s squad feel at this point?

As +150 underdogs tonight, the Astros don’t really have much of a shot. All that confidence from Sunday’s victory could be erased quickly once somebody falls asleep in the batter’s box or one of his relievers’ arms flies off during their third pitch. Covers doesn’t like the Astros chances either, but they put little stats on it instead of being stupid like us:
· The Cardinals beat the Astros 11 our of 16 times this season.
· Astros’ starter Andy Pettite hasn’t given up a lot of runs against the Astros(under 3).
· He hasn’t won much either in three starts(1).
· Phil Garner has a mustache.

Marathon Men: Are the Astros Burned Out? [Covers]

MLB Betting: FINE…

READ MORE: Chopping Lines, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB Betting, New York Yankees

8:00 p.m.

(Series tied 2-2)

Best Line: LAA -112, NYY +106

We’re taking off our pussy pants and actually making a play on this ballgame tonight even though it’s been a disatrous MLB post-season for us thus far. Both of these teams must be exhausted, having that nagging jetlagged feeling and a scattered focus coming off of last night’s Yankee come-from-behind victory and Bernie Williams farewell. Do the Yankees have momentum? Possibly. But can they really light up Bartolo Colon again and can Mussina deliver another stellar outing. It’s a tough call and basically a pick ‘em regardless of what the line says. The betting public is piling on the Yankees so far, but we think that’s just because a post-season doesn’t feel right without a Northeastern squad in it. So, we’ll ride the public and bet on the Yankees, which based on our mush thus far almost guarantees an Angels victory.

PICK!: NYY +106