MLB-Betting-Guide-2020.Pdf
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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…...…………………………….…………………………………………….4 Glossary of Statistics………………………………………………………………….......6 AL Pennant Futures...........................................................................................................11 NL Pennant Futures...........................................................................................................14 World Series Futures..........................................................................................................16 Home Run King Futures....................................................................................................19 AL MVP Futures...............................................................................................................22 NL MVP Futures...............................................................................................................25 AL Cy Young Futures.......................................................................................................27 NL Cy Young Futures.......................................................................................................31 AL East Division Futures...................................................................................................35 Baltimore Orioles...............................................................................................................37 Boston Red Sox ................................................................................................................43 New York Yankees............................................................................................................49 Tampa Bay Rays................................................................................................................55 Toronto Blue Jays..............................................................................................................62 AL Central Division Futures..............................................................................................69 Chicago White Sox............................................................................................................71 Cleveland Indians...............................................................................................................78 Detroit Tigers.....................................................................................................................85 Kansas City Royals............................................................................................................91 Minnesota Twins................................................................................................................97 AL West Division Futures...............................................................................................104 Houston Astros................................................................................................................106 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.....................................................................................113 Oakland Athletics............................................................................................................120 Seattle Mariners...............................................................................................................127 Texas Rangers..................................................................................................................134 NL East Division Futures.................................................................................................141 Atlanta Braves..................................................................................................................143 Miami Marlins.................................................................................................................150 New York Mets................................................................................................................157 Philadelphia Phillies.........................................................................................................164 Washington Nationals......................................................................................................171 NL Central Division Futures............................................................................................178 Chicago Cubs...................................................................................................................180 Cincinnati Reds................................................................................................................187 Milwaukee Brewers.........................................................................................................194 Pittsburgh Pirates.............................................................................................................202 St. Louis Cardinals...........................................................................................................208 3 NL West Division Futures...............................................................................................215 Arizona Diamondbacks....................................................................................................217 Colorado Rockies.............................................................................................................224 Los Angeles Dodgers.......................................................................................................230 San Diego Padres.............................................................................................................237 San Francisco Giants........................................................................................................244 4 An Introduction and Thanks There is no offseason for Major League Baseball bettors. At this point in time, there is no offseason for any of the sports betting markets. That is one of many reasons why the 2020 MLB Betting Guide is the earliest release we have ever had to preview the upcoming season. Season win totals came out before the first of the year in some places and were popping up throughout the month of January. You really have to love what you do to worry about sports that aren’t even in-season and I’m fortunate in that I love what I do. Even though it wasn’t easy to make that transition from football to baseball in the midst of the NFL Playoffs, it was necessary. It was actually welcomed. I’m out for retribution this season. No, not for the MLB Betting Guide and the season win totals. Those went 21-9 last season. It was a rough season with the day-to-day grind. The springloaded baseball and some preemptive baseball burnout caused me to start poorly in the months of March and April and things never got on track. Last year’s regular season started with me on a flight back from Las Vegas after a round of promotion for the MLB Guide. I was in the third row of a Southwest flight watching Opening Day games on my laptop. As the season got away from me, it dawned on me that I needed to start earlier for 2020. I did, but so did the oddsmakers. They had season win total lines and a bevy of futures up before I put my first keystrokes down about the Baltimore Orioles. I always start with the Orioles and finish with the Giants, going in alphabetical order by division. Fortunately, with the accelerated timelines provided by the oddsmakers, the flurry of transactions during the MLB offseason was completed relatively early. Unlike last season, when big names were still looking for jobs as Spring Training began, most players signed early in the process. That made my job somewhat easier and a little less stressful, though it is always stressful writing over 100,000 words on everything. The baseball community is awesome. There are writers from all backgrounds and almost as many different viewpoints as there were home runs last season. Resources like FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, Baseball Savant (Statcast), Baseball Prospectus, The Athletic, RosterResource (now part of FG!), and various other team blogs and fan hangouts provide a bevy of information that I can pass along to my readers. My belief is that my style of writing is unique in this space. There are plenty of people analyzing baseball data on a team, player, and league level, but a much smaller portion of the scribes and scribblers are doing it in the context of betting. You will find a lot of advanced metrics, in-depth statistics, and analysis in these pages that you aren’t going to find just about anywhere else in the gambling space. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the presentation and the thorough nature of the writing. For some readers, these concepts will be new and difficult to understand. For other readers, these concepts will speak to the core of your baseball fandom and handicapping. 5 Most will fall somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know wOBA from OPS or xFIP from ERA. This is designed to be both a learning tool and a way to get ready for the season, whether you are looking at betting futures, just want to read more about the teams, or are looking for some fantasy impact. For this year’s guide, I decided to grab the futures odds from 5Dimes Sportsbook for the divisions, pennants, World Series, and, most importantly, the player futures because there are a lot more players listed. The season win totals are from BetOnline. As always, shop around for the best odds. As I mentioned above, there are several resources I reference all the time, so heartfelt thanks go out to the staffs at FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference,