Braves at 3-to-1 to win the NL East

by gondeee on Feb 24, 2009 7:46 PM EST

I just can't see how anyone would bet on baseball, but it happens... happens all the time. I guess some folks will bet on just about anything. I've never been into betting on baseball (or really any sport for that matter) because the outcomes are just so unpredictable -- I mean, the Rays vs. the Phillies!

That being said, the sportsbooks are giving us a pretty nice look early in the season:

The Atlanta Braves have moved back into the picture at least as far as the sportsbooks go.

The Braves are a 3/1 choice, but if they win it will be with almost an entirely new team than the one that Atlanta was used to winning with. John Smoltz is gone, but the good news for Braves fans is he was replaced with Derek Lowe.

The Mets are at 7/5 and the Phillies at 8/5, then the Braves, followed by the Marlins at 8/1 and the Nats at 25/1.

This post is by no means a promotion of gambling. Like I said above, I'm not a fan of sports gambling, but in the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is department Vegas odds are a useful barometer of what the experts think about one team's chances over another. Right now, I like the Braves' odds.

Tweet Comment 12 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Just shows that if bet a team that it does mean SP give more than likely hood to have a better chance to win ball games that equits to making a strong playoff run…

by Hanson-Ace on Feb 25, 2009 4:33 AM EST reply actions

I’m glad you didn’t write this article, because I would have been totally confused.

by mesocornwall on Feb 25, 2009 8:55 AM EST up reply actions

wha...

I just tried to post a picture of a confused dog with his head cocked sideways, but I cant figure out how to upload it…dangit.

FAIL to me and you.

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." - Sir Winston Churchill -

by justincredubil02 on Feb 25, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions

HA HA

Never let your son get into your account without asking….Sorry about that…I even got a laugh out of that myself…

by Hanson-Ace on Feb 25, 2009 11:18 AM EST up reply actions

drunk?

We should have signed Adam Dunn.

by Smoltz's Beard on Feb 25, 2009 12:02 PM EST up reply actions

The thing is in baseball a lot of the time it comes down to who stays the healthiest. And THAT is unpredictable. The season is so long that anything can (and often does) happen. A season is rarely decided by someone going from 0 to 60 from one season to the next. Why? Because that doesn’t happen very often and when it does it still isn’t enough todrastically change a teams record. Players usually follow a fairly consistant trend throughout their career (Don’t tell Frenchy I said that).

Our pitching depth this year is what will keep us in contention.

by Fischerking on Feb 25, 2009 9:22 AM EST reply actions

Very true, but

As long as we hang onto Blanco, Prado, and Infante, we have some pretty damn good back-up waiting in the wings.

"The future is no place to place your better days." - Dave Matthews

by Chief Noc-A-Homa on Feb 25, 2009 9:59 AM EST up reply actions

He might be a choad

But Curt Schilling’s theory that “the team who’s starting five contributes the most wins the most” has been consistently accurate throughout the last few years. There was an article on SI.com recently that showed that out of all the World Series teams since like 2002, like 80% of them had pitching staffs that stayed healthy and contributed an average of around 25 starts a season.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Feb 25, 2009 10:08 AM EST up reply actions

Agreed

I call this the “Rotation Innings Pitched Percentage”:

[IP by starting 5]/1458*

*1458=total number of innings in a 162 game season, assuming no extra innings (which the starters typically don’t pitch anyway.

"Break's over"

by VegasAces on Feb 25, 2009 10:14 AM EST up reply actions

Very true. The year before last we proved how important it can be to have good bench players ready to come in whenever/wherever because we didn’t have them. Our bench looks good this year.

by Fischerking on Feb 25, 2009 10:03 AM EST reply actions