Over/Under and Other Gambling Notes

As much as I like to make random "bar bets" with friends and the wife on things like the over/under on how much we spent in groceries or how long will it take to drive to a destination, I am not big on putting my money where my mouth is. I'm just of the opinion that no matter how much I think I know about sports, music, food, etc...there is always going to be someone who knows more and I am going to lose my shirt.

This is especially true with Vegas. I know for a fact that they put in every ounce of research into the game so that I lose...but just for the fun of it, here are the MLB over/under on wins for the season courtesy of Bookmaker and Vegas Watch.
Arizona- 82
Atlanta- 86.5
Baltimore- 72.5
Boston- 94
Chicago C- 83
Chicago W- 82
Cincinnati- 78
Cleveland- 73
Colorado- 83
Detroit- 81
Florida- 81
Houston- 77
Kansas City- 71
LA Angels- 84
LA Dodgers- 84
Milwaukee- 80.5
Minnesota- 82
NY Mets- 81
NY Yankees- 94.5
Oakland- 78
Philadelphia- 92
Pittsburgh- 71
St. Louis- 88
San Diego- 71
San Francisco- 83
Seattle- 83
Tampa Bay- 89.5
Texas- 83
Toronto- 71
Washington- 72

Quickly looking at this, Toronto at 71 wins is a good under pick. With a young pitching staff, tough division and both Baltimore and Tampa Bay getting better, the Jays could touch 100 loses this year.

Seattle has made lots of positive changes and 83 is probably really close to what they will attain, but winning the AL West is likely for them and they will do that with more than 83 wins.

Oakland with the under, Washington with the over and Detroit with the over.


Also available are the odds to win the divisions in baseball.



Again, looking at these quickly, I would lay some money on the Tigers, good odds and the AL Central is very unpredictable. Also, the AL West, both the Rangers and Mariners would be worth spending some money on because of how much they have improved the last couple of years and the Angels losing some of their star power (Vlad and Figgins). The one other team that might be worth some dollars is the SF Giants. Great pitching staff (Lincecum and Zito) and with the big competition having Manny Ramirez, the Giants could take the NL West in the end.