Hot & Not - Playoff Edition
By Mike Rose
VegasInsider.com
All 10 teams are now set in the playoffs, and today, we're taking a look at the ones that made you the most money and the ones that cost you the most money on the season.
Money-Makers
Cleveland Indians (92-70, +$2,492) - Cleveland finished as the best money team in the game this year, but it still has to win the AL Wild Card game against Tampa Bay just to get into the main field.
Pittsburgh Pirates (94-68, +$2,342) - The Bucs were leading the way for most of the year, but they stumbled at the end of August just a bit. They'll be hosting the NL Wild Card game at what should be a raucous PNC Park on Tuesday night, and a win in that game would be the crowning achievement in the best season that the city of Pittsburgh has seen in over two decades.
Boston Red Sox (97-65, +$1,864) - The BoSox had a bad last week of the season, but they still wrapped the season owners the best record in the American League. Do they have the pitchers to really make it stand up? John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester have the weight of the whole city of Beantown on their shoulders.
Oakland Athletics (96-66, +$1,851) - Oakland pulled away from the Rangers in August and never looked back, closing the door on the AL West title for the second straight season. An awesome 52-29 record at home was what did the job, and with home-field advantage secure, that could make a tremendous difference in this year's series against Detroit.
St. Louis Cardinals (97-65, +$1,106) - Manager Mike Matheny has a lot of questions to answer about his starting rotation, but he still has the team that posted the best record in baseball. Unfortunately for the Cards, they aren't sneaking up on anyone this year as they did two years ago when they came out of nowhere to win the Fall Classic.
Atlanta Braves (96-66, +$994) - Atlanta won a league-best 56 games at home this season, and it is going to have to hold that home field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs if it wants a shot against the Dodgers, who might have the best team in the bigs.
Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70, +$541) - They were once down over $2,000 this year, and they were once up over $1,000 this year, but the Dodgers went on to finish with just a profit of $541 at the end. Manager Don Mattingly though, has this pitching staff set up the way he wants it for the postseason.
Tampa Bay Rays (92-71, +$77) - The Rays just squeaked in as money makers on the season, and they can thank David Price for it. Price went the distance in Game 163 against the Rangers on the road to beat the odds and get his team into the second season. That was also good enough to keep this from being a losing money team on the year to boot.
Money-Burners
Cincinnati Reds (90-72, -$509) - You don't need to look any further than the end of the regular season to see why the Reds cost us a chunk of change this year. They lost their last five games of the regular season, all of which were at home, and they dropped $825 in that stretch.
Detroit Tigers (93-69, -$1,150) - If the glass is half full, you could say that the Tigers would have gone 79-49 and would have been up $1,031 without Justin Verlander. If the glass is half empty, you could say that the Tigers would have gone 68-62 and would have lost $2,500 without Max Scherzer.