This Week's Best MLB Trends

Hot and Not
By Mike Rose
VegasInsider.com

The trade deadline has now come and gone, and teams making runs at a postseason berth certainly helped themselves out while others with nothing but 2013 left to play for have already raised the white flag.

Here’s a look at what some of the best and worst teams did to their backer’s bankrolls over the course of the last week of diamond action.

Money-Makers

Baltimore Orioles (4-2, $463): The Orioles could not have asked for better results over the course of the last week, as they went into both Yankee Stadium and Tropicana Field – venues the Yankees and Rays stand a collective 63-49 in – and won a pair of series. Buck Showalter’s troops have been road warriors all season long, and with the impressive showing in their division rivals’ ballparks, the O’s now possess the best money mark as visitors ($1,851) in MLB. The lucrative result now finds Baltimore 6 1/2-games out in the division and just one game out in the Wild Card race.

On The Docket: Unfortunately, Baltimore must now return home for a pair of series this week where they check in just 25-26 (-$144) for the season. Thankfully, they’ll be matched up against sub-.500 teams in Seattle and Kansas City who are a combined 50-60 as visitors.

St. Louis Cardinals (5-1, $350): The Redbirds put the finishing touches on an exceptional week of play on ESPN Sunday night when Kyle Lohse and his bullpen combined for a six-hit 3-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers. Now 10 games over the breakeven point heading into Monday’s series opener versus San Francisco, manager Mike Matheny’s squad still has a long uphill climb ahead of it if it’s to get a chance at defending its World Series title in the second season. For that to occur, Matt Holliday and his mates must drastically improve upon their 11-21 (-$1,540) record versus +.500 opposition with the Giants, Diamondbacks, and Pirates to be played in three of their next four series.

On The Docket: St. Louis will play 13 of its next 16 overall games in front of a home based Busch Stadium crowd, but it’s only been recently that the Cards made the most of their home field advantage winning nine of 10 since the All-Star break; the Cardinals are 32-21 overall as hosts ($79).

Minnesota Twins (4-3, $340): No, the Twinkies have no shot in qualifying for the postseason sitting 12 1/2-games out in the AL Central and 11 games out of one of the wild card slots, but manager Ron Gardenhire’s squad has been a solid moneymaker of late. Since getting swept at home by Oakland out of the break, Minny’s gone on to win 11 of its 20 played games since to earn their betting backers a cool $368 in profit; they cashed as 135+ underdogs five times during that stretch!

On The Docket: The Twins will look to build off their first series win at Fenway Park since 1994 at struggling Cleveland before returning home to battle the wild card hopeful Rays. Minnesota has won 20 of 41 ($410) within its division but just 10 of 25 vs. the AL East.

Honorable Mentions: Cincinnati Reds (5-2, $246), Seattle Mariners (4-2, $242), Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2, $214), Chicago White Sox (4-2, $205), Detroit Tigers (4-2, $169), Atlanta Braves (5-2, $110)

Money-Burners

Cleveland Indians (0-6, -$612): After fighting tooth and nail with both the White Sox and Tigers the first couple months of the season, it is now safe to say that the Tribe pretty much has no shot of heading back to the postseason for the first time since 2007. Jason Kipnis and company have now dropped 17 of their 23 games played since the break (-$1,141), and will return home for Monday’s battle with the Twins having just dropped every game on their nine-game road trip.

On The Docket: The Tribe will look to rebound at home over the course of the next week with three set to go with the Twins before welcoming in the Red Sox for four; Cleveland’s 19-25 (-$690) versus the AL Central and 11-18 against the AL East on the year.

Chicago Cubs (1-5, -$396): In shipping out a plethora of mainstays on the Cubs dreadful and underachieving roster before and after the trade deadline, the changing of the guard has now come full circle at the “Friendly Confines.” Manager Dale Sveum’s roster has gotten exceptionally younger over the last 10 days, and with that will come a bevy of more losses. Chicago’s starting rotation is now comprised of staff ace Jeff Samardzija, an injured Matt Garza, Travis Wood, Justin Germano, and Chris Volstad – hardly a five-some capable of striking fear in any opponent. Look to continue fading this club more times than not the rest of the way!

On The Docket: Chicago will continue its six-game West Coast road trip against the Padres at Petco Park for three before returning home to play the role of sacrificial lambs for the NL best Cincinnati Reds to close out the week. The Cubs are 10-11 since the Midsummer Classic.

Colorado Rockies (1-5, -$359): This season simply can’t come to a conclusion faster for manager Jim Tracy and the Rockies. Injuries aside, the Rox have been the absolute worst team in the league when it’s come to pitching, and you’re not going to win many games when you can’t prevent the other team from scoring regardless of how potent your own offense is. As it is, Colorado ranks last in the league in team ERA (5.51), WHIP (1.57), and Quality Starts (24). On top of those gaudy marks, the bullpen ranks in the bottom third of the league with a hefty 4.42 unit ERA!

On The Docket: Hopefully this week’s visits to pitcher friendly Dodgers Stadium and AT&T Park will help improve those numbers just a bit, but don’t count on it! Colorado has cost its wagering supporters upwards of $850 within the division having won just 16 of 40 games played to date.

Dishonorable Mentions: Boston Red Sox (3-4, -$338), Houston Astros (1-5, -$308), Miami Marlins (2-6, -$295), Toronto Blue Jays (2-5, -$198)