Best MLB Betting Lines for NLCS and ALCS

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies open the National League Championship Series Thursday in Philadelphia (8:15 pm ET, FOX).

Moneyline bettors will get the best odds on the favored Phillies at Bet Jamaica, which has them at -131, compared to odds up to -140 at other sportsbooks. Those wanting to wager on the underdog Dodgers will find the best price (+125) at BetUS.

The Phillies are 1½-Runline favorites and BookMaker has the best juice at +160. The total is 7½ across the board with every book offering -110 juice.

The Dodgers are scheduled to start righthander Derek Lowe while the Phillies will counter with lefty Cole Hamels.

Philadelphia is 4-1 SU in the past five meetings both overall and at home.

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox face AL East division rival Tampa Bay Rays in the first game of the ALCS (8:35 pm ET, TBS).

Lines have been moving wildly, with some sportsbooks opening with the Red Sox favored and others picking the Rays.

BetUS has the best moneyline odds for the Rays at -108. BookMaker has the best price for the Red Sox at +100.

WIth Runline odds, BookMaker  has the Rays as 1½-run favorites with +190 juice.  All books have the total at 8, with Sportsbook.com offering the lowest juice at -105.

Boston will start righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tampa will counter with righthander James Shields.

Live Betting available for MLB Playoffs, NFL, NCAA Football

Live Betting, which allows sports bettors to wager on a game while it’s in progress, is the fastest growing segment of the sports betting industry.

Sportingbet.com, a London, England-based sportsbook, has made Live Betting an art form through its IN:PLAY Betting system, and it will have Live Betting available for every game of the MLB Playoffs and the 2008 World Series.

“It looks very likely that we will get every MLB playoff game live,” said Sportingbet.com oddsmaker David Main.

Sportingbet.com will have all three MLB games on Thursday available for Live Betting.

MLB bettors can use IN:PLAY wagering when the Chicago White Sox face the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of their ALDS (2:30 pm ET, TBS), Game 2 of the NLDS between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies (6:05 pm ET, TBS), and Game 2 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs (9:35 pm ET, TBS).

NCAA College Football bettors can also wager live when the Pittsburgh Panthers visit the No. 10 South Florida Bulls Thursday night (7:45 pm ET, ESPN), and when the No. 20 Oregon Ducks visit the No. 9 USC Trojans in a Pac-10 matchup (8 pm ET).

And on Sunday, NFL bettors will have five games to choose from, including the Washington Redskins visiting the Philadelphia Eagles in a NFC East matchup (1 pm ET, FOX) and the Sunday Night Football tilt between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Jacksonville Jaguars (8:15 pm ET, NBC).

Join Sportingbet.com and bet the MLB Playoffs live.

Sportingbet Plc, the world’s largest online betting and gaming group, is based in London and is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market (LSE: SBT). The company has over 2.5 million registered customers in 200 countries, who place over 1,000,000 bets (casino, poker, sports and virtual games) per day.

Red Sox vs Rockies

By Scott Burgess
Game: Wed, Oct 24, 2007 8:00 PM ET

Well it’s official, The Colorado Rockies will host The Boston Red Sox for a chance to be crowned World Series Champs. The first game gets underway at Coors Field where weather might be a factor.

Pitching from the slab for the Red Sox will be Josh Beckett (RP) (23-7, 3.06 ERA). Beckett has been OUTSTANDING in his last 3 playoff starts. He’s 3-0 and has pitched 23 innings with 26 strikeouts and only 3 runs scored for a 1.17 ERA. The Sox got great defense from Manny Ramirez, along with big bats from David Ortiz, Kevin Youkillis and Dustin Pedroia. Closing pitchers Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon didn’t allow any runs through the sixth to ninth round. Papelbon hasn’t allowed a run in 6 1/3 innings.

Starting on the mound for the Rockies will be Jeff Francis (LP) (17-9, 4.22 ERA). Francis is 2-0 in the playoffs with a 2.13 ERA. He’s currently pitched 12.2 innings with 3 runs scored and 12 strikeouts. The Rockies have a team with incredible defense (.989 fielding percentage). Their offense is playing smart aggressive ball. In 65 innings of baseball, they’ve only trailed behind 4 innings. The Rockies have multiple players who can knock guys around the bases and score runs. There’s not one player who doesn’t contribute a hit, a run, a stolen base, a RBI, a homer or even a grand slam.

Bottom Line: The Rockies are 21-22 and well rested. They have way more offense than the Sox do. The BoSox batters only showed up in game 7. Besides the one-two punch of Manny and Pappi what do they have? The Red Sox will get good pitching from Beckett, but he’s pitched too many times.
To bet the MLB Championships go to BodogLife now.

Red Sox vs Indians

By Scott Burgess
Game 1: Friday, Oct 12, 2007 7:05 PM ET

Game 1 of the American League Championships between the Boston Red Sox (-155) and Cleveland Indians (+140) gets underway this Friday at Fenway Park.

The starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox will be Josh Beckett (RP) (20-7, 3.27 ERA). Beckett was spot on during his last trip to the mound, he pitched 9 innings with 4 hits and 8 strike outs for a 0.00 ERA. Nice! The BoSox have a team with great power, speed, hitting and they have a Championship defense.
The starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians will be C.C. Sabathia (LP) (19-7, 3.21 ERA). Sabathia got a win during his last stint on the mound, against the Yankees. He pitched 5 innings with 3 runs, 2 homers, and 5 strike outs for a 5.40 ERA.

The Red Sox are bringing out their best on Friday and Beckett’s going to pitch another stellar game. The Sox have won a total of 53 games at Fenway Park this year. The Tribe have a young roster that’s never played under this type of pressure. Boston takes game 1!

To bet the MLB go to BodogLife now.

San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers

There are some intriguing MLB betting opportunities as the Wild Card races go down to the wire and some very good teams are fighting for their playoff lives. 

The Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres are both good enough to advance to the playoffs, but a season-ending four-game series at Miller Park beginning Thursday night is likely to eliminate one of them. Milwaukee (81-77) is two games behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs, and San Diego (87-71) holds a slim one-game lead over Philadelphia and Colorado in the wild card race. The Padres also trail first-place Arizona by one game in the NL West. 

The Brewers lost a chance to close the gap on Chicago on Wednesday, losing 7-3 to St. Louis while the Cubs lost 7-4 at Florida. The Padres, though, maintained their wild card advantage with an 11-3 win at San Francisco as the Phillies beat Atlanta 5-2 and Colorado won 2-0 at Los Angeles. The victory also helped San Diego gain ground on the Diamondbacks, who lost 5-1 at Pittsburgh. 

With the teams evenly matched, it’s tempting to give Milwaukee an edge with home field advantage. And the Brewers have history on their side. Milwaukee is 4-1 SU in its past five games at home against San Diego, and is 4-1 SU in its past five at home overall. 

Bet on the Brewers at Betmaker. 

Nick Bailey 

Betting on Barry Bonds

There are few baseball Prop Bets that are getting as much attention this season than those involving Barry Bonds and his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s home-run record. And the various sportsbooks offering Bonds bets are reporting increased wagering activity ever since Bonds tied the record at 755 homers Saturday night.

Bonds will try again tonight, as the San Francisco Giants host the Washington Nationals in the second game of a four-game series that got underway Monday night with the Giants edging the Nationals 3-2. Bonds was 0-3 including one strikeout last night.

Here are some of the sportsbooks offering Prop Bets on the slugger’s pursuit of Aaron’s record.

At Bodog, bettors can wager on which inning Bonds will hit the record-setting dinger, with the first inning the favorite at 3-1. Another interesting bet at Bodog is what the pitch count will be when Bonds cranks 756 over the wall: the favorite is 0-1 (One Ball, No Strikes) at odds of 3-1.

Sportsbook is offering odds on whether the record-breaker will come in tonight’s tilt against Washington – yes (+240), no (-320).

And at betED, Barry Bonds bets include whether the home run will be a solo shot (-155), two-run (+200), three-run (+500) or grand slam (+625).

Or if you want to bet the outcome of the game, BetOnline has the Giants as 150-moneyline favorites and the game total at 8.

Facing Bonds and the Giants tonight will be lefthander Mike Bacsik, who is 5-6 with a 4.19 ERA this season. San Francisco will counter with ace lefty Barry Zito, who is 8-10 and has a 5.12 ERA.

Nick Bailey

Make some bucks off Barry Bonds

With all the hype and anti-hype surrounding Barry Bond’s chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record, there is one thing that hasn’t been talked about much: the money that bettors could make when Bonds finally breaks the record.

Like him or loathe him, the fact is the San Francisco Giants’ slugger is going to set a new home run record, and you may as well make a few bucks off it. Many, many sportsbooks are offering Prop bets on Bonds’ imminent record-breaking home run.

For example, Bodog has a wide variety of wagers – some serious, some silly – that will make the Bonds Watch much more fun. There are straightforward bets, like: What will the pitch count be when Barry Bonds breaks the HR Record? You can choose among 0 balls, 0 strikes, or 1 ball, 2 strikes, and so on. The lowest odds are 1 ball, 0 strikes (3-1) while the biggest are for 3 balls, 0 strikes (12-1).

There’s also a few that are essentially a flip of the coin, like: When Bonds breaks the record, will the Pitcher’s Jersey number be odd or even?

For the full list of Barry Bonds bets, go to Bodog, click on Baseball, then MLB, then MLB Player Props.

Mets, Phillies battle for first in NL East

The National League East division could look a lot clearer after this weekend. Or it could end up looking even cloudier. The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies meet four times in the next three days, and the outcome of this series will have a huge impact on the NL East.

Heading into a doubleheader Friday, the Phillies (41-37) trailed the NL East-leading Mets (43-33) by three games. The teams play the third game of the series Saturday and the fourth Sunday.

Philadelphia was the slight favorite going into the doubleheader Friday. Bet the Mets-Phillies games this weekend at Bodog.

Not only will the Mets be trying to stay atop the division, they’ll also be seeking revenge after being swept by the Phillies at Shea Stadium in early June. That sweep sent the Mets spiraling into a month that would see them at one point lose 10 of 12.

New York started hurlers Orlando Hernandez and John Maine, respectively, in the first two games on Friday, while Philadelphia countered with J.D. Durbin and Cole Hamels.

On Saturday, the Mets will have RHP Jorge Sosa (ERA: 3.79, W-L: 6-3) on the hill, while the Phillies will start Lefthander J.A. Happ (ERA: 0.00, W-L: 0-0). After two consecutive subpar starts earlier in the month, Sosa limited the St. Louis Cardinals to just one run off six hits over six innings on Monday night. He’s 2-1 with a 3.03 ERA in nine career outings against Philadelphia, including three starts.

Happ will be making his first Major League start. The 24-year-old is 1-2 with a 4.02 ERA after 13 starts with Triple-A Ottawa. The 6-foot-6 left-hander pitched five innings last Sunday for the Lynx and allowed three runs on eight hits.

On Sunday, New York will start LHP Oliver Perez (ERA: 3.14, W-L: 7-6) and Philadelphia will have righthander Kyle Kendrick (ERA: 5.00, W-L: 2-0). Perez recorded a no-decision on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up two runs off of five hits. He’ll look for his second win in June on Saturday against the Phillies, who he lost to earlier this season.

Kendrick won his second consecutive start his last time out, against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. He allowed four runs over six innings, but got plenty of run support in the 11-4 win. The Phillies have piled up a combined 28 runs in Kendrick’s three starts since being called up from Double-A Reading. He has lasted six innings each outing, all Phillies wins. Manager Charlie Manuel said after Kendrick’s win against the Reds that the young pitcher was in position to earn a permanent spot in the rotation.

You can bet MLB action this weekend at Pinnacle.

Nick Bailey

Mets vs. Braves

The Mets had better bounce back against Atlanta tonight. Last night was a total embarassment. Eight hits and one run — pathetic. At least they’re still a slight favorite… totalodds