When the defending American League champion Texas Rangers opted not to try and negotiate with free agent pitcher CJ Wilson, instead spending hundreds of millions to bring on a relative unknown in Yu Darvish, there were a good number of per head bookies that had their doubts about the decision. With Darvish picking up his major league-leading sixth win of the season in a 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night, it is safe to say that nobody is doubting the first-place Rangers anymore, as they continue to inch closer to a third-straight World Series appearance.

While Darvish is only one piece in a large betting equation that has Texas out front in the AL West once again, his play early on this season has been solid enough to think that he could be one of the answers for the question marks left by consecutive World Series defeats. The 25-year old looks like an absolute stud, striking out at least seven batters in each of his last five starts, the longest streak for a Rangers’ pitcher since 1987. Over that same span, Darvish has thrown first-pitch strikes to 60-percent of the batters he has faced, factoring in a changeup to go with the curveball and fastball he opened the year with. The Texas pitching staff ranks fourth in the majors in ERA with a combined 3.24 mark, with Darvish leading the way at 2.60, and three other starters keeping their number under 4.00 including Neftali Feliz, Colby Lewis, and Derek Holland. The depth the Rangers have demonstrated in their starting rotation has allowed them to move Alexi Ogando in to a relief role, where he has combined with Mike Adams for 13 holds already. Closer Joe Nathan has already recorded eight saves, completing what could very well be the deepest pitching staff in baseball, if not the best according to the stats on the sites listed by the sportsbook reviews.

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With a month of baseball under our belts, we are now treading the line between making too harsh of assumptions based on what we already know, and too big of denials based on what we expect in the American League. While the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox are both within reach of first place in their respective divisions, there are many baseball blogs still being published about how they won’t make the playoffs, including those that suggest the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Boston Red Sox still have a good shot at the postseason despite being buried in their respective division through 24 games.

In the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays are back on top with 11 wins in 12 games at Tropicana Field, once again capitalizing on a unique blend of pitching consistency and the ability to bring in runs once they get on base. The betting sites fact that they took five of six games against the Angels and Texas Rangers is impressive, but they still have to take care of business in their own division. The top four teams in the AL East rank in the top-five in the entire league based on record, which would start with the Rays and Rangers at 17-8, and follow with the Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Yankees. Baltimore’s pitching has been much better early on but there are real Betonline question marks about how long that will last, but there is intrigue in Toronto in the fact that they are doing so well in spite of reigning two-time home run king Jose Bautista’s struggles at the dish. Bautista is batting .180 with four home runs, and if he could get going this month it could be the Blues Jays making a run at the division lead. The Yankees have dealt with pitching woes by scoring a ton of runs, but in the end they may need to acquire some help on the mound to have a pay head contending shot.

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The Miami Marlins were the talk of the baseball world this past winter, with a new stadium, new team name, new jerseys, and a ton of new faces taking their talents to SouthBeachin the MLB version of Extreme Makeover. However, even with all of the change that encompassed the team in the offseason, the Marlins were overlooked as a legitimate contender by the majority of MLB blogs, in a division that also features the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals and New York Mets. Things haven’t exactly carried out according to the script through the first couple of weeks of the season though, with the Nationals winnings 10 of their first 13 games to climb to the top of the division, while the defending NL East champion Phillies are stuck at the bottom. Lost in the craziness early on is the performance of the Marlins, which has been enough to make some fans in theMiami area believe they have a legitimate shot at the division.

Of course, with Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen stealing the spotlight with the ridiculous comments that earned him a suspension from the team, and the new stadium with its almost as ridiculous Marlins’ home run attraction in the outfield adding to the distractions from the actual product on the field, there is no doubt that this actual Miami team has been under the radar. The Marlins overall record hasn’t been very impressive either as they have hovered around the .500 mark to open the year, but if you look at the finer details, there are several reasons to believe this team could become a legitimate sports betting contender.

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If last year’s finish to the regular season is any indication, we could be in for a wild ride once again in 2012. The MLB decided to add an extra Wild Card spot for both leagues, and the intention was to create more endings like the one baseball fans witnessed on the final day of the regular season a year ago, when the Boston Red Sox epic collapse was paired with the Tampa Bay Rays’ improbable comeback in a reversal of Wild Card fortunes. With such a long and drawn-out season it will be hard for baseball to ever duplicate the way that night played out ever again, but that doesn’t mean we won’t still get the chance to witness some memorable moments of their own this coming summer.

While the seasons have changed, some of the storylines remain the same, as is the case with the Tampa Bay Rays. Once again considered the sports betting underdog that has enough talent to make a surprise playoff run, nobody will be countingTampaBay out. However, despite one of the more talented rotations in baseball with David Price and James Shields leading the way, the Rays don’t have a ton of offense, and will struggle with consistency over stretches. How well they manage to remain in contention for anAL playoff spot will depend a lot on how their starting rotation fares.

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Sports Betting Sites Overview

Throughout the entire regular season and on into the playoffs, the Milwaukee Brewers have been unable to respond to pressure situations on the road. If the Brewers had to have played the entire month of September on the road then it may not have made the playoffs. ButMilwaukeemade a good accounting of itself in game three of the NLCS when it lost 4-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals inSt. Louis. The high run totals in the first two games on this series have caused both teams to have to go to their bullpens regularly. But the Brewers’ bullpen was not used very much in the NLDS series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. That left a fairly refreshed bullpen available to pitch against the Cardinals. That refreshed bullpen did not respond in game two, but it played very well in game three and that could be a good sign for the Brewers.

The price per head bookie action in St. Louis has been frantic since the middle of September. Once it was apparent that the Atlanta Braves were definitely in a free fall and the St. Louis Cardinals would have a shot at the NL wild card berth, the fans in St. Louis started to really pay attention. When the Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, the top team in the majors, in its NLDS series then that is when everyone started to take note. The Cardinals have always been known for its offense, but the St. Louis pitching has been consistent so far in the playoffs. With the exception of game one of both the NLDS and NLCS, the St. Louis Cardinals have been able to hold leads with its bullpen. But when you put the St. Louis bullpen stats in any bookie software, you come up with a pitching staff that may be tiring.

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Online Sportsbook Overview

The worst fears of Milwaukee Brewers’ fans will be confirmed in game five of its NLDS series with Arizona; the Brewers are going to the NLCS. In all fairness, these are only the worst fears of Milwaukee fans if the Phillies beat the Cardinals. If the Phillies beat the Cardinals then the Phillies will have home field advantage over Milwaukee and the Brewers are not going to the World Series. But, if the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Phillies then the Brewers get home field advantage in the NLCS and Milwaukee goes to the World Series. Can it all be that easy for Brewers’ fans to figure out? With the way that the Milwaukee team plays on the road, it is very easy to figure out which games this team is winning and which ones it will be losing.

The Arizona Diamondbacks did not just even the series with its two wins in Arizona, it did so with extreme authority. When you put the numbers through any bookie software, the result always comes out as complete dominance by the Diamondbacks. In the two NLCS games played in Arizona, the Diamondbacks scored a combined 18 runs compared to the seven scored by the Brewers. The Arizona offense was on fire in the desert, and the starting pitching proved to be dominant in game three. The Diamondbacks will try to pull those elements together one more time and advance to the NLCS by beating the Milwaukee Brewers at home.

Arizona Diamondbacks
To say that pitcher Ian Kennedy was off his game in the first game of this series is a price per head services understatement. Kennedy was 8-1 in his last 10 starts of the regular season, but gave up all four of the runs in game one of the NLDS that eventually sunk the Diamondbacks. The back-breaker was the two-run home run by Prince Fielder in the seventh inning. Kennedy is the staff ace in Arizona and a contender for the NL Cy Young award this year. If the Diamondbacks have a pitcher that can win this game, it is Kennedy.

Milwaukee Brewers
So far, the betonline reviews of this series have gone exactly as planned. The Brewers win the home games and lose the games in Arizona. It is almost like the Brewers have a script it has been writing all season long and intend to follow it to the very end. The MLB scores from the two games in Arizona will not affect the outcome of this game at all. Pitcher Yovani Gallardo will have another excellent outing in game five as he did in game one, which was played in Milwaukee, and propel the Brewers to the NLCS.

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Tuesday night marks the second time in the 2011 MLB betting playoffs, that all four divisional matchups, are being played on the same day. However, the difference between tonight’s action and the first time all eight teams played on the same bookie software day, is that two teams may be going home tonight. Of course, if all goes according to plan, all eight teams will remain in the playoffs after tonight. Here is preview and pick for each series.

Texas Rangers At Tampa Bay Rays (Texas leads two games to one) – The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays have had one of the most exciting price per head sports playoff series of all time. After winning the AL Wildcard in dramatic fashion last Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays stormed out of the gate, taking game one against Texas by a score of nine to nothing. However, the Rangers have stormed back on the bat of catcher Mike Napoli to take a two games to one lead heading into night’s game.

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