Central and West American League Division leaders collide when the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers play the second of a four game series Saturday (7:05 pm ET) at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Indians, losers of two straight give tonight's start to right-hander Fausto Carmona hoping he can play the stopper role. On the flip-side, Texas will counter with a left-hander, Derek Holland, who is tasked with nailing down another road win.
With Holland and Carmona starting, oddsmakers have installed Cleveland as a slight -107 moneyline favorite with a 9-run total. The ML price of a SU Rangers win is -103. This game is lined so close it could almost be called a MLB Odds pick. At -1 1/2, Indians' bettors are getting +175 on the run-line while at +1 1/2 the run-line price on Texas is -215.
I enjoy playing trends when betting Major League Baseball. The best I can describe my method is to compare baseball wagering to playing baccarat, a card game where the player chooses a role with each hand, be it player, banker or tie.
What makes the game interesting is how it finds a pattern. If a player can get in rhythm with the pattern, the player wins money. The key to winning is nothing more than intuition; knowing when to get on or get off. Now let's look at tonight's game between the Rangers and Indians. Over the past week or more, the Indians have found a rhythm of losing a couple followed by winning a couple then losing two more. So if I were to follow the pattern, I would wager on the Indians to win tonight regardless of the pitchers starting the game. I'm strictly playing the trend.
Fans who like betting MLB Odds futures are getting the Rangers at 15-to-1 odds to win the 2011 World Series while the Indians, after opening the season at 100-to-1 are now getting 18-to-1 to win baseball's Fall Classic.
