Point Spreads - NCAA, Final Four, College Basketball, NBA, MLB, World Series, NFL, College Football, BCS & Super Bowl Point Spreads

It’s been three weeks , 22 days to be exact, since the Rocket, Roger Clemens, made the announcement he was returning to the New York Yankees. At that time the Yanks were 5 ½ games back of the division leading Boston Red Sox. Today, the Yankees are floundering, having fallen farther back to 13 ½ games. This is not good news for Yankees backers at the virtual betting window. Prior to spring training, New York was the odds-on favorite to win just about every thing including the Fall Classic. 

Shortly after the beginning of Spring Training , oddsmakers at Bodog.com posted future odds on all major league teams’ chances of winning their respective divisions, league and World Series. The Yankees were far and away the most favored team to win all categories. The Yanks were chalked in at 4/9 odds to win the AL East, 5/9 odds to win the American League and a 7/2 odds favorite to win the World Series. With owner George Steinbrenner paying out over $194 million in salary nothing less than championships is expected. No... A division title isn’t good enough. 

Now, Roger “The Rocket” Clemens is about to enter the fray. Yankee faithful are hoping Clemens can ride into town on a big white horse in Randolph Scott fashion and save the day. That is exactly what the Yanks need; push the payroll to over $200 million by giving an aging 40-something pitcher the keys to the kingdom.

Clemens probably pitched his final warm-up at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. After two pedestrian warm-ups, the Rocket pitched well enough at the AAA-Level, six shutout innings that the next batter he faces will probably be in a Chicago White Sox uniform next Monday. For those of you who had hopes Clemens would be available for the upcoming Red Sox series; forget it. 

"I'm not disappointed that he's not pitching at Fenway," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I don't think that series needs any more hype than it gets every time we play it, whether it's in Fenway or at the Stadium. You'd obviously be tempted if you had a kid pitching and you can replace him with Roger Clemens. When you have Wang, Moose and Andy, there's really not the temptation to do that." 

In getting back to reality , let’s check what the oddsmakers are saying now that the Yankees are in last place in the American League East. Bodog.com isn’t currently posting odds on the AL Eastern Division but do list New York as one of the favorites to win the American League Pennant at 6/1 odds and 10/1 favorite to win the World Series. No, the oddsmakers aren’t delusional. They know the publics betting habits and exploit them.

---