For Our 2008 National League Baseball predictions we are going to analyze the pre season betting trends and see if we can formulate some solid predictions based on that data. There are some very sharp baseball bettors out there and they have already backed up their own opinions with the wallets.
Let’s start with the National League East, the division that most believe will field the best team in the National League, the New York Mets. It looks like many believe the Mets could win more Games than anyone in all of Major League Baseball. At 5dimes.com, the Mets win total is 93.5 over -125. Which translates to about 94 wins on the year. That would of course have the Mets in 1st in the East but not by a landslide as the Braves and Phillies are getting some play about 6 Games behind the Mets at 87 wins. The Braves were posted at 84.5 wins or so and bettors felt that number was too low. Money has come in on the Braves to win more than that, so it looks like the betting public thinks the Braves will continue to be a thorn in the Mets side. Meanwhile the Phillies have held steady at 87.5 wins with the Florida and Washington fighting it out for last place. Our National League East Predictions are:
NL East
Mets
Braves
Philles
Nationals
Marlins
The National League West looks to be the most tightly contested race with 4 teams clearly in the mix. It looks like bettors feel the Diamondbacks and Dodgers will battle it out for first with somewhere around 87 or 88 wins. Next up are the Padres and Rockies doing battle for 3rd place. There has been enough action on the Rockies to indicate bettors think they can perhaps edge out the Padres and then bringing up the rear would be the San Francisco Giants. Our final predictions for the NL West are as follows:
NL West
Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Padres
Giants
Lastly, in the National League Central Division we have what looks like a two team race according to the Nations baseball bettors. The Cubs have held steady at a predicted 87.5 wins but bettors feel the Brewers will be hot on their tails all year. The Brewers opened up at 84.5 wins but the money has come in on the over. Another team that looks like the oddsmakers may have overlooked when they posted their initial odds, is the Houston Astros. They opened as low as 72.5 wins and bettors pounded the over pushing that line to 76 wins. So, after the Cubs and Brewers it looks like the Astros, Reds and Cardinals will all battle it out with each team expected to win around 77 Games. The Pirates look to be the basement dwellers. With the National League Central Division looking a bit wide open, we’ll go out on a limb just a little for Our 2008 predictions.
NL Central
Brewers
Astros
Cubs
Reds
Cardinals
Pirates
In reality, it looks like bettors favor the Brewers and Cubs to be on top be we threw the Astros into the mix as a potential upset special. We’ll, that does it for the National League. Let’s play ball!!!