Baseball Lures Me In

It took only about a week, but baseball has lured me into doing a little wagering tonight. I've isolated three series still on the board that I like enough to gamble on. The rest either requires juice too steep for my blood or the better team is on the road. For my first ever series plays, I dont think laying expensive vig and/or the road team is wise strategy. All these plays are to win one unit.

Tampa Bay Rays -110 over New York Yankees In their magical 2008 run, the Rays actually did not have great luck at home against the Yanks. The Rays were unbeatable it seemed at the Trop last season, but the Yanks took two out of the three series against the Rays in Tampa. I think the Rays bounce back take this one from the Yanks. It's going to be hard to make money off the Rays at home this season without risking a lot of juice, so I'm grabbing them on likely the cheapest line they'll have in a home series all season. I like Kazmir over Wang tonight and I really like the Garza matchup tomorrow. Despite the Yanks moves and gaudy payroll, I still think the Rays are the better outfit.

KC -135 over Cleveland I thought long and hard about plunking done so dough on the Royals going over the Vegas win total. I even comtemplated taking them at 6/1 odds to win the AL Central. I backed off because everyone and the mother seemed to be targeting the Royals as this year's Rays. I hate public bandwagons that fill that fast. Nevertheless, the Royals look every bit as good as Cleveland. They opened the year winning a road series at the White Sox. The Tribe aren't pitching as well as the White Sox, so I think the Royals arms will shut down the Tribe in at least one game. And, in at least another their lineup will tatoo the flagging Cleveland staff. They'll snag two out of three.

Texas -160 over Baltimore This is a bit more juice than I like, but since it would not surprise me if the Rangers swept the Orioles, I think the extra cash up will pay dividends. I really like Padilla to notch a win tonight. Then, look for the Rangers lineup to explode in at least one of the other two. We already have a future bet going with the Rangers to go over their win total. That wont be the only wager we make on Texas. I love this team to do very well at home, especially against teams with shaky pitching like Baltimore. Nobody will come into Arlington out slug Texas. I think they dominate the Orioles the next three nights.

So, thats Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Texas to win three-game series that start tonight and run through Wednesday.