The Los Angeles Angels already got their investment in Albert Pujols paid off when they got their new TV rights deal. Just by acquiring the superstar, the deal ballooned from $150 million to $300 million, plus other advertisement advantages. His deal has already made financial sense for the club.
And when the team inked him to a 10-year deal that will extend far past the twilight of his career, they knew his production would dip eventually. Continue reading
The Tampa Bay Rays are hoping a tough April schedule will leave them battle-tested and prepared for the rest of the regular season.
They’ll find out soon enough as the Rays host the New York Yankees in their season opener on Friday afternoon. Of their first 22 games, 16 come against legitimate playoffs contenders before things ease up in May.
The Yankees, relatively quiet this past off-season, know the feeling. They also front-loaded their schedule with 15 playoff contenders through April. Continue reading
After one of the biggest off-seasons in a decade (although the NFL really snuffed it out pretty quickly didn’t it?) the dust is finally settling for the upcoming MLB season. And with just under two weeks remaining until opening day, the picture is getting clearer for individual award favorites.
Betting odds for stolen base king caught my attention first with the over/under total at 62.5 with a -115 line for either. The emergence of young shortstop Dee Gordon with the Dodgers might as well have just won this category, barring he stays in the majors the entire season. People are actually speculating at this point that he will be the next person to steal 100 bases, not just 65. In fact, at his current pace continued from last season, it’s been shown that as long as Gordon keeps a .300 OBP, he will be able to smash this over/under. The catch is that he is young and only coming into his first real full major league season with no real threat at the plate. Pitchers know he is no home run threat and will start to come after him and what he does after that will tell you all you need to know about his steal category. Continue reading
As we inch closer to kicking off the 2012 MLB season, it’s only right to throw out predictions for the coveted awards given at the end of the season. With the huge offseason moves made by big names that moved into the American League, the dynamics of the MVP race is going to be one of the most exciting we have ever seen. Bovada.com is listing all odds for the MLB awards currently and there are slew of categories you can check out. Looking over the names on the list in the AL we have the usual contenders in Jose Bautista, Robinson Cano, Evan Longoria, Adrian Gonzalez, and Miguel Cabrera.
But it is the new big bat in LA that is sitting atop the list of AL MVP odds on Bovada.com: Albert Pujols. Continue reading