The baseball world is back to normal now that interleague play is finished. The American vs. National League schedule had plenty of winners and casualties, setting up an entertaining mad dash to the MLB All-Star break.
The Tampa Bay Rays used interleague action to rekindle the same play that led them to the World Series last season. After a slow start to the schedule, the Rays are rolling in the month of June including winning five of six games last week. That stretch gave Tampa Bay backers five units and improved the team's total earnings to 1.98 units at Bodog Sports.
The Rays’ pitching staff posted an ERA under 3.00 last week with standout performances coming from David Price and Matt Garza, who bounced back from a rough start against the Colorado Rockies. Price also rebounded from two poor showings to get his first win of the month. The team also welcomed back Scott Kazmir to the rotation; the lefthander was solid through five innings in his first start in over a month due to injury.
Also taking advantage of their National League opponents were the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos won five of their six games last week, including a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on the weekend. That success piled up 4.47 betting units at Bodog and bumped them to second in the money standings with 10.31 units on the year.
After scoring just one run in the series opener against the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles' bats exploded for 41 combined runs in the next five games including three games in which they hit double figures on the scoreboard. As a team, the Angeles hit just .245 but cashed with runners in scoring position. Bats like Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera came up big during this stretch.
Interleague play couldn't end soon enough for the Chicago Cubs. They dropped five of their six games to American League Central foes, including losing two of three to the cross-town rival White Sox. The Cubbies burned through 4.12 units last week, which forced them down the money rankings where they sit at -9.09 heading into Monday.
The team's frustrations came to a head when explosive outfielder Milton Bradley was sent home by manager Lou Pinella following one of Bradley's infamous tantrums. The two have since kissed and made up, but that doesn't make up for the fact that Chicago hit just .241 and averaged under four runs per game during the skid.
Out west, the Oakland Athletics couldn't find their stride during interleague action, losing five straight games heading into Monday. Oakland opened its current nine-game homestand with a 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants last Monday. However, the Athletics’ offense went south quickly, finishing the week with an average of 3.5 runs per game despite batting .268 during that stretch.
The funk cost Oakland bettors almost five units and dropped the team to -10.62 betting units on the season. To make matters worse, the Athletics put starter Josh Outman on the 60-day disabled list and may lose the lefthander to Tommy John surgery.
For those betting the baseball totals, the Kansas City Royals kept scores low and played under the total in five of their past six outings, with one game pushing the oddsmakers' number. The Royals’ offense is wilting in the summer heat; the team hit just .218 last week and averaged only three runs per contest – all six of which came on the road.
Kansas City is batting a mere .236 on the road this season but is back home for the next seven games, where it hits .262 and puts up almost five runs per game.
