If the emergence of the San Francisco Giants on the MLB moneylist taught bettors anything last week, it’s to pay attention to results on the overlooked runline. The Giants (34-28, +6.11 overall units) jumped from ninth on the baseball moneylist to fifth in just one week, as San Francisco continued to make a killing for bettors that already noticed the trend.
The Giants finished the week as the best runline wager at Bodog Sportsbook in the big leagues, going 6-1 against the fixed spread to improve to an impressive 38-23 overall against the runline (+18.81 RL units). San Fran backers benefited from the Giants’ 3-1 runline record as a road underdog last week, fitting into a larger baseball-wide trend that saw runline pups go 60-37 over the last seven days, good for a 62% clip.
San Francisco iced the cake with a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park, and the quick work of their Bay Area rivals allowed the Giants to become the best home bet in baseball against the moneyline (21-9, +10.49 units). Bettors get a chance to ride the San Fran train this week when the Giants host the Los Angeles Angels for three games followed by a weekend series with the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers come off the weekend as the most profitable team on the under (22-37-3 O/U) for baseball bettors playing the total. The trend is part of an overall season of good returns for the surprise leaders in the AL West, as Texas is second overall on the moneylist at 35-27 against the moneyline (+10.13 units).
Having played under the number in nine straight (4-5 vs. ML) and 10 of their last 11 games, the Rangers got some pretty solid pitching and defense last week. Outside of a 9-0 shellacking (-114) at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays last Tuesday, Texas averaged three runs against per game last week. The Rangers should continue to remain in the black on the under as long as oddsmakers overrate their offense (eighth in MLB) without the services of the injured Josh Hamilton (abdominals).
Texas opens the week with a three-game set in Houston against the Astros (29-32, -2.00 units), who cashed five of seven against the moneyline last week to sit only four games behind the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers. The week was highlighted by taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, with Houston (+114) avenging a 7-1 loss in the opener last Tuesday to pay 2-1 (+108, +136) in each of the final two games of the series.
All three of the games went under the total for the Astros’ only such outcomes in their last 11 outings (8-3 O/U). The Cubs had a rough week for bettors, although they remain very much in the hunt for the division title at 30-30 SU (-7.55 units).
