If you’re not on the Colorado Rockies’ money train already, make sure to grab some of the goodness before the value runs out on baseball’s hottest team. If last week taught bettors anything, it was to keep on playing the Rockies (37-33, +5.97 units) until they run out of steam.
If you’re thinking Colorado racked up the latest part of its three-week run at Coors Field, you’re right. The Rockies went 8-1 against the moneyline at Bodog on their recent nine-game homestand, but don’t sleep on them now that they’re going on the road for nine games. Colorado is above .500 away from the thin air of the Rocky Mountains this season, and is undefeated in its last nine road games, where it is up over seven units.
The Rockies kick off their road trip in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels (36-32, +4.94 units), who are suddenly the best hitting team (.280) in the bigs. The Angels paid for backers in seven straight games before dropping the last two contests of their weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, batting a crisp .306 in the process.
Just ahead of them in terms of profitability and in the American League West standings are the Texas Rangers (37-31, +7.03 units), who lost four straight contests to end the week. The Halos trail the Rangers by only half a game.
If there was a sharper bet than the Angels in the AL last week it was the Boston Red Sox (42-27, +8.02 units). Boston is now second on the major league moneylist behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (46-24, +19.91 units) after taking two of three from both the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins last week. Despite the pair of losses, the Red Sox outscored their interleague opponents 32-12 over the six games, and improved to 25-10 ML (+9.59 units) at Fenway Park.
Before heading out on the road for a pair of three-game series against the Washington Nationals and Atlanta, the BoSox announced they’ve decided the go with a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season. When John Smoltz makes his Red Sox debut Thursday night in the nation’s capital, Boston will have six starting arms – when Daisuke Matsuzaka (shoulder) comes off the 15-day DL. Dice-K isn’t expected to be there for long, as it was discovered last week there’s nothing structurally wrong with his ailing arm.
The Red Sox used this strategy back in 2007 to give their pitchers more rest between outings, and it paid off with their second World Series title in four years. With the best bullpen ERA in baseball (2.89), Boston could be set to run away with the division for futures bettors.
The BoSox have the second best run differential in the AL at +62, certainly a sign of better things to come at the window. The only team ahead of the Red Sox? The Tampa Bay Rays (37-34, -1.31 units), who have outscored their collective opponents by 76 runs after cashing seven of their last 10 games.
