When I was a sports editor in Chicago, I came to believe that most baseball writers didn’t love the game as much as they loved life on the road for 81 games a year.
(I will never forget the baseball writer who pulled me aside to show me a photo of himself with three women—his first ex-wife, his wife at the time of the picture and his future/current wife.)
But VSiN.com managing editor Adam Burke truly loves baseball, which is why I have been eager for his MLB team-by-team betting previews.
Well, the wait is over. Adam is starting to post his previews, starting with the NL West.
I asked Adam what we should expect:
My approach to these previews is to look at the team’s overall performance from last season, consider signings and personnel changes, and then look for improvement or decline in the aggregate to forecast what could happen for the upcoming season. Every team will have either an Over or Under pick/stronger lean/lean on the win total, along with any other futures bets that I think are worthy of consideration.
My stats glossary is an extremely useful tool to have handy, since I do reference and use a lot of advanced statistics and sabermetric stats in my analysis.
Adam is right. This glossary is extremely helpful if you want the basics on terms such as fWAR and xFIP.
As for the NL West previews, the question isn’t so much who will win the division, but can the Dodgers live up to their Superteam expectations?
FYI: The VSiN MLB Betting Guide will be out Feb. 27.
NBA back in action
The Association returns from the All-Star Break tonight, thanks to a rescheduled Hornets-Lakers game.
With 50 or so games in the books, Steve Makinen offers 25 situational trends along with the games for which they apply.
A few examples:
Boston is 4-2 SU and 0-6 ATS when playing on two days’ rest this season.
Charlotte is 27-11 Under the total (71.1%) when playing on one day rest or the second of back-to-back games this season.
Today in College Basketball
Greg Peterson has posted his Best Bets for today’s menu.
Adam Burke will post his top plays later this morning. So will Tyler Shoemaker.
As well as Josh Appelbaum‘s Sharp Report.
>Makinen’s power ratings with estimated scores
>DraftKIngs/Circa Betting Splits.
Listen now: Greg’s daily podcast handicapping every game on the menu every day.
Looking for Long Shots
The Tour makes its stop in Mexico this week. Alas, only four of the Top 50 players are making the stop.
That explains why I quite unfamiliar with some of Wes Reynolds’ longshot picks in the Mexico Open. That’s good, though, right? You don’t come here to see him take favorite Akshay Bhatia at +1400.
Listen now: Matt Brown and Kelley Bydlon, coming off a winner in Ludvig Aberg (25-1), join Wes on the Long Shots podcast.
Quick Hits
Horse Racing: 1/ST BET handicapper Jeremy Plonk weighs in with his picks for today’s Gulfstream card. 1/ST Bet offers wagering on hundreds of races every day from across the country and around the world. Sign up at 1STBET.COM with promo code VSIN200 to claim a 20% rebate for your first 60 days, up to $200.
Tennis: Zach Cohen is posting his Best Bets article daily. Check our tennis page and the VSiN picks page the night before because you never know from which part of the world those top plays are coming. Even on vacation, Gill Alexander is sending me his plays.
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This is The VSiN Daily newsletter for Wednesday, February 19. Sign up for this free email and get picks and insights delivered to your in-box every morning.
