Baseball Betting – Twins vs. Jays, BoSox vs. Rangers and Angels vs. Royals on Sunday

The Baltimore Orioles travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays as likely big time underdogs in the MLB online sportsbook while the Boston Red Sox battle the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners travel to Oakland to take on the Athletics.

Keep reading for previews of all three Saturday games below!

April 3 – MLB American League

** Records and stats not counting Friday games.

Minnesota Twins vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Where:  Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
When:  1:07 pm EST
Starting Pitchers:  MIN N.Blackburn-R, TOR B.Cecil-L

MLB Odds Pick:  Minnesota moneyline

Analysis:  Blackburn’s 2010 turned out to be much worse than a lot of baseball betting handicappers probably realize.  His pitcher strikeout rate dropped below 4 every nine innings in 2010.  Only .4% of fantasy baseball owners picked up Blackburn and put him on their team.  That’s an important stat to consider because those fantasy guys know more about baseball stats than any group of weirdos on the planet.  Okay, they’re not all weirdos.  Ben Cecil had a horrible Grapefruit League spring where he finished with a 5.96 ERA.  This is definitely a toss up game.  So, I’m going to go ahead and back the dog on the moneyline in this one.  That dog should be the Minnesota Twins.

Boston Red Sox vs. Texas Rangers

Where:  Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington, Texas
When:  2:05 pm EST
Starting Pitchers:  BOS C.Buchholz-R, TEX M.Harrison-L

MLB Odds Pick:  Boston moneyline

Analysis:  Texas’s Matt Harrison supposedly has improved his velocity and has created a slider/cutter hybrid that got some folks to go ga-ga, but that’s not going to help him against the powerful Boston Red Sox batting line up.  I don’t even think that Boston’s batting line up is all that powerful but in relation to Harrison’s 1.57 WHIP and 5.39 ERA lifetime numbers, yeah, the BoSox should get jiggy with it by running around the bases and scoring runs on Sunday.  Buchholz is just an okay pitcher in my opinion, but he has much better control than Harrison does.  I’ll take the BoSox in this matchup.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Kansas City Royals

Where:  Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri  
When:  2:10 pm EST
Starting Pitchers:  LAA S.Kazmir-L, KC B.Chen-L

MLB Odds Pick:  Kansas City moneyline    

Analysis:  I am in no way stating that I have a ton of faith in backing Bruce Chen and the Kansas City Royals on the MLB betting lines to beat the L.A. Angels on Sunday.  What I am saying is that I believe that because Scott Kazmir is the “name” pitcher in this game, he and the Angels will receive favorite’s status in this matchup.  I don’t like the Angels, nor do I like Kazmir enough, to back them against Chen and the Royals at possible -200 or worse odds.  Chen could end up getting beat to an early exit in this game on Sunday.  Or, he could be smart with his pitches and lead the KC Royals to an upset victory.  I’ll go for the higher profits by backing the home dog in this contest on April 3.