Best of the Best – MLB’s Hottest Teams Right Now

As the sports betting proceedings in baseball head towards the middle of May, BetOnline Sportsbook takes a look at what teams have been tearing the cover off of the baseball early in the season. Check out this week’s edition of Who’s Hot for the next time you’re set to place an MLB bet…

(Rank) (Team) (SU Record, $$$) (SU Record, $$$ L/5)

1: Atlanta Braves (17-17, -$170) (4-1, +$448 in L/5) When you beat New York’s Johan Santana in a week, good things normally come of it. Not only did the Braves take Monday’s game away from Johan, they finished 6-2 on a devastating eight-game road trip against all of their serious divisional contenders. Despite allowing seven runs yesterday to the Mets, Atlanta’s pitching staff has been the key to the winning streak, as the unit has only allowed more than four runs once since beating Florida 8-6 back on May 6th. With a bunch of home games coming up, Atlanta may be primed to make its move back towards the top of the NL East standings after a fairly dismal ’08 campaign.

2: Cincinnati Reds (20-14, +$865) (4-1, +$375 in L/5) Speaking of teams that have made their move… The Reds are sitting atop the NL Central standings, which is really saying something considering the top four teams in the division have a combined record of 79-56. A three-game sweep in Arizona was a heck of a way to start off a six-game West Coast roadie. If the offense keeps up at the clip it has been on since it started a stretch of winning six of seven games (7.57 runs per game), Cincinnati will be coming home on May 19th having swept all six games of this road trip, as there is no way that San Diego’s offense is keeping up with a unit like this one. Keep an eye on SP Johnny Cueto, who has very quietly put together a fantastic season (4-1, 1.93 ERA in seven starts).

3: Houston Astros (15-18, -$238) (4-1, +$346 in L/5) Even though there are still four teams in front of them in the NL Central standings, the Astros are starting to look more like the team that played almost .600 baseball after the All-Star Break last season, and less like the one that started off this season at just 11-17. In the first two games of their series in Colorado, the ‘Stros gave up a total of 23 runs, which was shocking considering the team held San Diego to nine runs in a three-game sweep in Houston last weekend. For years, baseball bettors have been complaining that the only pitcher on Houston’s staff that was worth anything was Roy Oswalt. Now that Wandy Rodriguez has showed up (3-2, 1.80 ERA in seven starts), it’s Oswalt that is totally MIA (1-2, 4.50 ERA in eight starts). Something’s going to have to improve for the Astros to compete in this division, but there are signs that things are starting to look up.

And the rest…

4: Texas Rangers (19-14, +$696) (4-1, +$319 in L/5)

5: Minnesota Twins (17-17, -$156) (4-1, +$296 in L/5)