Baseball numbers are created by computer technology along with subjective analysis. Baseball lines are about 70% dependent on starting pitching, the rest is home field advantage, current form, injuries and any trends that might be in play. The initial numbers for a particular day are exposed to a select few "sharp" bettors who will iron them out beofore they are hung for the betting public, from there on out money will move the lines one way or another. The sharpness of the select bettors will dictate how sharp the openers will be.
wil.
wil.
I think Wil is close to the truth. I think books do shade quite a bit for teams on streaks and popular teams (Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs). As for the sharps ironing out the line, I hear that isn't done so much although a de-facto method of doing that is putting them up on overnights. Also I think they probably don't factor the starters for 70% of the line unless it is one of the top 10 pitchers in the game. In that case they know they get a lot of action on him so they shade the number.
