MLB Top 5: Baseball's worst bets after the All-Star break
By JASON LOGAN
Teams like the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins constantly carry a red flag for MLB bettors, especially after the All-Star break when a season’s worth of losing weighs on players and managers the most.
Surprisingly though, basement clubs like the Astros and Marlins aren’t the worst bets in baseball during the second half of the schedule. That honor goes to these five teams:
Record from 2008-2012.
Worst post-break bets
Pittsburgh Pirates (130-234, -78.30 units)
Screw the “Ides of March”. Pittsburgh backers better beware the Ides of July. The Pirates have become notorious for their post-break nose dives in recent years, including a 31-46 record and -21.45 units in 2012. Will it happen again in 2013? The Pirates enter the break as the top money winner, earning +23.50 units so far this summer.
New York Mets (156-207, -55.56 units)
Mets fans can celebrate hosting the All-Star Game this week but after that, they have very little to cheer for. New York bettors have been in the deep red following the break in each of the past five seasons. The Mets, who are already more than seven units in the hole this season, burned through -22.30 units with a 28-48 record in the second half of 2012.
Boston Red Sox (178-183, -47.87 units)
When you’re a high-profile ball club like the Red Sox, those losses cost extra. Boston did the bulk of that damage in 2012, finishing the post-break schedule at 26-50 and eating up -27.41 units – the most in the majors. The year before that, the BoSox went 35-37 and lost -17.46 units. Boston enters the second half of the season up +12.17 units – third most in baseball.
Seattle Mariners (152-209, -30.55 units)
Life in the American League West is tough. With rivals like the Rangers, Angels and Athletics usually picking up speed before the playoffs, the Mariners are left in their wake. Seattle was actually among the breadwinners after the break in 2012, pocketing +11.68 units, but thrashed their backers for -17.26 units in 2011 and -16.79 units in 2010.
Colorado Rockies (175-187, -25.01 units)
That magical second-half march in 2007 is a distant memory for Rockies bettors, whose wallets are about as thin as the air at Coors Field. Colorado went 31-46 and lost -3.76 units last summer, which are small potatoes compared to the -27.21 units the Rockies lost the two previous seasons. Colorado is in the middle of the NL West, down -4.95 units, but anything can happen in that ugly division.