MLB Betting Preview: New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Added on Sep 18, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Important AL East series in the ‘Charm City’ as the Baltimore Orioles host the New York Yankees. The Yankees scrapped to a 1 run win on Friday night which allowed them to reclaim first place in the division with a 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay. The Orioles may be in last place 31 games off the pace but they’ve been a completely different team since Buck Showalter took over as manager.

New York Yankees (Sabathia) at Baltimore Orioles (Guthrie)
September 18, 2010–4:05 PM Pacific

This series may have looked like perfect timing for the Yankees a couple of months ago–an opportunity to pick up some easy wins against the hapless Orioles in the midst of a tight pennant race. The way things have worked out, however, its anything but. I’m not sure that Buck Showalter is even eligible for the ‘Manager of the Year’ award in the American League since he’s only been at the helm since early August. What he’s done with this Baltimore team is definitely the best managerial job in baseball this year, award or no award. Since Showalter took over as manager on August 3, the Orioles have the best record in the AL East. Better than the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rays. Even with last night’s 4-3 home loss to New York they’re on a 11-3 run and its not like the schedule has done them any favors–that 11-3 mark was compiled against Tampa Bay and Toronto at home and against the Yankees and Detroit on the road. That’s no joke.

Obviously this is a rare instance where you can just throw away the YTD statistics and situational performances. There’s one that we are going to point out, however, and that’s Baltimore’s YTD performance against lefthanders–they’re right around break even against southpaws for the entire year which is one of the few full year situations in which they’ve not lost a ton of money. C.C. Sabathia has been pitching well of late, and has only allowed 5 ER in his last three starts. All five were scored by–you guessed it–this Baltimore team in a 6-2 home loss as a -380 chalk. We’re not getting quite as good of a price in this game, but we are getting a team that we know will scrap for 9 innings against a superior opponent. If you’d bet on the Orioles in every game since Showalter took over you’d be up nearly 21 units. That’s phenomenal for a team that was the worst in baseball for the first half of the season.

Bet Baltimore Orioles (Guthrie) +180 over New York Yankees (Sabathia)