Baseball Preview: Cleveland Indians at Los Angeles Angels

Added on Apr 12, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

American League action in Orange County as the Cleveland Indians take on the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos are just 5-5 on the year and could be poised for another disappointing campaign in 2011. Cleveland has gotten off to a very good start posting an 8-2 record and is currently atop the American League Central.

Cleveland Indians (Carmona) at Los Angeles Angels (Haren)
April 12, 2011 7:05 PM Pacific

There’s nothing we like better than catching a ‘fat’ underdog in baseball and particularly one with so much upside potential as this Cleveland Indians team. We didn’t really expect to see them win 8 of their first 10 games but we had every reason to think that they’d be able to hit the ball and put runs on the board. They’ve averaged 5.6 runs per game thus far and have gone undefeated on the road (4-0).

On paper, Los Angeles’ trio of righthanders–Dan Haren (who gets the start tonight), Ervin Santana and Jered Weaver are among the best in baseball. Unfortunately, they haven’t translated into victories so far this year and they’ll be hard pressed to shut down the hard hitting Indians. Cleveland turned a decent profit on the road in night games last season (+6.6 units) and are already +8.35 units overall this season. The Halos have lost a ton of money as a home favorite in this price range over the past three years (-150 to -175) dropping -8.8 units. They’ve also lost over -19 units in night games overall since 2008. The Indians have made a small profit in head to head play overall and at Anaheim in the past three years and given their current form we love the notion of getting them as such a hefty underdog. If Cleveland continues to hit the ball well it could compensate for what appears to be a substandard pitching staff and could make the Indians a solid ‘play on’ team for the entire season. We’ll also be keeping an eye on Anaheim–they continued to be priced as an elite level team but we’re not convinced they’re still at that level and they could become a very profitable ‘go against’ position–at least in certain situations if not overall.

Bet Cleveland Indians (Carmona) +160 over Los Angeles Angels (Haren)