MLB Betting: Texas Rangers at Detroit Tigers

Added on Apr 11, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Daytime action in the American League takes us to ‘The Motor City’ for a matchup between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Texas off to a great start at 8-1 while the Tigers have slumped to a 3-6 record in the early going.

Texas Rangers (Ogando) at Detroit Tigers (Verlander)
April 11, 2011 10:05 AM Pacific

We’d hoped that the Rangers hot start would set things up better for us in this game in terms of prices, but the Tigers are home favorites and in our view that’s as it should be. Texas crushed Boston and Seattle at home to open the season and took 2 of 3 from Baltimore over the weekend. But based on last year’s performances the Tigers are a dominant team at home. At home, the Tigers were 52-29 and ranked among the best home field teams in the American League. On the road, they were a woeful 29-52—the lowly Seattle Mariners were the only team in the American League that won fewer games away from home than the Detroit Tigers.

So once again the public isn’t going to ‘bite’ on the road underdog despite the disparate records of the teams so far in the 2011 season. Not only did Detroit compile an impressive W/L record at Comerica Park last season they made a ton of money for their financial backers as well–the Tigers earned +16.7 units at home in 2010. Texas was a decent betting team in most situations but one in which they struggled is highly salient here–the Rangers lost -10 units in day games last season. For some strange reason, all three games of this series are daytime starts.

Tigers’ starter Justin Verlander has also been money in the bank against the Rangers with a 6-1 record and 2.37 ERA versus Texas. Detroit has a 10-8 series edge over Texas in the last three season but–not surprisingly–have had their way with the Rangers at home compiling a 7-2 record for +5 units of profit since 2008. We’ll wait and see if Detroit starts to put up better numbers on the road this season but we’re not hesitant in the least to play them at home and particularly with Verlander on the hill.

Bet Detroit Tigers (Verlander) -130 over Texas Rangers (Ogando)