IntroductionThere are 30 teams who compete in the Major League Baseball (MLB), the baseball league of North America.
Teams aim to be crowned World Series Champions at the end of an arduous nine-month season. As is the case with all North American Sports, teams are divided into National (NL) and American (AL) Leagues, and further divided into East, West and Central divisions. The winners of the six divisions and two wild-card teams (best record of the teams who have not won their division) compete in the post-season to decide the winners of the World Series.
The GameEach team has nine players and starts the game with a designated pitcher. Other players specialise in specific departments such as short stop, first base etc. Traditionally everyone in the team bats, however in the American League each team also has a tenth player, a designated hitter who bats instead of the pitcher - a peculiarity that has remained since the AL initiated the concept in 1973.
A game consists of nine innings for each team. The aim of the game is to outscore your opponents. To score a batter must run around all the bases returning to home base without being 'out'. There are many ways of being out such as strike out, caught, tagged etc.
Rules and Regulations of the game can be found at:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/foreword.jspWhat makes a good team•
Pitchers - Each team needs as a minimum five good starting pitchers for the season. The starting pitcher doesn't usually throw every inning during a game, relieving pitchers are used. The collective name for the reserve pitchers is the 'bull-pen', the area where reserve pitchers warm up before a game. A strong bull-pen is essential for team to have a successful campaign, relief pitchers are important as when the starting pitcher tires and is replaced they may need to rescue the situation the starter left them in.
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Batting - Depending on the team's tactics and stadium the batting line-ups can vary. A team who wants to play 'small ball' will want a lot of fast players who are good at making contact with the ball. A team who plays in an 'easier' home run hitting park might want more sluggers.
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Fielding - An often under-rated factor. The infielders generally need to be very good at diving, catching, throwing fast etc... Also need to have good team work. Most of the action happens in the infield.
• Coaching - Decision making in the big games is the most important. Knowing when to replace a tiring pitcher, managing batters, when to steal bases etc.
The MLB site,
http://www.mlb.com/ , has many stats on players and teams; your job is to work out which stats are the most important. As with most American sports, the list of statistics available is virtually endless.
World SeriesIn the post-season the eight teams who qualify play series of five or seven games against each other.
The reason for more than one game is due to the fact in baseball any team in the competition is capable of beating any other. It is rare to see a favourite below 1.3 for any one game. To keep luck to a minimum they have more matches.
For the overall winner usually the best teams will qualify for post-season but once in post-season, anything can happen.
Match BettingImportant things to know:
• Home field advantage
• Is the park hitter or pitcher-friendly? What type of batters does each team have?
• How much rest has each starting pitcher had?
• Games can be 'called' due to bad weather but at least five innings (4.5 if home team is leading) have to be played. (Totals and Run Line are voided in this case unless unconditionally determined - overs etc.., but Match Odds is not).
• Game can go to extra innings and all markets account for this.
Run Line - Remember that the home team does not bat the 9th inning if winning. So if the home team is the favourite the -1.5 run line (it's always 1.5 runs) has a larger effect on the odds than if the away team was favourite (assuming both teams are of equal ability). The factors are the same as the match odds.
Total Runs - The pitcher's ability and form is the biggest factor in this market but also a large factor is the park. Also the weather is important, the wind etc... Take the Chicago Cubs for example, the total runs line is not known until the layers know the predicted wind direction and speed.
In Play BettingA few points to be aware of:
• Deficits can be turned around quickly when runners are on base. A home run with bases loaded will change the complexion of a game completely.
• Star batters don't always get to swing the bat. When runners are on base, the pitcher may deliberately walk the big hitter rather than concede multiple runs.
• After watching a lot of baseball you will notice which players are 'clutch' (reliable in tense situations) and which players are not. A good stat to look for is how batters do when runners are in scoring position.
Baseball ResourcesMedia coverage:
Channel 5 broadcast two games per week - Sunday, the live game of the week, and Wednesday, often delayed by one hour.
NASN - the North American Sports Network broadcasting live games most nights.
www.nasn.com also has TV schedules, a handy news feed and a beginner's guide to the sport.
MLB.TV - You can watch all games live (subject to around a 1 minute delay) on
http://www.mlb.tv/ for a very small fee.
All American sports networks will cover baseball heavily during the summer:
http://www.espn.com/http://www.sportsillustrated.com/http://www.foxsports.com/http://sports.yahoo.com/mlbOdd spot - in 1999, Time magazine voted this the Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th Century - the immortal 'Who's on First?' baseball routine by Abbott and Costello.
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