For years, the Tampa Bay Rays were a laughing stock in baseball betting circles. Last year, though, the stars finally aligned. Sucking for all those years allowed the Rays to stockpile prospects and everyone seemed to break out simultaneously. After the Rays defied the MLB odds in 2008, one question weighs heavily on sports betting fans’ minds: was last season a fluke?
What a difference a season can make. A year ago, the Jays were on everyone’s sleeper list in the MLB odds. They had, arguably, the best pitching in the AL, featuring a one-two punch of Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett, good young arms in Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum and the league’s stingiest bullpen.
2009 MLB Team Preview – Baltimore Orioles
Most MLB betting fans say playing the AL East is a death sentence if you’re not the Red Sox or Yankees. Well, now that the Rays join that elite list, life gets even harder for Baltimore and Toronto. Then again, the Rays’ story gives online sports betting players and young teams like Baltimore hope, doesn’t it?
