The online betting calculus for National League baseball over the coming weekend is a unique kind of brew that requires selectivity. Go to Denver and Los Angeles for a pair of plays.
National League Weekend Betting Picks:
Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies – Saturday, April 16 – 8:10 PM ET
One of the core tenets of sports betting is that the month of April is hell on starting pitchers. In the first month of the year, arms are still getting loosened up. Pitchers might have live arms and electric stuff, but as they emerge from Spring Training, they will still have trouble controlling the ball and keeping it in the strike zone. This is a challenge for even the veterans in the sport. The natural rhythms and life cycles of professional baseball will make April a harder month for starting pitchers than June or July, when pitchers have been able to settle into the rhythms of the regular season (but have not busted their arms due to overwork; that doesn’t happen until August and September).
With all this in mind, it’s even more of an article of faith among MLB baseball betting experts to pick against a young and inexperienced pitcher in April. That’s the kind of pitcher who will face the Colorado Rockies this Saturday evening at Coors Field in Denver. Casey Coleman has less than a full season’s worth of starts under his belt. The hurler made just under 15 starts in 2010 and will be making just his second start of 2011 this weekend. It’s plenty difficult in its own right to pitch at Coors Field and deal with the altitude that straightens out breaking balls and allows moderately-hit balls to fly 20 or 30 feet farther then they would in other ballparks. It’s got to be even more daunting for Coleman to take the hill. Greg Maddux and other legendary pitchers struggled at Coors; Coleman should struggle even more. Pick the Rockies because a savvy veteran pitcher is normally needed to win on the road in Denver.
Chicago Cubs Colorado Betting Pick: Colorado
Game Number Two:
St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers – Saturday, April 16 – 10:10 PM ET
In betting situations involving certain pitchers and certain teams, contests rarely get to be as clear-cut as the one this Saturday night in at Chavez Ravine. The pitcher being referred to is Clayton Kershaw, a strong young lefthander for the Los Angeles Dodgers who, if he stays healthy, has a long and prosperous 15-year career ahead of him. Kershaw owns terrific stuff, but he also brings good control and a formidable mixture of pitches to the table. He’s a load to deal with for any National League opponent. However, what makes Kershaw and his Dodgers an even more attractive betting play this Saturday is that the team in the opposite dugout is a punch-and-judy outfit. The St. Louis Cardinals have struggled mightily to score runs this season. Manager Tony LaRussa’s team scored more than three runs in just two of its first nine games. Kershaw might have an off night, but the odds suggest he’ll silence the Cardinals’ bats. Take the Dodgers because they have a quality pitcher going up against a weak-hitting team.
St. Louis Los Angeles Dodgers Betting Pick: Los Angeles Dodgers