MLB Betting: Who's Hot In the Major League? July 29th 2009

Teams are starting to jockey for position as we head towards the end of the month of July in the MLB betting season. Find out which teams are rounding into form as potential playoff teams with BetUS Sportsbook’s list of teams on fire…

1: Cleveland Indians (42-59, -$1,950) (4-1, +$424 in L/5) Though it certainly appears as though the Indians are set to move LHP Cliff Lee and C Victor Martinez, a hot spell here right before the trade deadline has to at least put a second thought in the minds of the head honchos in Cleveland. The Tribe’s scorching right now, winning five out of six, all on the road against the quality opponents of Anaheim, Seattle, and Toronto. Still, are 11 games too much to make up in the standings in the final 60 or so games of the season? The chances are slim, but there’s a division to make up ground in, the AL Central is the one you want to be in. Trading Lee and Martinez would absolutely cripple this team for good though, just like trading CC Sabathia off to Milwaukee did a year ago. Perhaps trading 1B Ryan Garko to San Francisco is just a sign of things to come as the week unfolds.

2: Washington Nationals (32-68, -$2,991) (4-1, +$404 in L/5) Congrats to the Nationals for being on their longest winning streak of the season and making their first appearance of the year on the “Who’s Hot” list! On this four-game tear, the Nats have scored at least five runs in three of the four games, including blasting the Brew Crew for 14 runs on Monday and San Diego for 13 runs on Saturday. Honestly, it’s about time that this team stepped it up just a tad. Many thought that Washington could stick around with the big boys in the NL East for a bit this season, but when push really came to shove, the lineup wasn’t nearly as good as some originally thought, and the pitching staff was simply horrifying. There’s still a big question of how many of the “stars” of this team will still be floating around in our nation’s capitol by the end of the week. The best thing that may ever happen for either 1B Nick Johnson or OF Josh Willingham may be a ticket out of town to a contender.

3: New York Mets (48-51, -$324) (4-1, +$398 in L/5) Even though everything seems to be falling apart at the seams in the Big Apple, the Mets are playing their best baseball since the very beginning of the season right now. Because of it, they’re really spoiling the party for some good teams still in contention for the playoffs. They’ve won four straight games, two against Houston and two against Colorado. After outscoring their L/4 opponents by an average of five runs per game, there’s some hope for a miraculous comeback still. Remember, this team was up seven games with 17 to play and blew the division two seasons ago. Suddenly, this year’s deficit doesn’t seem so unrealistic to make up. If karma is any indicator, it would serve the Phillies right if they choked away a lead this big this late in the season after ace SP Cole Hamels referred to the Mets as “chokers” for their recent September struggles.
And the rest…

4: Texas Rangers (56-42, +$1,700) (4-1, +$319 in L/5)
5: Chicago Cubs (52-46, -$344) (4-1, +$287 in L/5)

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