Team Character - A Key To Winning MLB Handicapping
by MTi Sports
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
— Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Knowing how a team responds in particular situation is a key to handicapping success in ALL sports. In this article, we present a few
MLB trends that reveal a team’s character. In the 2011 MLB Handicapping Bible we revealed, “ATL005: The Braves are 7-0 (+1.9 rpg) since 2009 as a dog when seeking immediate revenge for a on-run loss in which they scored fewer than three runs.”
The Braves are 2-0 in this spot this season, giving them nine straight wins as a dog in this spot. it appears that the Braves’ character rises to the occasion when they are a dog off a one-run loss in a low-scoring game. However, their character is also revealed in the following trend, which was also published in the 2011 MLB Handicapping Bible, “ATL007: The Braves are 0-7 (-3.0 rpg) as a 200+ favorite when they are off a loss as a favorite in which they never led.” The Braves are 0-1 in this spot this season, giving them eight straight losses as a 200+ favorite. It appears the Braves’ character is weak when they are a big favorite off a bad game.
Here a trend of the Pirates that clearly indicates that they “throw in the towel” in this spot. We published, “PIT010: The Pirates are 0-19 (-3.8 rpg) since June 2007 as an away dog in the last game of a three-game road series when they lost the first two and their next series is at home.” The Pirates are 0-3 in this spot this season, giving them 22 straight losses in this spot. Pittsburgh has lost these 22 games by an average of 3.6 runs.
Here are a couple of character-revealing trends from the Tigers. The first is, “DET005: The Tigers are 11-0 (+2.3 rpg) in the last game of a three-game home series when they won the first two and trailed in both.” It looks like the Tigers have the mental toughness to drive home the stake in this situation. They added another winner this season, moving them to 12-0 in this spot.
On the other hand, Detroit’s trend number seven revealed, “DET007: The Tigers are 0-16 (-3.2 rpg) since August 2006 in the first game of a series when they are off a five-plus run win in which they never trailed and allowed fewer than three runs.” Clearly, the Tigers can’t carry the momentum of a big win into the next series, but the don’t have any trouble completing a sweep as evidenced by DET005. The Tigers lost in this situation this season, moving them to 0-17 in this situation, losing by an average of 3.2 runs.
In the next article, we’ll present some character-revealing trends of NFL teams.
Get all of MTi Sports'
baseball picks at Vegas Experts.
