MLB Sportsbook Betting – Weekend Baseball Betting Picks

The Major League Baseball season opens just a little bit earlier this year than in seasons past. The sport, in order to avoid having the World Series extend into November, wants to start its season in late March, before the first Monday of April and the NCAA Tournament’s national championship game, which March Madness betting gurus are going to be following with an eager eye. Baseball wants to push forward its calendar, so it will be interesting to see which teams and pitchers are sharp as the season gets going.

For the first weekend of the season, there’s little reason to keep things overly complicated for your online betting strategy. Go with what works. Trust the pitchers and the teams (or perhaps, situations) you think you can depend on. There are two game choices in particular that should be no-brainers on Saturday, April 2.

We’ll start in Philadelphia, where the loaded Phillies, blessed with one of the very best starting rotations in the history of the sport, will send out Cliff Lee on Saturday against the Houston Astros. The Phillies might not score very regularly, but with Lee back in Philadelphia after brief stints with the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, the lefty should be on top of his game. Lee really wants to pitch in Philadelphia. The game’s best left-handed starting pitcher loved his time there in 2009 and, after much consideration, rejected the New York Yankees’ mega-dollar offer to play for the Phillies at a lower salary. Lee is beloved by the fans in Philly and is certainly quite respected in the clubhouse he once inhabited. The ingredients exist for a very big year in the City of Brotherly Love, so of all the prime pitchers who are making their debut this weekend in the big leagues, Lee should be particularly well positioned to deliver a strong start against a weak-hitting and hollowed-out Houston lineup. The Astros are in rebuilding mode and should find it hard to get around on Lee’s hard stuff. Philadelphia should dominate a baseball game as much as one can expect. You do never know what will happen in any one baseball game, but Cliff Lee against the Houston Astros at home is as close to a sure thing as you’ll find this weekend.

The community of baseball betting experts, in surveying the landscape for another good selection this weekend, should stay focused on the Saturday slate and go to Denver, where the Colorado Rockies will host the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colorado will send lefty starter Jorge De La Rosa to the hill against a yet-unannounced Arizona starter. De La Rosa has become a very consistent pitcher. He’s grown over the past few seasons and, at Coors Field – long a graveyard for average pitchers – has become legitimately tough. De La Rosa’s 4.22 ERA in 2010 would, if adjusted for ballparks, been under four if he had pitched in a pitcher’s park such as San Francisco’s AT&T Park or San Diego’s Petco Park. Throwing in the National League West’s toughest ballyard for any pitcher, De La Rosa has more than held his own. Against a Diamondback team that is also (like Houston) in the midst of a rebuilding process, expect the Rockies to flourish on Saturday.