With interleague play upon us, here are some tips to remember before placing your wagers this weekend:
--The A's and Yankees are the two most successful AL teams in interleague play. The A's have the most interleague wins (113) of any team in MLB, while the Yanks have a slightly better overall winning percentage. Surprisingly, the Marlins lead the way in the NL, with a 105-81 interleague record. The Twins (27-9) have had the most success over the last three years. The Orioles own the worst record among AL teams, going 79-114. Meanwhile, the Pirates have the fewest wins of any team in either league with 57.
--The AL has dominated interleague play, mainly due to its more powerful lineups. The AL has come out on top in interleague play each of the past four years and six of the last eight. The last two seasons the AL has really put the hurting on their NL counterparts, recording winning percentages of .611 in 2006 and .544 in 2007.
--You may want to consider taking a lot of run lines this weekend, seeing that many interleague games, especially early on in the season, haven't been very close. During the opening weekend of interleague play last year, 34 of 42 games were decided by at least two runs. That comes out to a whopping 81 percent. A team like Arizona with Dan Haren pitching is currently -135 over the struggling Tigers. However, if you take the RL with the Diamondbacks, you get much more value at +155. That's just one example of the many solid RL value plays for Friday.
--Finally, look for good matchups and focus less on recent performances. Interleague play is similar to the NFL Playoffs or College Football Bowls where it's all about which teams match up well with another. For instance, the Red Sox have struggled to score runs lately. Don't expect that to continue this weekend. Boston matches up extremely well with all three Brewers pitchers they'll be facing: Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Carlos Villanueva. Despite Boston's recent power outage, look for them to light up Brewer pitching this weekend at Fenway Park.
Interleague Play can be a lot of fun and if you have any other helpful tips to contribute, feel free to add them. Good luck everyone.