Ahh, Baseball. My favorite sport of all. More specifically, I think Post Season Baseball is the most exciting period of any season in any sport. I have always loved how the game changes with every single pitch and this is heightened in the playoffs. Can't wait to get 'er started this Sunday.
While my love for the game began at a very early age, I was fortunate enough to be hired as a sports reporter for KSFO Radio in San Francisco out of college. As a twenty-something year old kid, I was interviewing Tony LaRussa, Dusty Baker, Will Clark, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Dennis Eckersly, Rickey Henderson, etc. on a daily basis. This routine helped in my knowledge of truly what the daily grind of a baseball season is and what the mentality of the players, the manager, and clubhouse is on a day in and day out basis.
As far as handicapping baseball, this is really a side note or practice to that of being just a fan or reporter of the game. This is a deep rooted analysis of metrics, trends, ballparks, umpires, and most importantly, pitchers - and a daily routine at that. Early in my efforts of handicapping baseball, I really focused on pitchers, market reading, and streaks but with all of the metrics, and more specific situational stats now available, and the more specific the game has become - I have added this to my analysis and procedure.
With specific situational metrics now coming into the forefront, it ties into how baseball has evolved as well as roles are now more situational and specific and I think an area where this applies most of all is bullpens. We have lefties who come in for one out, or to face a particular batter, we have pitchers that are hired specifically to be a 6th or 7th inning guy, pitchers that are brought in to be a "set up" man, and of course every team is not complete without establishing a closer and sometimes two! Starting pitching is obviously key and weighs in heavily in the line but really a team's bullpen has become arguably even more important as they are typically involved in over half of the game. These days, if a starting pitcher consistently goes 6+ innings, he's an extremely valuable commodity but to my point, this is not the norm and thus a bullpen is crucial in the handicap of our modern day game.
This will be the crux of my day to day handicap of baseball.. the metrics of the pitchers and the corresponding bullpens. I will also take into account ball parks, starting lineups, trends, fatigue, streaks, and marketplace but these areas will likely be more complimentary to the overall pitching analysis.
As for tips on handicapping baseball.. you can gather from what I have written above..
1. Bullpens are at least as important as Starting Pitching if not more
2. The entire situation must be considered.. night game, day game, hitters park, pitchers park, fatigued bullpen, behind the plate umpires, left handed hitters, left handed pitchers...
3. Market analysis and money management. As is true in any sport, it is paramount in baseball because we are at this every day on not just once a week. Baseball is a streaky game and so can be betting on it. It is key to stay the course and to one's manageable routine.
Now let's go have a great season and enjoy the games!
My subscription through the All Star Game is available here.. pregame.com/.../bettor.aspx
Thank you all in the Pregame Family for the support.
Have fun,
Brady Kannon
@lasvegasgolfer
www.LVTeeTimes.com