Posted by By Will Hill
FOX Sports MLB Betting Analyst
Despite several big stars still being unsigned, the majority of MLB has seemingly moved away from free agency, as teams dive into spring training.
With that, let’s look forward at a few good bets to make before Opening Day commences.
Evan Phillips to lead league in saves: +2000 (DraftKings)
There are plenty of questions about the Dodgers when it comes to October, as they have now flamed out two straight years in embarrassing fashion.
What can’t be questioned, however, is their ability to steamroll teams and stack up wins over the course of the regular season.
The Over/Under for their win total is set at 104.5 in some books, the highest preseason number for any team since the 1998 Yankees.
Last week, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts announced that Evan Phillips would enter the season as the team’s closer. Phillips is coming off of a season where he recorded 24 saves and had a 2.05 ERA, following a 2022 season where his ERA was a minuscule 1.14.
For a team that is very capable of winning 105-plus games, save opportunities will come frequently for the Dodgers, and getting their closer at 20-1 to lead the league in this category is a bet that’s worth making.
Rockies Under 60.5 wins
There are worse ways to spend your summer than rooting for the Rockies to lose every day. They haven’t been good in a while, and they won’t be much better this season.
The 2018 season was the last time they were above 500, and they haven’t come close to doing so since. At 59-103 last year, I think they are poised to lose well over 100 games again this season.
They have one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, and have a ballpark that is not forgiving to poor pitching.
They also play in a loaded division.
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The Rockies play each of these teams 14 times — 56 in total. A bad team in a good division always has a brutal schedule because it doesn’t get to play against itself.
It will be another long year for the pitching-depleted Rockies.
Angels Under 72.5 wins
The Angels are a team with no direction.
They lost Shohei Ohtani — one of the all-time great talents in baseball history — to free agency while getting nothing in return for him. They won 73 games last year and that was with Ohtani’s services at the plate and on the mound for most of the year.
Mike Trout is going to the Hall of Fame, but at one point, he looked destined to perhaps be one of the five best players of all time. That now seems unlikely, as he can no longer stay on the field over the course of the long season due to injuries.
The 2016 season was the last time Trout registered 500 at-bats, and it seems like missing a large chunk of the season comes with the territory at this stage of his career.
The Angels do have the hapless Athletics in their division, but also have a combined 56 games against the defending world champion Rangers, perennial powerhouse Astros, and a Mariners team that has the talent to win 90-plus games and missed the playoffs by one game last year.
The Angels will struggle to win 70 games.
Will Hill, a contributor on the Bears Bets Podcast, has been betting on sports for over a decade. He is a betting analyst who has been a host on VSiN, as well as the Goldboys Network.
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