Smell that in the air? baseball is right around the corner. Now nobody at the basement is more excited for America’s past time to be back and in full swing than me. Between the Astros shame tour, the Yankees spending a billion dollars on Cole and John Middleton being deathly afraid of the luxury tax, theres many things to be interested for in the 2020 season.

Whats the gambling vocab word of the day? Futures /fyo͞oCHər/ Noun – A wager you place before the season starts that you hope brings great value but instead usually forget about and end up owing the bookie 2 weeks pay instead of the usual 1 week of pay.

First things first – I’m a sucker for a great future, do I ever win big? almost never; but it’s fun to have some skin in the game from game 1 till whenever it loses/wins. Baseball futures are weird however, there is usually never any value in picking division winners, pennant winners feels like such a hard feat already and win totals are usually anywhere from -105 to -115 so again no value.

Today’s main focus is gonna be win totals. each play will be a standard 1 unit. Odds as of 3-1-2020 via PointsBet

Arizona Diamondbacks 83.5 – I really like the Dbacks to compete this year. Despite being in the same division in my eyes as the sure fire NL pennant winner, I think the dbacks have the roster to be a handful of games over .500 come season end. I even see them playing a wild card game against Philly and in order to do that, they’re gonna need to win more than 83 games. Give me O83.5 @ -110.

Atlanta Braves 90.5 – Call me a homer all you want but the Braves lost a decent amount of talent this past offseason. Keuchel gone 2.0 WAR, Donaldson gone 6.1 WAR, Teheran gone 2.4 WAR. Mike Soroka already showed some signs of regression as the season wore on and I expect more of the same going forward. Is the kid good? sure. are we gonna say him next to a 2.6 ERA again sometime soon? Maybe. In 2020? Nah. I love U90.5 @ -110.

Chicago Cubs 85.5 – There’s a lot I like in the NL Central this year. Brewers still got some good offense but losing Yasmany is gonna be massive and thats a big hole to fill. I don’t think the Cardinals are gonna repeat as division winners and the Cubs did win 84 games just last season. Yea they added absolutely nobody but I think a full healthy season of everyone being nice to Yu Darvish can win you 4-5 more games. Letting Castellanos walk to the Reds will however bite them in the ass, you watch. Give me O85.5 @ EVEN.

Los Angeles Dodgers 102.5 – I think the Dodgers are easily the best team in the NL. I love them to be playing in the last game of the season but 102 wins is a lot when players can go down left and right. That added with some question marks in the bullpen, I think the dodgers can easily win the NL West but also do so with only 97-99 wins. I’m gonna be sweating it all year but give me Dodgers U102.5 @ -110

Cleveland Indians 85.5 – Sure, the twins won 101 games and added Josh Donaldson and his 37 homeruns to a team that led all of 2019 with 307 HRs. That’s cool. You know what else is really cool? Mike Clevinger not breaking his back in his 3rd start of the season. Unless Lindor gets moved at the deadline, I think the Indians over cashes for sure. Comfortably taking O85.5 @ -125.

Philadelphia Phillies 85.5 – I know I’m just hurting myself by saying this but this is too easy. You’re telling me the new coaching staff, Didi and Wheeler isn’t worth 4 more wins? I think it easily is. Also as much as I give Middleton shit for not paying the tax, if this team is competitive come mid July, I am confident they would have no problem going over the tax. Having 20 million come off the books in the name of Jake Arrieta after this year could allow them to go over the tax this season while staying under next year as well. Chess not checkers. Love O85.5 @ -105

Houston Astros 94.5 – Yea Gerrit Cole is gone but this team is simply not 13.5 games worse. They still got Verlander and Grenkie. Is Alex Bregman and Altuve gonna lead the league in HBP? Prolly, but that fucking helps us. Don’t overthink it, the Astros are still really fucking good. The only that makes me nervous is Dusty Baker trying to overthink things and fudge it all up. O94.5 @ -120.

Since every book is different, I’m not sure if everyone is even able to take league HR leader but I have 2 plays if you are able to indulge. The best odds as of now is Judge at +750, but the Yankees don’t have the faintest idea of what is up with his shoulder. Even if he wasn’t injured right now at the moment, him playing 162 just doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be in the cards anytime soon. I’m taking Trout @ +900 and Acuna @ +1000.

If you are going to wet your beak this summer, only do so responsibly. Anyone unsure where to bet, there’s only one place I trust and that’s PointsBet! Clicking our link above will give you the deposit match you need to start winning like your pals here at the basement.

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