AL East Gambling Report: Yankees Lead Along with Orioles | Point Spreads

The AL East is typically a close race between at least four MLB teams, and that’s how it’s been over the last few seasons. However, this year, the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees are comfortably ahead of the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Was this all expected before the end of the season? Check out our AL East gambling report as we approach mid-May in the MLB season.

New York Yankees

The Yankees began the season with high expectations, sitting at +1000 when the lines opened up for this year’s World Series. They’re now at +700 and third on the World Series odds board. During Spring Training, the Yankees learned that Gerrit Cole would miss at least half the season. Doubt started to pour down on them.

But earlier in the off-season, New York added Juan Soto in a massive trade with the Padres. He’s been a total X-factor for this club. They also brought in Marcus Stroman as a big piece of the starting rotation. He’s done his part so far, too.

Last season, the Yankees had only got consistent production out of Aaron Judge in the lineup. But with Soto batting ahead of Judge, the Yankees are much deeper offensively. In addition, the Yankees’ bullpen has been absolutely on point. Even the starting rotation has performed well without Cole for the time being.

The Yankees deserve credit for their performance so far this season. They might even be on the World Series schedule this season.

Baltimore Orioles

As of May 16, the Orioles are neck-and-neck with the New York Yankees. They currently have odds of +800 to win the World Series this year, which is up from +1200 at the start of the season. Therefore, Baltimore is exceeding expectations. They’ve also done this despite having to send No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday back down to the minors after he slumped when he was called up for his Major League debut.

Baltimore hasn’t been swept in any series this season. They’ve also extended their regular-season sweepless streak to 105 series’. When you don’t get swept you’ve got a great chance putting together a big season. That’s what the Orioles have done so far.

Our favorite MLB picks would include backing the Orioles at +800 to win the World Series.

Boston Red Sox

Many analysts believed the Red Sox would finish as one of the worst teams in the American League this season. Instead, the Red Sox are above .500 as of May 16 after having odds of +5000 to win the World Series in the off-season. While the Red Sox are currently +8000 to win the World Series, they’ve done better than expectations this year. There are many worse teams in the MLB this season.

They’ve got some underrated pitching out of a few of their starters and are getting some serious power out of the top of the lineup, including Tyler O’Neill, who was a new addition to the squad this season.

In previous seasons, the Red Sox would wait a while if things went south. However, this year, the Red Sox are making moves more aggressively to sustain their success. Give them credit here. We certainly did with our AL East gambling report.

Tampa Bay Rays

We’re all very used to the Tampa Bay Rays in contention. But that hasn’t been the case this season. The Rays opened at +3500 to win the World Series but are now +5500 while playing .500 baseball. Tampa Bay isn’t hitting for much power against righties or lefties, which has ultimately sunk them as a team.

Despite the lack of power, the Rays have done well limiting strikeouts and still have a rotation that can be dangerous.

It’s too early to count the Rays out. But until there’s more consistent power in the lineup, it’ll be hard for the Rays to add wins against the other AL squads that are consistently hitting, like the Orioles and Yankees.

Toronto Blue Jays

When the first odds came out, the Toronto Blue Jays were just +2000 to win the World Series. But now they’re +5000 odds and sitting in the AL East standings with a losing record.

Toronto’s bats have ultimately struggled this season. Bo Bichette is hitting 5th in the lineup. He’s added a .109 ISO and wOBA of .291 in 130 at-bats against righties. Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has also hit a .110 ISO against righties this season. Those two hitters have been just as bad against lefties this season, leaving them as prime trade candidates by the deadline.

Nobody saw that coming. Therefore, our AL East gambling report has Toronto with the worst grade in the AL East.

While Toronto isn’t far out of the AL Standings just yet, day by day, they’re falling down the standings a little more. Like the Rays, it’s hard to count them out. But it’s unlikely the Blue Jays will find much success with their two premier bats struggling at the plate. They’ve had some really low Major League Baseball scores this season, which has been shocking.

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