As you can see from the season win total odds listed below, the New York Yankees are expected to be the cream of the American League crop in the shortened 2020 season. Even with Aroldis Chapman, Luis Cessa and DJ LeMahieu testing positive for COVID-19 and Luis Severino out for the season, MLB bettors have bought their win total up a full game from the 36.5 opener. Makes sense considering the team has won over 100 games each of the last two seasons, but much would have to go right for Aaron Boone’s squad to live up to those lofty expectations without those players producing early on. Still, it’s not a wager I’m comfortable making knowing full well they’ll need to bring their “A” game to the field more times than not as feisty the Tampa Bay Rays will be in hopes of getting back to the playoffs themselves. There are however some spots I do like; I deemed these four my AL Season Win Total Best Bets and have invested in each and every one. Let’s break them down!
AL Season Win Totals
Yankees 37.5
Astros 35.5
Twins 34.5
A’s 33.5
Rays 33.5
Indians 32.5
Red Sox 31.5
White Sox 31.5
Angels 31
Rangers 28.5
Blue Jays 27.5
Mariners 24.5
Royals 23.5
Tigers 21.5
Orioles 20.5
Oakland A’s Over 33.5
The A’s will take to the field in 2020 with a chip on their collective shoulder. For two straight seasons, Bob Melvin’s squad has played the role of the bridesmaid to the Houston Astros in logging successive 97-65 records. Both team’s postseason appearance were finished in the blink of an eye after dropping the AL Wild-Card game to the Yankees and Rays respectively. This is a team that averaged better than 5.2 runs per game, played sound defense and was great both on the starting bump and in the bullpen. It’s a young squad with solid veteran talent sprinkled in. Matt Chapman is on the verge of being the best 3B in the game, and he’s protected in the lineup by Ramon Laureano, Matt Olson, Mark Canha and Khris Davis. Frankie Montas was contending for the AL Cy Young Award before being suspended. He’s back and ready to go in 2020 and they got other young explosive arms in A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo coming up as well! I like the makeup of this team, and fully expect it to challenge the Astros for division supremacy in hopes of avoiding the play-in game a third straight postseason.
Texas Rangers Over 28.5
Don’t laugh, but I firmly believe the Rangers have it in them to give the Angels, A’s and Astros a major run for their money for AL West bragging rights. Texas ultimately finished up six-games under .500 last season, but closed the last few months with a flourish that should have it pumped to get back onto the field in 2020; especially with it playing in a brand new ballpark! Though the acquisitions of Todd Frazier and Robinson Chirinos don’t do much to move the needle, it’s the trade the team made for Corey Kluber that leads me to believe they compete. He paired with Lance Lynn and Mike Minor is enough for this club to at the very least split its 60-game schedule; that would be good enough to cash an over ticket my friends!
Cleveland Indians Under 32.5
I have the utmost respect for Terry Francona. Everywhere the skipper goes, his team succeeds. However, the Indians look to be on the downswing of their World Series run and I think the Twins and White Sox make it a point to bury them right out of the chute. The biggest moves upper management made this past offseason was signing Cesar Hernandez to lead off, and trading for slugger Franmil Reyes to bat in back of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. Oh yeah, they also lured Domingo Santana over from the Mariners. Shane Bieber looks to be the real deal Holyfield, but I have my reservations about the injury prone Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco being able to make it a fearsome threesome all the way through. Brad Hand also started having issues saving games last season. All in all, I’m just not buying how oddsmakers are selling the Tribe in this shortened season.
Chicago White Sox Over 31.5
I’m buying in hook, line and sinker to what’s going down on the South Side of Chicago these days. Much like their neighbors to the north, the White Sox built from the ground up. It’s now at a point where the right veteran signings could put it over the top. Well, no other team in the league was more proactive than the Palehose who inked free agents Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion and then traded for Nomar Mazara. That’s a lot of thump to add to a roster that already had Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, and Eloy Jimenez within it. And don’t forget about the up and coming Luis Robert who is getting all kinds of pub heading into the regular season. On top of that, veterans Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel were brought in to mentor the young electric arms of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease. The back end of the pen looks to be legit as well! Pains me to say, but the White Sox are dangerous!
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