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07/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edinson Volquez aims to start another Cincinnati win streak when the Reds visit Miller Park tonight for the second test of a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Cincinnati had beaten the Brewers six straight times before Monday's opener, when pinch-hitter Jim Edmonds homered with two outs in the eighth inning after just missing a go-ahead shot on the previous pitch, lifting Milwaukee to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Reds.
Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer in the third inning as Milwaukee won its fifth straight game to match a season-best streak after trailing 2-0 early.
Edmonds has been unable to play the field since his right Achilles' tendon tightened Saturday night, but he didn't need to run hard after his at-bat against Bronson Arroyo (10-6) in the eighth. He first hit a big blast off a fastball, dropping the bat only to watch his shot sail foul. He then sent the next pitch over the Reds' bullpen in right-center field.
Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva (1-0) pitched the eighth and rookie closer John Axford rebounded from his first blown save of the season on Friday to notch his 15th save in 16 attempts, working around a one-out double to pinch- hitter Laynce Nix.
The Reds trail the first-place St. Louis Cardinals by a game in the National League's Central Division and lead the third-place Brewers by seven games.
Volquez, a 17-game winner and an NL All-Star in 2008, was shelved for most of the 2009 and the initial half of 2010 after undergoing ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow. He returned with six strong innings in an 8-1 defeat of Colorado in his season debut on July 17, but lasted less than three innings while being tagged for five hits and six runs in a 7-1 loss to Washington five days later.
Lifetime against Milwaukee, Volquez, who was traded from Texas for AL MVP candidate Josh Hamilton, is 2-1 in four starts with a 6.35 earned run average over 22 2/3 innings.
For the Brewers, Mexican righty Yovani Gallardo faces the Reds for the second time this season and the seventh time overall in his 74th major-league appearance.
Gallardo got a no-decision against the Reds on May 17 in Cincinnati, allowing four hits and a run over six innings in a game Milwaukee lost, 6-3. He did issue six walks in that game, but struck out five.
The 24-year-old, a 13-game winner last season, has won three of his last four starts overall while allowing 22 hits and 10 runs in 23 2/3 innings. He's 2-1 with a 3.50 earned run average overall against the Reds.
Last night's contest was the third meeting between the teams of 2010. The Reds swept a brief two-game set from Milwaukee in Cincinnati from May 17-18.
<< Resurgent Phils to begin home set with Diamondbacks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies are starting to play like the
team that won back-to-back National League titles. Tonight they shoot for a
sixth straight win when they open a three-game series against the Arizona
Diamondbacks at Cit
<< Mets return home to face Wainwright following disastrous trip
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a disastrous road trip, the New York Mets return home
in the hopes of finding their offense. Too bad they have St. Louis ace Adam
Wainwright waiting for them.
Wainwright will look to extend his scoreless innings stre
<< Dodgers hope to gain some ground in San Diego
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After stumbling out of the gate to begin the second half,
the Dodgers have finally started to turn things around. It's a good thing,
because the National League West-leading Padres have had no such troubles
since the All-Star
<< Blue Jays try to continue mastery of Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Plenty of teams have given the Baltimore Orioles trouble
over the course of this season, but none has proven to be a tougher opponent
than the Toronto Blue Jays.
Having won all 10 meetings between the American League East
Johnson hopes for record-setting start in Marlins-Giants tilt >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Johnson could put himself into the record books when
the Florida Marlins continue their four-game series with the San Francisco
Giants this evening at AT&T Park.
Johnson has gone 13 straight starts without allowin
Lackey returns to Anaheim as Red Sox take on Angels >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Lackey returns to Anaheim for the first time since
leaving for Boston as a free agent when the Red Sox continue their three-game
set against the Angels this evening.
Lackey, who was 49-32 with a 3.72 earned run averag
A-Rod continues quest for 600 vs. Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees used the long ball to come through
with a win over the Cleveland Indians last night, but none came off the bat of
Alex Rodriguez.
With their star slugger still stuck on 599 career home runs, the Yankee
Braves get another look at Strasburg >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nationals' Stephen Strasburg hasn't faced many
hiccups since reaching the majors, but the 22-year-old phenom wasn't at the
top of his game when he first faced the Braves.
Strasburg will look for better results tonigh
There is little doubt that the NFL is where the sportsbooks see the most action and also make the most loot. The NFL possesses betting friendly attributes that are unlike any of the other major sports. First off, there are relatively few teams to keep track of in comparison to college football betting or college basketball. And second, these teams play only once a week which makes staying on top of the results much easier than it is in the daily leagues such as the NBA, NHL, and MLB.
These dynamics, along with the sheer excitement of watching and wagering on football, brings more square action to the table than any of the other sports. Almost every Tom, Dick and Harry in America is an NFL expert in their own mind and that is precisely what the oddsmakers prey upon.
Understanding who bets the games is just as important as understanding which teams are playing the games. The market at times will dictate price, which in the betting world means the oddsmakers cater to the public rather than reality.
Knowing the market inside and out is the basis of our NFL handicapping model. That is, our approach to NFL handicapping is of the contrarian or value seeking variety. We will at times place a higher premium on public sentiment than on the fundamentals. This strategy dictates playing dogs and/or lesser competent teams, or teams the public wants nothing to do with. Or better yet, fading the teams the oddsmakers want you to bet on.
Along these same lines, we carry a similar notion that the first week of the NFL season presents one of the ripest opportunities for the astute gambler. This conflicts with conventional wisdom and/or handicapping lore, as most would say it is better to watch a few games and assess each team before jumping in with both feet. That’s all fine and dandy, but there are some interesting trends to exploit in Week 1 and we’d be remiss to ignore them. Let us quickly explain.
Gone are the days of dynasties, where the same core players stay intact and dominate the league year after year. Free agency and player movements can completely transform teams from one season to the next. In today’s parity-driven NFL, poor teams typically don’t stay poor for all that long and excellent teams must constantly reinvent themselves to stay on top.
The temptation might be to assume prior year results are the best indicator of who is going to cover in Week 1. To Joe Public, playoff teams from the prior season, home teams, favorites, and so one, look even more enticing than usual since there is no current season performance to judge them against. But the question begs: are the oddsmakers setting a trap?
To find the answer, we culled five years worth of Week 1 NFL data. As always, all of our analysis is done from an ATS perspective. The purpose here is to share the most important angles we unearthed and try to explain the logic behind them. So strap on your helmet, throw on your shoulder pads, and follow our lead as we expose some rare holes in the oddsmakers’ line of defense.
Home vs. Away Teams
Over the past five seasons, NFL home teams in Week 1 are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). This of course implies that roadies are a 58 percent winning proposition during this time. The public at large has a tendency to overvalue home teams and this is especially true in Week 1 when there is no current season data to make predictions from. Consequently, the oddsmakers almost surely shade the home teams, by and large making road teams the choice for the value player.
Conclusion: Look long and hard at road teams first when handicapping the opening week.
Price ranges
Favorites are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent) in the opening week over the past five NFL seasons (Coincidentally, home teams hold the same ATS record as noted above). This means that underdogs bark at a 58 percent clip. Mid-range favorites performed the worst among our specified price ranges. In particular, favorites priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 are only 8-15 ATS (35 percent) during this time.
The same basic pattern holds true when looking at home favorites (road favorites gravitate towards a 50 percent mean). Home favorites indeed are just 21-32-3 ATS (40 percent) in the first week of NFL action since 1999. Again, mid-range favorites are similarly the poorest performers when we look at home teams. Consider that home teams priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 have stumbled to a 6-13 ATS (32 percent) mark in Week 1 games the past five seasons.
Conclusion: Like home teams, favorites and particularly mid-range favorites are generally overvalued in Week 1.
Playoff teams
It might surprise you to learn that playoff teams from the prior year versus non-playoff teams from the prior year are a mere 16-23-3 (41 percent) ATS in NFL Week 1 games over the past five seasons. Home teams which made the playoffs versus teams which did not make the playoffs from the prior season drop to a meager 7-14-1 ATS (33 percent) during this time.
Why are playoff teams, and in particular those at home, such bad bets the past five openers? Just as the case with home teams and with favorites, oddsmakers intentionally overprice playoff teams in the opening week to compensate for the public’s propensity to over bet them.
This theory holds true just looking at straight-up records from the past season as well. That is, home teams with winning records from the prior season vs. road teams with losing records from the prior season are just 8-13 ATS in Week 1 NFL games since 1999.
Conclusion: Playoff teams from the prior year and in particular, home playoff teams, are overvalued in Week 1 NFL games.
Scoring defense and scoring offense
Do good defenses and for that matter good offenses from the prior season fare better against the number the following year in Week 1 games? Well, sort of. Generally speaking, teams with a solid offense or defense from the prior season tend to do well in the opening week so long as they are on the road. As a host, however, the best offenses and best defenses from the prior year tend to be overvalued in Week 1.
Consider that the top five scoring defenses (i.e. points allowed) from the prior season are a nice 8-4 ATS (66 percent) on the road in NFL openers the past five seasons. Meanwhile, the top five scoring defenses from the prior season are just 3-8-2 ATS (27 percent) as a host in Week 1 during the same time period.
There is no discernable advantage or disadvantage for teams with a top five scoring offense (i.e. points scored) in Week 1 games. However, when we look at scoring offenses from the bottom up (isolating the five worst offenses from the prior season), the results are rather interesting. In particular, teams ranked in the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are 9-4-1 ATS (69 percent) when on the road in Week 1.
The logic is simply that the public perception is a poor scoring offensive unit from the year prior will have little chance of winning on the road in Week 1. In turn, the oddsmakers compensate for this perception and these poor offensive teams from the year prior carry extra line value on the Week 1 trail.
Conclusion: Teams with top-ranked defenses from the previous season are good bets when playing on the road, but poor bets when playing at home. Also, teams ranked among the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are generally a good value in their Week 1 openers, provided they are playing on the road.
Scoring margin
An exceedingly straightforward way of measuring scoring offense and scoring defense together as a whole is to look at a team's “margin." Margin is simply scoring offense minus scoring defense, which is a fairly clear-cut measure of how a team does on both sides of the ball. Typically, the higher the margin, the better the team.
In this regard, it might seem counterintuitive that teams carrying the higher margin from the prior season in week one matchups are merely 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). Furthermore, road teams with the higher margin are 14-20-6 ATS (41 percent), while home teams with the higher margin are 17-22-1 ATS (44 percent). Once again, these results line up with the theory that better teams from the prior year are overvalued come opening day of the following season.
Conclusion: “Better” teams, which often boast a higher margin than their opponent, are overvalued the following season in NFL openers.
In sum
Oddsmakers cater NFL betting lines to match public perception and also to bait the public into poor bets. The temptation to use the prior year’s success as a buy sign for how a team will perform against the spread in Week 1 of the following season is an enormous trap.
The fact is, isolating road teams, road dogs, non-playoff teams vs. playoff teams, teams with a losing record or low margin vs. playoff teams or ones with a high margin from the previous year is where the line value resides. Quite simply, taking the road less traveled is your surest path to NFL betting profits.
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