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When the defending American League champion Texas Rangers opted not to try and negotiate with free agent pitcher CJ Wilson, instead spending hundreds of millions to bring on a relative unknown in Yu Darvish, there were a good number of per head bookies that had their doubts about the decision. With Darvish picking up his major league-leading sixth win of the season in a 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night, it is safe to say that nobody is doubting the first-place Rangers anymore, as they continue to inch closer to a third-straight World Series appearance.

While Darvish is only one piece in a large betting equation that has Texas out front in the AL West once again, his play early on this season has been solid enough to think that he could be one of the answers for the question marks left by consecutive World Series defeats. The 25-year old looks like an absolute stud, striking out at least seven batters in each of his last five starts, the longest streak for a Rangers’ pitcher since 1987. Over that same span, Darvish has thrown first-pitch strikes to 60-percent of the batters he has faced, factoring in a changeup to go with the curveball and fastball he opened the year with. The Texas pitching staff ranks fourth in the majors in ERA with a combined 3.24 mark, with Darvish leading the way at 2.60, and three other starters keeping their number under 4.00 including Neftali Feliz, Colby Lewis, and Derek Holland. The depth the Rangers have demonstrated in their starting rotation has allowed them to move Alexi Ogando in to a relief role, where he has combined with Mike Adams for 13 holds already. Closer Joe Nathan has already recorded eight saves, completing what could very well be the deepest pitching staff in baseball, if not the best according to the stats on the sites listed by the sportsbook reviews.

For all of the sportsbook points we have already made about the pitching staff, it is that much more incredible that Texas’ offense has been even better, leading the majors in runs scored, batting average, slugging percentage, and ranked second in on-base percentage. Everybody knows just how good Josh Hamilton has been early on with 18 home runs already and a .408 average, but the Rangers also have five other regulars that are hitting over .270, with Adrian Beltre, Michael Young, and Nelson Cruz the three among them that have already hit 20 RBI in addition toHamilton’s 45.

As far as the MLB blogs evaluation is concerned, this Rangers’ team is actually better than the two that lost in the World Series in consecutive seasons, a scary thought considering how good those teams were.Texas is undoubtedly the most complete team in the majors, and as long as they can maintain their focus and consistency throughout the length of this marathon season, the Rangers will once again be right there contending for a World Series championship in what could be their best chance at finally bringing a title home.

Headed for his second consecutive 350 batting average and 30 plus home run season, Josh Hamilton is set to become a sports betting free agent at the end of the 2012 MLB season. Last week, Hamilton furthered his case as the modern day Babe Ruth, when he launched nine home runs in a span of four games against two different opponents. As a result, Hamilton alone has more home runs then five-baseball teams! With back – to – back runners up appearances in the World Series, will this be Hamilton’s final year as a Texas Ranger?

Josh Hamilton is every body’s favorite player, even if he hits home runs against your team. Over the past three years, Hamilton has grown into one of the most dynamic baseball players to ever play the game, as his five tool attributes have allowed for the Texas Rangers to go from a good team to an elite team. While Hamilton has held up his end of the bargain by performing to the most of his abilities, the Rangers have seemed to lag in regards to contract negotiations. Essentially, the Rangers acquired Hamilton for next to nothing from the Cincinnati Reds, as personal problems made him appear as a project player. For this reason, Hamilton was signed to cheap one-year deals regardless of impressive numbers.

As we noted earlier, Hamilton launched nine home runs last week, while anchoring the Rangers offense. Right now, Hamilton is on pace for 80 home runs 204 RBI and a 980 OBP. Meaning to say, for the Rangers to continue to sit on their hands and avoid signing Hamilton to a long-term deal, makes very little sense. After all, the team could believe that Josh Hamilton should be loyal to them since they stuck by him throughout his recovery from a variety of addictions. However, after bringing the team to within a World Series victory in back to back years, does he really owe them anything?

In theory, if Hamilton elects to test the free agent market, he could have plenty of suitors, with all five AL East teams being in the fold. To us, the team that makes the most sense of the five AL East teams for Hamilton to play for is the Toronto Blue Jays. Currently in rebuilding mode, the Jays management plans to contend for a betting online World Series Title by 2013. With uncertainty in left field, where Josh Hamilton currently resides on the baseball diamond, signing the best hitter in the game makes a ton of sense on the surface. Yet, there are plenty of things to consider both for Hamilton and the Blue Jays.

For Hamilton, he has shown that he can hit the ball very well in a warm climate, and Toronto plays in a dome, would it have an effect? Conversely, the Blue Jays offense has struggled this year, as even though they rank fourth in total offense, the team batting average is awful. One of the main reasons for this is the approach of hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, whose game plan isn’t very good. If Hamilton leaves for the Blue Jays would his overall game be affected, by leaving the Rangers hitting coach? At the end of the day, if the Toronto Blue Jays can land Josh Hamilton, they should be able to win the World Series.

The NHLplayoffs are in full swing, but the online sportsbook experts are already looking towards next season to see which teams will rise and which ones will fall. For this season, the story everyone is talking about is the St. Louis Blues. The Blues went from 11^th place in the Western Conference last year to second place this year. Now the online sports book enthusiasts are trying to see which team will be the St. Louis Blues next season and rise to the top of the league.

Winnipeg Jets

The problem the Winnipeg Jets are having is that it is run by the same management team that could not get the Atlanta Thrashers over the playoff hump. The Jets did the same thing this year that the Thrashers had done for years prior. The team started out strong, contended for a playoff spot, and then faded down the stretch. The Jets have a great goalie in Ondrej Pavelec, but the team plays poor defense in front of him. The price per head sports experts see a lot of potential in the Winnipeg Jets, but the Jets are going to need to shore up its defense if it wants to win games.

Buffalo Sabres

The fans in Buffalodo not see a winning team being built, but a bodog review of the Sabres’ roster shows some positive changes being made. The Sabres need to get tougher and faster if it wants to compete for the Stanley Cup. Players like Marcus Foligno fit that bill. Cody Hodgson looked almost timid when he came over from the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline, but he started to show potential towards the end of the season. The Sabres have promised results to its fans and now it needs to deliver. The only question is whether or not it is the right choice to keep going back to the team of general manager Darcy Regier and head coach Lindy Ruff.

Edmonton Oilers

The entire league keeps waiting for the Oilers to turn the corner, but the team continues to struggle.Edmontonis starting to see the benefits of drafting young talent like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but where the Oilers continue to fall short is in goal. Last season,Edmontonthought that veteran Nikolai Khabibulin was the answer. That turned out to be the wrong guess. The Oilers need to stop guessing in goal and find a real talent that can push the team to success. The Oilers seem to work on name recognition rather than talent. A few changes in the scouting department and a good goalie should get the Oilers on the right path.

Anaheim Ducks

NHL fans inAnaheim had a rough season. Their star goalie Jonas Hiller was out for a good part of the beginning of the season. When Hiller finally made it to the ice, he was inconsistent. The Ducks had some problems scoring goals, but it was mostly issues on defense that preventedAnaheim from making any progress this year. No team needed the season to end more thanAnaheim. New head coach Bruce Boudreau tried everything to get the team moving and nothing seemed to work. There will be player changes inAnaheim this offseason, but there is not a lot that really needs to be done. The Ducks can be a playoff team next year if the team just applies itself and utilizes the talent it has.

Power rankings are an essential tool for handicappers new and more experienced to use when making wagers on the Bodog lines, for their favorite MLB teams. As the name suggests, power rankings are used to display who the strongest teams in the league are compared to the weakest. By seeing the statistics that go into the creation of power rankings, some teams may appear to have better odds on the line then what we would typically imagine. Today, we will look at a few teams, that have left fans and media asking more questions then ever before.

The Kansas City Royals are an anomaly in this week’s Power Rankings, on several major sports networks across North America. In an effort to show uniqueness, many networks are using variables that diehard fans understand, such as WAR, which are wins above replacement metric. Meaning to say a team’s WAR indicates how the current crop of players on their team would fair against minor league players or players brought in through trade to help or improve the team. As it relates to the Royals, bookie software users are confused at the team’s seventh place ranking. Essentially, the Royals on a winning percentage of 200, which is amongst the lowest in the league. Yet, the WAR winning percentage is 544, which is seventh best in the league.

What makes less sense is the fact, that baseball statisticians have rated the Royals with such a high WAR winning percentage. Made up of mostly prospects, and a few scattered veterans, the small sample size has fans, and media wondering which is the real Kansas City Royals team for 2012. In other words, are the Royals a team that only wins 20 percent of their games, or a team that wins 54 percent of their games? Since there is such uncertainty, we recommend waiting a few more weeks, before you back or fade the Royals on the line.

On the contrary, a team that is leaving no question in fans and medias mind about taking them on the betting line is defending American League Champion, the Texas Rangers. To start the season, the Rangers are tied for the most wins in the MLB with 13, they’re WAR winning percentage is 833 and their regular winning percentage is 813. From top to bottom, the Rangers are easily the best team in baseball. Franchise outfielder Josh Hamilton appears like a modern day Babe Ruth, anchoring one of the deadliest offenses in the MLB.

As well, the Rangers pitching staff, both rotation and bullpen rank third in the entire league. To top off the early season success, the Rangers are sitting in first in team defense. What this indicates to bettors is that there is no safer wager to make, then on the defending World Series runners up. It also means, if the World Series started today, the odds indicate, that the Rangers should finally get over the hump and win the title.

One of the biggest sports betting debates that seemed to center around the SEC this season was the legitimacy of calling the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats the best team in the country based on the fact that they completed their conference schedule with a perfect record. On the one hand, there were those that pointed out how incredibly rare it is for a team to win all 16 games on their conference schedule and finish No. 1, which is understandable. On the other hand, the fact that the Wildcats had only one SEC victory that came by a margin of less than six points, including a pair of blowout wins over the No. 19 Florida Gators that came by a combined 25 points, is proof that Kentucky really just didn’t have any true competition in the SEC and was able to benefit from playing in a conference void of top national contenders. The fact that the Wildcats beat both Kansas and UNC earlier in the year will keep critics from attacking their place at the top of the national rankings regardless of the timing of those wins, but looking forward to the SEC tournament there may not be much reason to even bother watching.

Head coach John Calipari’s team is expected to absolutely dominate in the tournament, and right now there isn’t even a single reason to think that they wouldn’t. With as many as six scorers that are capable of hitting double-digit point totals in a single game, the Wildcats boast unparalleled talent and depth in the SEC. Even mort importantly is the way that talent is spread out in terms of size and intangibles, with potential NBA first-overall draft pick Anthony Davis dominating down low as the top big man in the country, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist a future lottery pick out on the perimeter, Doron Lamb a steady difference-maker, and Marquis Teague the consistent playmaker that makes the offense work from the point. That all goes without even mentioning Terrence Jones and Darius Miller, and when you line them all up, a very strong argument can be made that Kentucky has the most talented per head roster in the country.

While it is important to talk about the team’s depth, it is just as important to acknowledge just how good Davis has become. The freshman forward has matured incredibly under coach Calipari, and not only leads the Wildcats in average points and rebounds as a double-double machine, but has also become an elite defender with good speed, size, and instincts. There is not a single big man in the SEC that can slow down Davis when he is at his best, and that is just one more reason to doubt that any team will stop the Betonline tournament favorites.

With so many blowout wins throughout the course of their SEC season, the Wildcats are the closest thing to a lock to emerge from their conference title tournament as champions, and it’s unlikely that it will even be close. Teams like Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt are respectable, but they are nowhere near the level that Kentucky is playing at, and that should make for an SEC title tournament that goes exactly how it is predicted to go ahead of the March Madness betting action.

After coming so very close to beating out the Duke Blue Devils and capturing an ACC title a year ago, the North Carolina Tar Heels took a step back and reflected on all that they had done. Even though they may not have had the talent and depth that the Blue Devils had at the time, they still managed to take one of the three meetings against them and battle them to the end of a disappointing ACC title game. On top of that strong play, they also had the hope that this year would be different, that they would get their turn with the stronger talent and greater depth. The Tar Heels entered this season as the preseason pay head favorites to win it all, not just within the ACC, but on the national landscape as well. Despite faltering early on,North Carolina still held the lead going in to their first game of the season against Duke on Wednesday night. Then, it happened.

With time ticking down in the fourth quarter of the Tar Heels first clash of the season with their biggest conference rivals, a familiar face came up big, as Austin Rivers nailed a three-pointer at the horn to give Duke an 85-84 road win over North Carolina. A game in which the Tar Heels seemed to control until the very end slipped out of their grasp with that final shot, snapping North Carolina’s school-record 31-game home winning streak. Rives scored a season-high 29 in the contest including six three-point shots, and the last actually came over the Tar Heels’ biggest defender in seven-footer Tyler Zeller in the final seconds. A stunned crowd at Chapel Hillwatched on as Rivers and the Betonline underdogs celebrated in a game that meant so much to both teams, and just like that, the Blue Devils are now tied with UNC for first in the ACC.

To say that Duke had been looking forward to this game may be an understatement, as a tough home overtime loss to unranked Miamicould be taken as a strong indication that they couldn’t wait to leave for North Carolina. The truth is that the Blue Devils have been excellent on the road this year, with both of their ACC losses coming in front of the crowd at the Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke still faces tough challenges in a home game against North CarolinaStateand a road date at FloridaState, but the Tar Heels don’t have it any easier with a home-and-home against Virginia Tech. The end result could very well be North Carolina and Duke playing for ACC supremacy when the two teams meet on the final day of the regular season, and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise regardless of what the per head experts say.

This rivalry has easily taken the spotlight as one of the biggest in college basketball betting over the past few years, one that some players fear to even wager on, and the atmosphere will be electric if these teams were to meet with an ACC title on the line. The Blue Devils drew first blood with Rivers’ dagger on Wednesday night, now the ball is inNorth Carolina’s court to respond.

The online betting world is fixated on the Super Bowl and the race for the NHL playoffs. Now that the NHL All-Star break is over, many of the teams in the lower part of the NHL standings need to start making their playoff pushes or risk being left out of the post-season. There are a few teams that have been slumping as of late and put themselves in bad situations while other teams are surging but may not be able to get out of the hole they have dug themselves. Lets look at the teams in the NHL that are battling for a playoff spot and evaluate their chances.

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres may have dug themselves a hole that they will not be able to climb out of. When the All-Star break ended, the Sabres were tied for last in the Eastern Conference and 10 points out of a playoff spot. In its last three games, the Sabres are 2-0-1 and that includes an exciting 1-0 loss to the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers. The Sabres are going to need to string a lot of wins together to have any chance of making the playoffs, but it is off to a good start so far.

Washington Capitals

The price per head sports experts were not sure what to expect from the Washington Capitals this season. What has emerged is a listless team that has already gotten one coach fired and is working on getting a second coach relieved of his duties as well. The scoring punch the Caps used to have is gone and there is just no stability in the nets forWashington. If the Caps want to make the playoffs, it will have to wrestle the Southeast Division title from the Florida Panthers, and that will not be easy.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Florida Panthers not only have to watch out for the Washington Capitals, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are making strides towards the division lead as well. The Lightning are currently riding a five-game winnings streak and have pulled itself to within nine points of the division lead after spending much of the season in the Southeast basement.

Dallas Stars

The Super Bowl odds do not affect the Dallas Stars, but its tumble down the Pacific Division standings has been a problem. The Stars used to be way out in front of the rest of the pack in the Pacific Division, butDallas now sits eight points out of the division lead and one point out of a Western Conference playoff spot. The Stars are losing games in bunches and are not winning enough to offset the ground it is losing in the standings.

Calgary Flames

A 5 dimes review of the Flames’ roster shows a group of players that would love to get captain Jarome Iginla into the playoffs one more time before he retires. Despite some great goaltending and timely goal scoring, the Flames are just not a very good hockey team. Calgary currently sits in 11^th place in the Western Conference and is three points out of a playoff spot. But this season is playing out a lot like last season did. Just when the Flames start putting wins together to push towards the playoffs, the team gets off track and goes on a devastating losing streak.

Sports Betting Overview

It would be a mistake to underestimate the Detroit Red Wings just because a game happens to be played outside of Joe Louis Arena. At home, the Red Wings have won 17 straight games and are approaching the all-time consecutive home win record of 20 posted by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers. Since the Superbowl betting in Detroit lost its luster when the Lions got knocked out of the playoffs, the sports attention of Detroit has been turned to the Red Wings. The Red Wings have had competitive teams for many years, but none of the recent teams has even approached the level of regular season success that this team is enjoying.

The Montreal Canadiens are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a losing home record at 8-9-7. Even the last place Buffalo Sabres have a home record of 11-9-5. Montreal’s problems at home and on the road have been well-documented, and the variety of solutions the front office has employed to get the team going have been mystifying. From trading a player in the middle of a game to firing an assistant coach for seemingly no reason during the morning skate, the price per head bookie experts are wondering if the Montreal Canadiens have the know-how and ability to pull themselves out of this slide it is in. As always, the pressure to win in Montreal is intense. But things get much worse when bad decisions are being made.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have lost only two games at home all season long, but it has lost 13 games on the road. The Red Wings are clinging to a 13-13-0 road record and trying desperately to make sure that the Western Conference playoffs have to go through Detroit for all of the rounds. The Red Wings do not want to have to rely on winning road games to win the Stanley Cup. A 5 dimes review of the stats for the regular season so far show that the Detroit Red Wings have a +48 in goal differential this season, which is second in the league behind Boston’s +71. Detroit has a balanced attack and plays a solid game. It just needs to learn how to translate that to road games.

Montreal Canadiens

When the wheels started coming off of the Montreal Canadiens’ train, it was a complete loss of wheels. Everyone from the head coach to the goaltender could not seem to do anything right. When the Canadiens brought in new head coach Randy Cunneyworth, he was criticized by the local Montreal media for not being able to speak French. It is a said and degenerative condition that pervades the Montreal Canadiens. The team needs to be completely re-tooled and the current front office may not be qualified to do that.

The Bottom Line

The Red Wings need a win on the road to boost its confidence and the Montreal Canadiens need a complete overhaul. This does not look like it will be a good night for the Montreal Canadiens in front of its home fans.

Pick: Detroit Red Wings

The college basketball betting season has reached its midway point, and now talk of March Madness can finally start up. After the first 20 games of the season, things are seemingly the way they should be, as the strongest teams of the Power Six Conferences are atop the AP 25 standings. The biggest shock thus far in the year, is top ranked Syracuse sitting at 20 wins and no losses. We’ve always known that Syracuse has been a good price per head wager, but to go undefeated through the first 20 games is a bit surprising. Today, we’ll look at which team has the best shot at a March Madness title.

March Madness, like the playoffs in the big four major sports, is a time of year, in which literally anything can happen. As we saw in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs, the Denver Broncos and New York Giants were just as deserving of their playoff spots as the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers. While it could be suggested that the Broncos dream season was destined to come to an abrupt halt, the New York Giants appear to be the real deal. As it relates to the March Madness tournament, usually one team pulls a Broncos and squeaks into the tournament then overachieves, while another hits their stride right as the bookie software tournament gets under way.

With that in mind, two teams of particular interest to us in the March Madness Tournament will be the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans. For all intents and purposes, we’ll call the Spartans our Denver Broncos, and the Wolverines our New York Giants. That is to say, the Spartans who currently sit 23^rd in the NCAA rankings, are a team that appears to be overachieving. They don’t have one specific star, but their program has been good enough to maintain a high ranking. On the other side of things, Tim Hardaway Jr. who like Eli Manning, has carried his team this season leads the Wolverines.

When looking at both teams, it really depends which of our colleagues you want to agree with, for who should fair better. Firstly, colleagues from Sports Illustrated have the Spartans as a final four pick, with the Wolverines coming in as a dark horse pick if the Spartans should flop. Conversely, at a couple other colleagues early projections, they have the Wolverines and Spartans swapping positions.

In our opinion, the final four will be Ohio State, Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan. Michigan will go head to head with the nation’s best team in Syracuse, while Ohio State will take on Kansas. For Michigan, facing Syracuse in the final four will be eerily similar to facing Duke a season ago, in that many will expect them to be destroyed, but they will take the Orange to the limit. As we noted earlier, Tim Hardaway Jr. who is a freshman and a game changer for the club leads Michigan. For that reason, we really believe Hardaway Jr. can be the difference between losing to Syracuse and pulling off a mammoth of an upset, before beating Kansas for the National Title.

It has to be one of the most ridiculous contradictions in sports betting, yet it happens every year when it comes to college basketbal. Perhaps it is the fact that in college football a team has to go undefeated or close to it just to have a chance at a national title, but it seems somewhat absurd that the same standard is applied to college basketball teams early on in the year. The No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels are the perfect example of this college basketball betting contradiction, as the consensus preseason No. 1 has faded in the shadow of the undefeated and top-ranked Syracuse Orange. There is no denying that Syracuse has been the best team in the country early on and deserves the accolades that it receives, but to consider the Tar Heels to be an inferior team in terms of matching the two against one another based solely on their records seems to be a ridiculous proposition.

There is no denying that at the time the stumble was a notable one, as the Tar Heels dropped a decision at UNLV by 10 points, and then lost at then-No. 1 Kentucky two games later. But losing two of three early on is no reason to doubt the long-term capabilities of a team, especially considering that North Carolina nearly came out with a win on the road against a talented team in Kentucky. The Tar Heels have followed that loss up with nine straight wins to remain at No. 3, and with two wins to open up their ACC schedule it will still be a little while before they get the chance to entertain the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils in their first meeting of the season. The pay head odds say that the North Carolina and Duke are the top two teams in the conference, and with no other team ranked higher than 17 at this point, the Blue Devils could be the only obstacle in the way of Harrison Barnes and company on their way to an ACC Championship.

Barnes and the other veterans on the team are the biggest reason to believe in the Tar Heels, as the experience and talent they have is unrivalled heading in to this year not Justin the ACC, but in the entire country. The sophomore Barnes is joined by junior John Henson and senior Tyler Zeller as three scorers averaging double-digit point totals, and as the season continues the chemistry that they continue to build will become a crucial advantage they hold over opponents. North Carolina ranks first in scoring, first in rebounding, and third in assists per game in the entire country, and to be so strong in so many areas is testament to how talented they truly are. The Tar Heels don’t just want to bring home an ACC Championship, they want to bring home a national title, and there is no doubt that they have the weapons to reach their goals. The sportsbook review sites should have North Carolina as a team that can really make some noise this year, so pay attention to their nightly lines.