It’s not time for Breeders Cup betting yet, but wagering players can pass the time this week with some football betting to kick things off, the World Series is coming to an end, along with some NHL and college football action.

Monday

Ravens Jaguars Odds (8:30 PM ET): Baltimore are 10-point favorites on the road in Jacksonville, who have a rookie quarterback in Blaine Gabbert. That 10-point spread isn’t a BetOnline scam, as the Ravens have the best defense in the league and they’re coming off a bye. That means they’ve had an extra week to prepare and that’s not good news for Gabbert.

Tuesday

Ducks Blackhawks Odds (8:30 PM ET): Chicago should be the home favorites in this game as both teams are coming off a loss on the weekend, but the Blackhawks have yet to lose at home in regulation. You may read a sportsbook review that leans towards the over, but both goalies struggled in their last game and they’ll be eager to put that in the past with a solid performance on Tuesday.

Wednesday

Rangers Cardinals Odds (8:05 PM ET): Game 6 of the World Series sees the Fall Classic back in the Midwest as St. Louis will host Texas, who will give the ball to Colby Lewis. The Cardinals will go with Jaime Garcia, and these two went head-to-head in a 2-1 win for the Rangers in Game 2. Price per head services will likely favor the Cardinals at home, but this series is as close as it gets.

Thursday

Rangers Cardinals Odds (8:05 PM ET): It’s so close that there is a very good possibility that it’ll go to seven games, and tonight would be the deciding game in St. Louis. The tentative starters are Matt Harrison for Texas and Kyle Lohse for St. Louis, but check your sportsbook before making a bet. If this game isn’t necessary, Boston-Montreal in the NHL would be an excellent substitute as these two don’t like each other.

Friday

BYU TCU Odds (8:00 PM ET): The Horned Frogs are 12.5-point favorites at home against the Cougars, who have won five in a row after a rough start. TCU isn’t the power that they have been over the last couple of seasons, but a win over BYU would restore some of the swagger we’re used to seeing from the Horned Frogs, who also have a big game at Boise State in two weeks. BYU is looking to close out their first season as an independent with a flourish, and TCU is going to provide a stiff test. This will be a tough pick to make in your bookie software

As if the baseball sports betting God’s parted the rain clouds and smiled down on the city of St. Louis once again, the NL champion Cardinals were able to get the job done once again at home on Wednesday with a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers. The Cardinals were banged up early in a literal sense, but they were able to get to Texas starter CJ Wilson for two runs in the fourth inning, and after Chris Carpenter gave up a two-run home run to Mike Napoli in the fifth, it was all St. Louis from there.

Perhaps the MLB surprise of the night came in the sixth inning when Wilson walked Carpenter with two out in the bottom of the inning to put runners on first and third before getting the hook, and in relief Alexei Ogando simply couldn’t get the job done as he gave up what would be the game-winning RBI single. The wet weather and cold wins pounded away at both teams for hours, but in the end it was the underdogs that once again emerged victorious.

All of the talk in these playoffs has been about the power of the teams that St. Louis has played, but with the terrible game conditions and a little optimism, the Cardinals were able to squeeze out the first of four wins needed to win the World Series. Nobody thought that St. Louis had a chance to come back at clinch the NL Wild Card ahead of the Atlanta Braves, and then beat both the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers in the postseason, but after knocking off both there seems to be a certain amount of swagger that has developed amongst the Cardinals’ players. Now comes the toughest test yet for the NL champions, as they look to hand the Rangers their first back-to-back pay head losses since late August.

If St. Louis is going to take anything from their game one win, it should be that in the past decade seven of the last eight game one winners have gone on to clinch the World Series, as well as 12 of the last 14 even beyond that. The team that has hosted game one has also won 20 of the past 25 World Series’, so perhaps there is more than good fortune behind what the Cardinals’ players are beginning to consider a team of destiny. The forecast for game two of the series on Thursday night calls for more chilly conditions with chances for rain, but that won’t take away any focus from the two sides that know just how important the next sportsbook reviews win will be. If Texas falters, then they head home for three straight knowing that they can’t clinch without winning back in St. Louis. If the Cardinals win, then they know that they could have a shot of ending the series on the road, and at the very least will get to defend their chances on home soil for game six. Colby Lewis will get the call for the Rangers while Jaime Garcia goes for St. Louis, as the Cardinals look to continue proving their skeptics wrong.

The MLB playoffs are in full swing as we’re down to the final four, so it should be no surprise that it highlights our sports betting schedule for the week, but they’ll have to share the spotlight with the NFL and NHL.

Monday

Bears Lions Odds (8:30 PM ET): Detroit is a 4.5-point favorite at Bet Online, and the undefeated Lions have been the darlings of the early portion of the NFL season. But they’ll have their hands full against Chicago, who will be up for this NFC North rivalry contest and their defense is out to prove that they’re a better unit than they’ve shown so far.

Tuesday

Rangers Tigers Odds (8:05 PM ET): The ALCS switches cities to Detroit, and your price per head odds should have the Tigers as the favorite as they send out Doug Fister to take on Colby Lewis. Fister has been a remarkable pickup for Detroit and pitched in the ALDS clincher against the New York Yankees, but the stakes are even higher at this point.

Wednesday

Brewers Cardinals Odds (8:05 PM ET): The NLCS will also head into their third game, and this pitching matchup should be one to watch as the Brewers go with Yovani Gallardo, while the Cardinals counter with Chris Carpenter. The former Cy Young winner is coming off a near-perfect performance against Roy Halladay and Philadelphia on the road in the NLDS clincher, and he’ll have to reach back even more to give St. Louis a chance against their bitter Central rivals.

Thursday

Canucks Red Wings Odds (7:30 PM ET): Your price per head bookie should know that the road to the Western Conference title in the NHL will likely go through one of these cities, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them doing battle later on down the line. The Canucks are favored to get back to the Stanley Cup, but you can never count out the veteran Red Wings when it comes to Stanley Cup odds.

Friday

Brewers Cardinals Odds (8:05 PM ET): Finally, Game 4 of the NLCS features a rematch of Game 1, when neither Milwaukee’s Zack Greinke nor St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia had their best stuff in a 9-6 win for the Brewers. Greinke should get some special attention from the St. Louis crowd after making remarks about Carpenter, who he says is a “phony”, and it’ll be interesting to see how a pitcher with anxiety issues in his past handles what should be the most hostile environment he has ever had to pitch in. Look for St. Louis to be favored, but this is a game that could go either way in your sports betting book.

At the beginning of the MLB betting regular season, everything seemed so black and white. But after 166 games played for the four teams left standing in the National League, there are some heavy shades of grey heading into Friday’s baseball action. Each of the two NLDS series have been pushed to game five, resulting in two one-game playoffs to decide the two teams that will compete in the NLCS for the chance to earn a World Series berth. The Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Arizona Diamondbacks will each get their shot, and after 166 hard-fought games, it all comes down to this.

For the Phillies, it is about persevering in the face of adversity and looking within. Nobody doubted that Philadelphia was the consensus pick to represent the NL in the postseason when the season got underway, and that shouldn’t change now even though they have to win to even have a chance at the World Series. Held in such high regard mainly because of their elite starting pitcher rotation, the Phillies will turn to the best arm on their roster in reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, who will get the start on Friday. Halladay will need to handle the pressure of expectations as he steps to the mound with the Phillies’ season on the line, and if he can handle that burdened then Philadelphia should get through.

For the Cardinals, there is no sports betting burden of expectations, only a goal. Nobody expected St. Louis to come all the way back over the final month of the season to clinch the NL Wild Card, and now that they have this season is already somewhat of a success. Still, for the players in the locker room they understand how many shots they get to win it all, and for Albert Pujols in particular, who could be making his final start in a Cardinals’ uniform, the time is now.

For the Brewers, all the power in the world won’t matter if they can’t get good pitching, and they will need a strong performance from Yovanni Gallardo on Friday to have a shot. Their strong play at home has carried over to the postseason, and the hosts have won every game in this series. That makes the Diamondbacks the obvious underdogs, although they played that role all year and have come so far. Arizona has the talent to win, but Ian Kennedy was off in game one and the Diamondbacks were outscored 13-5 in consecutive road losses to open the  MLB series.

When it is all said and done, a pay per head case can be made that all four of these teams deserve one of the two spots in the NLCS, and that is why they play the game. The two clubs that are able to handle the pressure and perform in their situations will emerge victorious, and for the hometown fans, all they can do is hope their that their team will be one of them that will move on to the NLCS when it is all said and done on Friday.

MLB betting players know that sign-stealing has been a concern in baseball, well, as long as teams have been using signs, but New York Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi began a small uproar when he accused Toronto of stealing signs, particularly at home, and that spawned an ESPN article with numbers and other sources trying to prove that theory.

The ESPN article has been derided in most circles for “cherry-picking” numbers that prove the argument that they want to make, but there is really only one number that needs to be considered here: the Blue Jays are 31-29 at home. If they really were stealing signs at home, where they are accused of having a man in a white shirt who sits in center field and signals to the Blue Jays what pitch is going to be thrown, shouldn’t they have a better record at the Rogers Center than just two games over .500?

Another aspect that hasn’t been lost on many sports betting players is that it’s the Yankees complaining about a team breaking the moral code. This is a team that annually attempts to buy a World Series championship, and in Alex Rodriguez, they are employing a player who has admitted to using steroids, and there was an incident in Toronto in which he yelled at an opposing player who was trying to make a catch. The hypocrisy is laughable coming out of the Yankees camp, and if they want confirmation that the Blue Jays aren’t stealing signs, all they need to do is look at Toronto’s sports betting odds.

A lot of mid-season baseball trade acquisitions tend to fall into two drastically different camps – the “highly-touted prospects” and the “rental player.” While dumping effective veterans for teenagers who might not play in the majors for two or three years doesn’t exactly ignite a fanbase, it’s one of the best ways to build a roster without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, though, the moves that make headlines and sell tickets are the ones made to boost a playoff run – recognizable names on the market either because of declining production, age, or impending free agency. Like any year, 2011’s MLB trade deadline saw a few former All-Stars and solid contributors on the move. Here’s five who stand to make the biggest impact in this season’s stretch run.

• Carlos Beltran, RF, San Francisco Giants – The Giants paid a steep price to acquire a player who might only spend three months with the team, but with a line-up that scores the second-fewest runs in the majors, they really had little choice. Beltran is a proven middle-of-the order hitter who should add some much-needed production in Buster Posey’s absence. Of course, if the Giants allow the Diamondbacks to pass them, miss the post-season entirely and Beltran walks, it will be a tough pill to swallow.
• Michael Bourn, CF, Atlanta Braves – Bourn is one of the baseball’s true lead-off hitters. He leads the majors in steals, adding a dimension that was totally absent from the Braves’ offence in the first half of the season. They might not catch the Phillies at the top of the MLB standings, but the Braves now should have a dynamic offence to pair with their excellent young pitching staff. The Wild Card is theirs to lose.
• Koji Uehara/Mike Adams, RPs, Texas Rangers – Putting these two together might be cheating, but they’re two of the most dominant set-up men in baseball right now and will combine to give the Rangers excellent innings ahead of closer Neftali Feliz. What once was one of the shakier bullpens in baseball is now one of the most terrifying.
• Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Cleveland Indians – Arguably the biggest risk/reward acquisition this year, Jimenez is only 12 months removed from starting for the National League in the 2010 All-Star game, has a very club-friendly contract, and is only 27 years old. Still, his drop-off, both in statistics and on the radar gun, are serious red flags. One of the premier fireballers in baseball last year, he’s lost a good 3 mph on his fastball, and his ERA has jumped from 2.88 to 4.46. If he can get his power back, the Tribe will have one of the best 1-2 starting combinations in the league. If he’s simply a pitcher on the decline, they may have paid a very steep price for a back-of-the-rotation starter.
• Francisco Rodriguez, RP, Milwaukee Brewers – Like many big-money Mets acquisitions of late, K-Rod had fallen out of favour and his hefty contract was looking like a burden. The Mets did well to unload him, but that isn’t to say the Brewers acquired a terrible contract and nothing else. With John Axford doing an excellent job in the closer role, Rodriguez becomes one of the best set-up men in baseball. The Brewers have made it abundantly clear that they’re making a real run this year, and this is the kind of aggressive addition that could make a big difference in the post-season.

Three months ago, the Boston Red Sox sat at the bottom of the MLB standings with a shockingly bad 2-10 record. All-Star additions Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford had been OK and terrible, respectively. John Lackey looked like the worst regular starter in the major leagues.

But now, as we approach the trade deadline, everything has changed. Gonzalez is a bona-fide MVP candidate, Crawford seems to be turning a corner after spending some time on the DL, and Lackey has been at least one step above horrible. The line-up scores more runs than any other, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon have been one of the scariest eighth-ninth-inning combinations in baseball, and they’ve got decent middle innings from Matt Albers and Alfredo Aceves. Most importantly, the Sox now sit atop the American League with a 62-37 record and hold a three-game edge on the Yankees.

That isn’t to say that all is well at Fenway, though. Two of their three best starters, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, are on the 15-day disabled list. Josh Beckett’s remarkable bounce-back season and Lackey’s slight improvement mitigates those losses slightly, but the fragility of the starting rotation has to make Theo Epstein nervous.

Crawford’s inconsistency and fragility in left field, paired with J.D. Drew’s tough year in right, has also raised some concerns. The emergence of lefty-hitting 24-year-old Josh Reddick as Drew’s replacement – initially a temporary role, now seemingly permanent – has been a huge boon to the Sox, but they could use an extra outfielder in case Reddick falls back to earth or Crawford falls into another slump.

Their bullpen also lacks a reliable lefthander, as Randy Williams doesn’t look like a viable option.

While these all might seem like minor quibbles, Theo Epstein isn’t going to leave the phone off the hook, put his feet up and smoke a cigar while his team wins 98 games. Boston’s savvy GM has told reporters that while he doesn’t feel he has to make a move at the deadline, they’re still exploring all options.

Here’s a quick rundown at some of the players they might take a look at.

Carlos Beltran, OF, New York Mets

Beltran is the best hitter on the market and seems like a sure thing to move by July 31^st. He doesn’t want to DH – and it’s hard to imagine David Ortiz giving up that role – so unless Crawford’s play tails off drastically in the next few days, Epstein isn’t going to pay the necessary price to rent a fourth outfielder who would likely leave in free agency.

Josh Willingham, OF, Oakland Athletics

The fire sale appears to be on in Oakland, and Willingham, the lone effective bat in the A’s miserable line-up, should be on the move. He’ll come cheaper than Beltran, and would offer some balance as a right-handed bat in an all-lefty outfield. The Royals’ Jeff Francouer is a similar possibility.

Rich Harden, SP, Oakland Athletics

Harden is obviously a huge injury risk, but he’s looked OK since making his first start of the season on July 1^st. If Epstein thinks Harden can stay healthy for another couple of months, he would be a nice third or fourth starter as well as insurance in case Buchholz’s back doesn’t hold up.

Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Colorado Rockies

The Rockies have set an extremely high price for their 27-year-old righty – understandable given that he was one of the best pitchers in MLB only 12 months ago. Another young starter with ace-quality stuff might be a luxury the Red Sox won’t be willing to bet the farm for, but sweeping him up from under the Yankees’ nose would be another feather in Epstein’s cap.

Even MLB baseball betting players get a little light-hearted at times, and one of the best ways to have some fun? Looking at hot women, of course. Here is a look at the top five wives (and fiancées) in Major League Baseball right now.

Julia Schultz (Brett Tomko)

Tomko has been in the minors for most of the year, but who cares? He married Schultz, who was a Playboy Playmate in February 1998. Not bad for a guy who has played for 10 MLB teams.

Karina Smirnoff (Brad Penny)

Sports betting players may remember Smirnoff’s name from “Dancing With The Stars” props, and she was in the May 2011 issue of Playboy. Thumbs up for Penny, who is still a decent pitcher in Detroit, as he asked Smirnoff to marry him in October.

Joanna Garcia (Nick Swisher)

Swisher is a New York Yankee, so of course, he’s married to an actress. Garcia isn’t very well known, but that doesn’t stop her from being an incredibly attractive woman, especially when you factor in Swisher’s looks.

Kelly Bartlett (Jason Bartlett)

The Bartletts have been married since 2008, and Jason is a very lucky man as Kelly has quietly moved up the ranks of hot player wives. It makes you forget that Jason isn’t a very good baseball player.

Jamie Kotsay (Mark Kotsay)

Unlike the woman ahead of her, Jamie became an internet sensation when a picture of her playing softball hit cyberspace, and you can pretty much put her in the Hall of Fame now when it comes to baseball wives. We’re betting Mark is very protective of her.

With the best power hitters in MLB descending on Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona tonight for the 2011 Home Run Derby, it’s worth taking a minute to recognize the players having the best all-around seasons at the plate heading into the All-Star Break.

Jose Bautista, RF/3B, Toronto Blue Jays

Let’s just get this out of the way first – Jose Bautista is the best swinger of baseball bats and hitter of baseballs alive. After skyrocketing out of obscurity with a Blue Jays-record 54 home runs in 2010, he was rewarded with a lucrative 5-year, $64-million contract. What initially seemed like a risky contract for a potential one-hit wonder is now the best bargain in baseball. Bautista has become a much more complete hitter in 2011, raising his batting average nearly 75 points while keeping his home run pace from last year and leading major league baseball in walks, on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS. If it weren’t for a June “slump” in which he only batted .258, he’d be in the midst of a season comparable to the best of Bonds or Ruth.

Jose Reyes, SS, New York Mets

A much different player than Bautista, Reyes is the best leadoff man alive. He’s on pace for 27 triples, which would be the most in a single season since Chief Wilson hit 36 for the Pirates…in 1912. He’s sixth in the National League in slugging percentage despite only hitting three home runs – such is his knack for extra base hits. His .354 average is tied for the best in baseball. The statistical oddities abound, but most importantly, without Reyes, the Mets would be sitting at the bottom of the MLB standings. Few players are more valuable.

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Boston Red Sox

So much a NL-to-AL drop-off. Gonzo has been even better in Boston than he was in San Diego, improving his numbers across the board despite playing in the AL East. He leads the majors in batting average and RBIs (for what it’s worth), and only gets better when it counts. (His average jumps nearly 80 points with runners on base, even moreso with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.) He has been the steadiest contributor for a Red Sox team that took a few weeks to really round into shape, and now might be the best team in baseball.

Matt Kemp, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers

Kemp has been one of the few bright spots in a nightmare season for the Dodgers. The team is a bargaining chip in a messy divorce trial, and their lineup scores the fifth-fewest runs in baseball. Thankfully, along with Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw, Kemp is doing his best to make them watchable. He’s tied for second in the National League with 22 homers while trailing only Reyes and Houston’s Michael Bourn in stolen bases (with an excellent 90% success rate.) His .398 OBP is by far the best of his career – the sign of a player with unlimited ability finally growing into a mature, disciplined player. He can hit the ball to all fields, and he can hit it hard.

Baseball games offer a much different fan experience from the other three major sports in North America. NFL games are day-long cultural events that can be felt throughout the city, and given that there’s only eight regular season home games each year, they will consistently sell out. NBA and NHL games, while much more frequent, offer non-stop action and can entertain hardcore and casual fans alike.

But watching a regular-season MLB game is a different thing entirely. Firstly, a 162-game regular season makes it hard to become sufficiently invested in a mid-July interleague game to justify spending $30 on a ticket and $10 on a hot dog. And secondly, baseball games are kind of boring – and that’s coming from a fan. Very little is really happening for about 80% of the 3-plus hours.

All this makes it much more admirable when a city shows up year-round, even in lean years. For example, even the lowly Pirates continue to draw consistent crowds, despite hanging near the cellar of the MLB standings for nearly two decades.

On the other side of the equation are Tampa Bay Rays fans (if they exist). While they filled hideous Tropicana Field during the Rays run to the 2008 World Series, they’ve apparently all headed back to the beach, though their squad are still atop the AL East.

Whether it’s because of tradition, success, a nice venue, or the lack of anything better to do, some cities are baseball cities, and others aren’t.Here’s a few of each.

The Good

Pittsburgh Pirates

As mentioned above, the team hasn’t been competitive for years, the management has given the city little reason to be excited, and the Bucs routinely disappoint. Yet their attendance numbers hardly fluctuate. They drew the same number of fans in 2005, when they had the worst record in the NL, as they did in 1992, when they made it to the LCS.

St. Louis Cardinals

They like to call themselves “The Best Baseball Town in America,” have a reputation for being much less nasty than the notorious hecklers in cities like Philadelphia, and have kept showing up in championship contention years and losing seasons.

Boston Red Sox

Yes, they’re obnoxious, whining for 82 years about how they were “cursed,” and now they’re wearing pink hats, singing “Sweet Caroline”, and acting like they cheer for the best franchise in professional sports. But the fact is that they turn out in droves – whether the team is on the road or at home.And they hate the Yankees, which scores them points here.

The Bad

Tampa Bay Rays

They have a terrible name and a terrible venue, but the Rays have been an exciting team for five years now, but still can’t sell tickets. Their fanbase should be made up of retirees with time and money on their hands, but too many of them are East Coast transplants, their sports loyalties lying elsewhere.

New York Yankees

It doesn’t happen often, but when they lose, the attendance actually drops quite a bit.

Besides, it’s fun to hate on Yankees fans.

The Ugly

Los Angeles Dodgers

They have a habit of beating opposing fans into comas.

OK, maybe not a habit, but they did it once, and that’s a total dick move.