12/01/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays offered salary arbitration to star right-handed hurler A.J. Burnett on Monday.
Burnett finished second to ace Roy Halladay in wins for Toronto a season ago, going 18-10 with a 4.07 earned-run average and an American League best 231 strikeouts in 221 1/3 innings over 34 starts.
Since the 31-year-old is a Type-A free agent, the Jays would get two compensatory picks should Burnett sign with another team.
A 10-year veteran who has logged the last three seasons north of the border, Burnett is reportedly being pursued by a number of clubs, the Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Braves and Phillies among them.
In related news, Toronto declined arbitration on catcher Gregg Zaun and outfielder Brad Wilkerson.
Zaun hit .237 with six homers and 30 RBI in 86 games last year. Wilkerson hit .216 in 85 contests with four home runs and 23 RBI after coming over from Seattle.
<< Royals offer arbitration to Grudzielanek
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals have offered
arbitration to second basemen Mark Grudzielanek.
The 38-year-old Grudzielanek has until the conclusion of Sunday to accept the
offer. If he rejects the offer a
<< Angels offer Teixeira, K-Rod, Garland arbitration
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Angels offered salary arbitration to first
baseman Mark Teixeira, closer Francisco Rodriguez, starting hurler Jon Garland
and southpaw Darren Oliver on Monday.
Teixeira, Rodriguez and Oliver are Type-A
<< NFL Inactives (Monday, December 1, 2008)
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive
players for tonight's NFL game.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS AT HOUSTON TEXANS, 8:30 P.M. (ET)
Jaguars - WR Mike Walker, WR Troy Williamson, CB William James, LB Brian Iwuh,
<< Astros agree to deal with Hampton pending a physical
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have reportedly come to an
agreement on a deal with free agent starting pitcher Mike Hampton pending a
physical.
According to MLB.com, the 36-year-old Hampton will travel to Houston
Rockies offer Fuentes arbitration >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies offered left-handed relief
pitcher Brian Fuentes salary arbitration on Monday.
The Rockies will receive two draft picks should Fuentes decline arbitration
and sign elsewhere.
Fuentes
McGrady on the shelf for another week >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Rockets forward Tracy McGrady is
expected to be out for another week due to a sore left knee, while guard Brent
Barry will be sidelined at least another two weeks due to a right leg injury.
McGra
Harris paces Orange to rout of Colgate >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Harris netted 22 points as the 16h-ranked
Syracuse Orange dominated the Colgate Raiders in an 86-51 win at the Carrier
Dome.
Jonny Flynn had 12 points and a game-high seven assists for Syracuse (7-0)
Red Sox offer arbitration to Varitek and Byrd >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have offered salary
arbitration to free agent catcher Jason Varitek and right-handed pitcher Paul
Byrd.
The Red Sox would be eligible to receive compensation for Varitek, a Type
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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