Now that the Red Sox and the White Sox have ended their long droughts of not winning a baseball betting odds World Series it would seem time for the Cubs to step out their doldrums and get the monkey off their backs as well.
But that just wouldn’t be the Cubby way and in 2006 baseball betting odds season they made absolutely no signs that they were going to rid themselves of the curse any time soon.
The 2006 baseball betting odds season was disaster for the Cubs who finished with an awful baseball betting line record and in last place of the NL Central. However, by Chicago standards it was only average. And you can be sure that this kind of crummy baseball betting odds season only build up the resiliency of the Chicago faithful and the baseball betting line fans will be right there again next filling the seats of Wrigley as their Cubbies string together what will most likely be yet another losing baseball betting odds season.
In 2006 baseball betting odds season there were not a lot of bright spots for the Cubs. They finished the baseball betting odds season with a baseball betting line record of 66-96 which landed them the spot of last place in the NL Central all by themselves. Not much to be proud about, but hey, these are the Cubs, what do you expect? The Cubs were actually the worst baseball betting line team in all of the NL and can thank the ineptitude of the Royals and Devil Rays, alas; two teams that even worse, for sparing them shame of being the worst in all of baseball betting odds. At home the Cubs were awful going 36-45 and on the road they were even more awful going 30-51. When it was all said and done Cubs were 17.5 games behind the St Louis Cardinals in the Division.
But in all fairness injuries played a big role in Chicago’s futility. After enjoying some success in 2003 and 2004 baseball betting odds seasons, the last two years have been downward spirals and the rock bottom of last year baseball betting odds season came courtesy of a banged up starting rotation. Foremost on this list is the two headed monster of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Both are immensely talented pitchers, when healthy. And the key word is healthy as neither of these guys can seem to stay off of the DL long enough to get any kind of rhythm developed. Wood has shown signs of brilliance when healthy but also a lot of inconsistency and hasn’t really pitched enough to put together any type of baseball betting line numbers. Mark has also been plagued by injury, but the times when he’s not injured he has been brilliant.
However, the brass upstairs finally accepted their fate that Prior and Wood would likely never be healthy and brought in free agent Carlos Zambrano. He is now the official ace of the staff and a very good one at that. Still young at 25 much was expected of Zambrano in 2006 baseball betting odds season and he was the staffs work horse logging over 200 innings, starting over 30 games and still kept his career ERA average to below 3.30. He will have to be big again in 2007 baseball betting odds season and increase his win totals from 2006 baseball betting odds season if this team wants to crawl out of the cellar. One other bright spot in the rotation in 2006 baseball betting odds season, was rookie pitcher Rich Hill who went 5-7 with a 4.25 ERA in 16 starts. Not exactly hall of fame baseball betting odds type numbers but he showed some good stuff for an inexperienced pitcher and will only get better the more innings he pitches.
At the position spots, the Chicago Cubs are immensely better this baseball betting odds year than last simply by virtue of signing superstar outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Coming off a baseball betting odds year where he “reluctantly” hit .277 with 46 homers and 95 RBIs with 40 stolen bases, this guy is one of the best all around talents in the baseball betting odds league, and even though most baseball betting line experts believe the Cubs overpaid for him, which they did, he should be worth every penny of the $136 million they threw at him. He will come into an outfield that stunk last baseball betting odds year. Cliff Floyd a very good player when healthy was not healthy in 2006 baseball betting odds season and hit only .244 with 11 homers.
Other than that the bullpen was also garbage last baseball betting odds year with closer Ryan Dempster notching 24 saves, which isn’t too awful, but his ERA of 4.81 was atrocious and he lost nine games as well. In 2007 baseball betting odds season the Cubs will try the glass armed Woods in the pen which seems like a natural fit since his body can’t support the workload of a starter and his main strength is heat, which batters have seemed to figure out in the later innings of baseball betting line games in the past.