Only last MLB betting year, the Chicago White Sox were peering at the up coming season with high hopes of defending their baseball betting world title.
Only 12 months, my! Have things changed. After winning the baseball betting World Series in 2007 it seemed as this team was positioned well to repeat. And it seemed like they might except for the fact that other teams in their baseball betting league seemed to improve by light years in the off-season.
The Twins and the Tigers both over took the Sox and left them wondering what went wrong. Pitching, that’s what went wrong. It’s two edged sword and the very same weapon that helped win the MLB betting World Series was the very same thing that failed them or defected from the team last off-season.
This is still a very good baseball betting team, but it’s sort of the same scenario as with the Cleveland Indians, another good MLB betting team, that could probably contend for the title in most baseball betting divisions, but the two MLB betting teams at the top, the Twins and the Tigers are simply too much to overtake. Last baseball betting season the Sox expected to win the division again, and with 90 wins it seemed like they might, but they still finished six MLB betting games in back of the Twins and five baseball betting games out the wild card spot.
This baseball betting year there is much to look forward to and a proud team like the White Sox will take the lead of their quirky Venezuelan manager and will not back down from a challenge. The pitching is still very stingy and most of the starting rotation will give batters fits this baseball betting season. It simply doesn’t have the depth that it had during its championship baseball betting campaign. Contrares, Buerlhe, Garland and Vazquez are a pretty talented group for a four-man rotation. However, right now the fifth spot hasn’t exactly been worked out and looks like it will be a weak point for the team.
The bullpen is still very strong as well. The Sox pulled some trades and brought in Aardsma and Sisco to shore up a bull pen that looks very strong with these additions. But with all the great pitching in this baseball betting division it’s hardly the best. Mike MacDougal should have another good baseball betting year as a set up man and expect big things from Bobby Jenks as he continues to rack of saves.
The fielders are strong again this baseball betting year but one of the big moments in 2007 MLB betting season will come from the DH spot when Jim Thome will blast his 400th home run probably some time May or June and it should give this MLB betting team a bit of boost.
First baseman Paul Konerko is a legitimate baseball betting star who has benefited in the lineup from the presence of Thome’s massive bat and should put great numbers again batting for .300 with over 30 homers and 100 runs batted in. Jermain Dye is playing out the last baseball betting year of his contract this year and will be looking to put up some big offensive stats, this should also add to the power of this lineup.
Overall, the infield and out field units are very strong. In fact, there don’t really seem too many weaknesses on this MLB betting club and they will certainly be in the race for the baseball betting playoffs again this year after missing out last baseball betting year.
The only thing that might slow them down is the lack of depth in the starting rotation. The White Sox really only have four true starters in the rotation. Unless somebody steps up in the bull pen, which is also a bit thin on arms, there could be some serious problems if one of the starters goes down with injuries. We would really get a good look at this team then and how it would respond to adversity.
However, even if the rotation was cut down to only three quality starters, the quality of Chicago’s starters is such that they could probably hobble along pretty well for a few weeks. Look for Detroit to slip a bit this baseball betting year and for Chicago to climb up to second place in the AL Central and go down to the wire in the wild card chase. There will be some tough baseball betting teams to beat out of the East but this team has shown resiliency in the past and should be able to go toe to toe with any of the wild card contenders.