Baseball odds are full of bad teams but few teams in any sports have as consistently bad for so long as the baseball betting odds’ Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a team that hasn’t been a MLB odds contender since the first George Bush was in office. Last year’s 67-win season was one of the worst in the MLB betting odds and there’s little reason to hope for much better in the 2009 MLB odds.
MLB odds makers give this team snowball’s chance in hell of making the playoffs, let alone winning the MLB betting odds division. But stranger things have happened and it was just a year ago that the Rays went from worst to first in the very tough AL East MLB odds competition.
The 2008 MLB odds campaign was bad by any standard, but the Pirates are certainly capable of playing better ball. Former All Star Freddy Sanchez had a nightmare of season after previously competing for the batting title. Sanchez batted just .271 with nine homeruns and was more or less inconsequential in the MLB odds competition. And that could be said for most of the Pirates lineup during the 2008 MLB betting odds season. It seemed everyone had an off-season and that’s one of the reasons the Pirates have such a big potential for improvement in the coming baseball odds season.
If the middle of the team’s batting order can get their game back on track the team should win at least a dozen more games. With Adam LaRouche, Nate McClouth, and Ryan Doumit backing up Sanchez in the order this team has a trio of potential 30 HR hitters –not bad for any team’s baseball odds chances. But they’ll all have to pick up the pace from the abysmal 2008 season and they could just as easily slump again in this year’s baseball odds contests.
On the mound things are less than perfect with only Paul Malholm guaranteed a spot in the rotation. After posting a respectable 9-9 record last year with a 3.71 ERA, this lefty has room to grow and with a little run support could be 15-game winner. But the rest of the team’s starters likely won’t be known until opening day of the baseball odds season. Matt Capps is average as a late reliever and will have to step it up this season as he inherits the closer roll. The team has a good mix of unproven lefties which could also help boost a big turnaround in Pittsburgh in the ’09 baseball odds competition.
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