2008 Major League Baseball Over-Unders Are Out

The over-unders regarding total wins are out for the 2008 Major League Baseball season, with some interesting possibilities for those who head to Vegas to gamble on such things. The over-unders for the 2008 baseball campaign have the Red Sox and Yankees on the high end, with the lowly Orioles expected to fare much worse than any other club, even the Tampa Bay Rays. The over-unders for Major League Baseball also forecast a very good year for the Tigers and Mets, with the Nationals, Giants, and Pirates looking at a very long year.

One baseball over-under that jumps out right away is the Rays' expected win total of 72. Tampa Bay has managed to attain 70 triumphs in a season just once, in 2004, and is coming off of a 66 victory season. With the most flammable bullpen in the majors and ace Scott Kazmir missing the next couple of weeks with a sore arm, it would seem that this over-under number is way too high for the Rays to reach. The experts are counting on prospect Evan Longoria to live up to his hype and for Rocco Baldelli to be healthy, a pair of big "ifs." No way will a team that has to face the Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Yankees as many times as the Rays do have a chance to cover that number.

Boston and New York are tied for the highest over-under figure at 94 wins, but I don't think both of these teams will each win that many. Boston has no Curt Schilling to fall back on if their young pitchers such as Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz falter, plus they are counting on innings from Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavares, a dicey proposition. New York also needs solid years from kids like Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, as well as for Joba Chamberlain to duplicate his unhittable form of last year. New York will make the number in new manager Joe Girardi's first year in the Big Apple, while Boston will fall short as the starters behind Josh Beckett fail to live up to past performances.

The Orioles are worthy of their dubious honor of being picked to win the least amount of games in the 2008 over-unders. Baltimore has lost pitcher Erik Bedard via a trade with Seattle and sent Miguel Tejada to the Astros; they go into the season with no hope as the prospects they got in return are not yet ready to contribute. Coming off of a dismal 2007, the Orioles have seen their win total decline each of the last 4 years. I don't think they have the talent to win even 60 games, never mind the 65 that the over-unders give them.

The White Sox are another team that I think doesn't make it to their over-under number, which is 87.5. A terrible back end of the starting rotation will doom them in their pursuit of a Central Division title; playing the powerful Indians and Tigers almost 40 times won't help either. The defending National League champs, the Colorado Rockies, are picked to win only 83 games, meaning that the pundits see last year as a fluke. But I think Colorado has more hitting than anyone in their division by a lot and can ride that to almost 90 wins.

The Mets at 92.5 wins for this over-under is the biggest lock of all the 32 Major League Baseball squads. They play the pathetic Marlins and Nationals a bunch of times and have to be bent on redeeming themselves after their epic collapse of 2007. The addition of Johan Santana will guarantee that they make the grade. Another number that stands out to me is the Giants expected win sum of 72, a total that I can't see this weak-hitting franchise having a prayer of achieving. Below are the over-unders for 2008 according to the BetCRIS Sportsbook.

Arizona- 86.5
Atlanta- 86
Baltimore- 65
Boston- 94
Chicago C- 87.5
Chicago W- 76
Cincinnati- 76.5
Cleveland- 91
Colorado- 83
Detroit- 93.5
Florida- 68.5
Houston- 73.5
Kansas City- 73.5
LA Angels- 92
LA Dodgers- 87.5
Milwaukee- 84
Minnesota- 73.5
NY Mets- 92.5
NY Yankees- 94
Oakland- 74
Philadelphia- 88
Pittsburgh- 68.5
San Diego- 85
San Francisco- 72
Seattle- 85
St. Louis- 77
Tampa Bay- 72
Texas- 75
Toronto- 84
Washington- 71.5

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