Whereas the picture is getting rosier for the hot squads in the bigs, there are plenty of teams in baseball singing the blues. Check out BetUS Sportsbook’s list of which teams are down in the dumps that you should stay away from at all costs if recent form is any indicator…
(Rank) (Team) (SU Record, $$$) (SU Record in L/5, $$$)
1: Houston Astros (70-81, -$767) (0-5, -$542 in L/5) The wheels have completely fallen off of the Astros down the stretch, and manager Cecil Cooper was the man who ultimately took the fall for it. After another bitter defeat last night, the ‘Stros have now dropped nine straight games to all but lock up a sub-.500 season. The bats have just failed Houston miserably in this run of bad games, as it hasn’t scored more than five runs in a game since September 11 th.
With SPs Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, and Roy Oswalt all finished for the season, trying to figure out who is pitching on a nightly basis is going to be a difficult enough job for interim manager Dave Clark.
2: Cleveland Indians (61-89, -$2,743) (0-5, -$506 in L/5) Speaking of managers that are probably on their way out the door… It seems like it’s only a matter of time before manager Eric Wedge loses his job in Cleveland. This year marks the second straight season of bitter disappointment for a squad that demands much better.
Though the offense came back from a lackluster season to post middle-of-the-road numbers in 2009, the pitching staff just hasn’t recovered. Trading LHPs Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia didn’t help the squad’s case any, but neither did the struggles of LHP Fausto Carmona. The Cleveland bullpen has also been absolutely awful this season. If MLB bettors needed any other signs that the Indians have given up on Wedge, check out this recent string of games. The Indians are 0-9 since September 13 th, and they’ve been outscored by a whopping 32 runs in those nine contests.
3: Chicago White Sox (73-79, -$1,041) (1-4, -$500 in L/5) Could the collapse of the White Sox also ultimately cost manager Ozzie Guillen his job as well? At the July 31 st trade deadline, it sure looked like Chicago was going for it when it picked up SP Jake Peavy from the Padres for a host of prospects. However, after giving up on SP Jose Contreras and 1B/DH Jim Thome at the August 31 st deadline, the handwriting was on the wall that the season was over.
Still, the White Sox are just 9-19 since August 23 rd, and they went from a team that was most likely going to finish over .500 and challenge for the AL Central pennant again to one that was virtually guaranteed to stumble to a final record of less than .500. There are a lot of people that have a lot of explaining to do in the Windy City.
And the rest…
4: Baltimore Orioles (60-91, -$1,854) (0-5, -$500 in L/5)
5: Pittsburgh Pirates (56-93, -$2,678) (1-4, -$333 in L/5)