Thursday Opening MLB Lines
(The Spread) – Suddenly the St. Louis Cardinals are breathing right down the Atlanta Braves’ neck in the NL Wild Card Standings.
A few short weeks ago the Braves looked like they had the NL Wild Card all sewn up. But Atlanta’s struggles since then has opened the door for St. Louis to come storming back.
Now only 1.5 games back in the standings, the Cardinals have a chance to climb within a game of the idle Braves if they can knock off the Mets today at 1:45PM ET. Oddsmakers have made St. Louis a –165 money line favorite, while visiting New York is +155 on the ML.\
The San Francisco Giants are in a similar boat. A couple of weeks ago they were 9.5 games back in the NL West and 7.5 games out of the Wild Card race. But after sweeping the Rockies last weekend, the Giants are now only a couple of games back of the Braves as well. The Giants will once again face their biggest rivals, the Dodgers, tonight at 10:10PM ET. San Francisco is a +105 money line underdog against L.A., which is –115 on the ML.
In the American League, the Yankees will once again host the Rays after wrapping up the AL East crown on Wednesday by winning a double header against Tampa. The Rays still have a chance to win the Wild Card, however, as they sit 2.5 games back of Boston in the standings. Oddsmakers have yet to release the odds for this game but according to latest MLB trends, the under is 6-1 in the last seven meetings between these two teams and 4-1 in the last five meetings between these two teams in New York.
For a complete list of opening odds for all of Thursday’s games in Major League Baseball, see below.
MLB Opening Odds & Totals for Thursday, September 1, 2011
901 New York Mets +155 (9)
902 St. Louis Cardinals –165
903 Washington Nationals +180 (8)
904 Philadelphia Phillies –190
905 Colorado Rockies +105 (9)
906 Houston Astros –115
907 San Francisco Giants +105 (9.5)
908 Los Angeles Dodgers –115
909 Seattle Mariners +100 (8.5)
910 Minnesota Twins –110
911 Texas Rangers –145 (8.5)
912 Oakland A’s +135
913 Los Angeles Angels –115 (8.5)
914 Toronto Blue Jays +105
915 Chicago White Sox +110 (9)
916 Cleveland Indians –120
917 Baltimore Orioles +140 (9)
918 Detroit Tigers –150
919 Tampa Bay Rays
920 New York Yankees
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