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08/30/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers activated outfielder Nelson Cruz from the 15-day disabled list among several roster moves on Monday.
The 30-year-old has landed on the DL three times this season -- all with hamstring injuries. His latest setback came on August 14 when he strained the right hamstring running the bases against Boston and placed on the DL the next day.
Despite the injuries, Cruz has hit 16 homers and knocked in 64 runs while hitting .320 over 77 games in 2010.
To open a roster spot, the club optioned outfielder Brandon Boggs to Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was hitless in seven at-bats with a walk in four contests since being promoted on August 15.
In other team news, the Rangers recalled outfielder Craig Gentry from Oklahoma City and placed him on the 15-day DL with a fractured right wrist suffered on August 13 while playing for the Triple-A affiliate. In 20 games over two stints with the major league club this season, Gentry is batting .212 with three RBI.
<< Roddick rolls at U.S. Open
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birthday boy and former champion Andy
Roddick was an easy opening-round winner Monday at the U.S. Open.
The ninth-seeded former world No. 1 Roddick, celebrating his 28th birthday on
Monday, blasted hel
<< Shunted aside by Sabres, Kennedy signs with Rangers
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers agreed to terms with
free-agent forward Tim Kennedy on Monday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but multiple outlets revealed it is for
one year.
The Buffalo Sabres waived
<< Mascherano completes Barca switch
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona announced on Monday that the
club has completed the signing of Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.
Mascherano, 26, signed a four-year deal with the Catalan side on Monday after
completin
<< McMurray feeling little pressure on making the Chase
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With two races to go before the "Chase for
the Sprint Cup" begins at New Hampshire, Daytona 500 champion and Brickyard
400 winner Jamie McMurray says he won't be disappointed if he doesn't qualify
for the playof
McGregor's family issues statement >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The family of late Colorado Rockies
president Keli McGregor issued a statement Monday, saying he died of a rare
virus that infected the heart muscle.
McGregor was found dead in a Salt Lake City
Heat agree to terms with second-round pick Butler >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat signed 2010 second-round pick
Da'Sean Butler to a contract on Monday.
Terms were not announced, per team policy.
The 6-foot-7 forward was taken with the 42nd overall selection after playin
Cowboys, two employees settle lawsuit from training camp accident >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Dallas Cowboys employees have agreed
to settle a lawsuit against companies run by franchise owner Jerry Jones.
The Morning News reported on Monday that Rich Behm and Joe DeCamillis will
each be p
Braves recall Kawakami >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have recalled pitcher
Kenshin Kawakami from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Kawakami appeared in 16 games (15 starts) earlier this season for the Braves,
and went 1-9 with a 4.75 earned-run av
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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