The Major League Baseball season is a marathon. One of the biggest problems in handicapping this sport is figuring out when a team is going to show up and give it their best. With a 162-game schedule, there are going to be days when teams just don’t have the motivation and focus needed to get the job done. Being able to spot when a team is going to decide to play instead of simply going through the motions can really go a long way in determining how big your bankroll is going to be at the end of the season.
One factor that seems to always get players motivated is when they are out for revenge. Teams don’t like to get embarrassed regardless if it’s the first month or last month of the season. There are plenty of handicappers who will simply look for teams who are in a revenge situations when making their plays on a given day, and I want to share with you three systems I have came across that have been proven to bring profits on a consistent basis.
Most teams take pride in playing well in front of their home crowds, and more times than not, teams finish the year with a better record at home than they do on the road. This system calls for teams who have just lost a home game by 3 or more runs going up against the same team in the next game. Not only do the players want to get revenge against the team that just beat them, but they also want to come out and give their fans something to cheer about after getting beat up the night before.
There are a couple things that you want to look for with this system. First, you want to look for teams that fall into this system who come into the following game as favorites or very small underdogs. A poor team going up against one of the top teams in the league might come in with the motivation and desire to beat the team that just crushed them the night before, but if they don’t have the talent to get the job done, than the chances of them coming away with a win aren’t likely.
While no team likes to lose a series, the one thing that will eat at a team more than anything is getting swept by their opponent. As you might have already guessed, the key to this system is looking for teams that have a .500 record or better who are heading into the final game of a series after having lost every game in the series up to this point. These teams are going to give it everything they have to make sure that they come away with at least one win, and teams that are .500 or better have a much better shot at doing just that. They have shown that they will win more than they lose over the course of the season. Many times you will also receive favorable odds in this situation, as the oddsmakers will be forced to move the line towards the team who has dominated the series up to this point.
What we are looking for in this system is teams who are going up against a team that just swept them in the previous series. Unlike the other two systems we have mentioned where the revenge system is in effect right away, this system requires a little more work and patience. Getting swept really eats at a team and the next time these two teams face off they are going to come out and do everything in their power to win that first game. This is so they can end any possibility of getting swept a second time. On the other side, the team that just completed a sweep is more likely to come into the next series a little over-confident and thinking they can just walk in and win every game without putting out full effort. Note that this system is no longer in effect once the team that was swept in the previous series wins a game.