How important is pitching when betting on Major League Baseball?

Pitching is probably the most important factor when betting on baseball. It’s also the biggest factor for the oddsmakers when making the odds. A dominant pitcher will make his team a bigger favorite. And, although you’ll get great odds going against him, it’s often a hard bet to make. For instance, let’s look at American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays. In his 31 starts last season he won 21 games and lost 5. The Rays were 22-9 in games he started.

If you bet on every game Snell started, you would have done very well. Other pitchers who fared very well in 2018 are; Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians (20-7), Luis Severino of the Yankees (19-8), Jon Lester from the Boston Red Sox (18-6), Miles Mikolas of the St. Louis Cardinals (18-4), Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals (18-7), Aaron Nola from the Philadelphia Phillies (17-6), JA Happ who split time between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees went 17-6 and Charlie Morton who was 15-3 and is now pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays.