American League East Betting Preview
The American League East was the only division that had four teams finish above .500 last season. Can we expect a similar outcome this year? Sportsmemo MLB handicapper JM Sports shares his thoughts on the 2022 version of the American League East.
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2022 American League East Division Odds
The Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays all finished within just one game of each other in the final standings last season behind division-winning Tampa Bay.
2022 American League East Odds | Courtesy of Caesars as of April 6 |
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Toronto Blue Jays | +185 |
New York Yankees | +225 |
Tampa Bay Rays | +290 |
Boston Red Sox | +500 |
Baltimore Orioles | +15000 |
Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay added Corey Kluber as they needed to replace Michael Wacha and Rich Hill. Kluber is a nice addition for the Rays, as he went 5-3 last season with an ERA below 4.00. Even though he missed some time last season with injury, he is a pitcher that knows the AL East well, even though he posted a 4.72 ERA in eight starts last season against divisional opponents.
On the offensive side, the Rays traded away Joey Wendle and Jordan Luplow, but that was the extent of the offensive power that is no longer with the team. Tampa Bay sat atop this powerhouse division last year, but the changes have been minimal. Can this team continue their roll?
New York Yankees
New York was right on Tampa Bay’s tail at the end of the season last year. The Yankees are essentially rolling into the 2022 season with the same pitching staff that they had last season, with the exception of Kluber who’s now in Tampa.
Domingo German will start the season on the injured list, but the core of last year’s rotation – Montgomery, Cole, Tailon, and Cortes – remains in tact.
New York lost some big names this off-season due to trades, sending Luke Voit to the Padres, as well as sending Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to the Twins. Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa will look to improve the Yankees’ defense while new acquisition Josh Donaldson can provide some power. Donaldson may be 36 years old, but he still posted an OPS last season of .827, hit 26 home runs and drove in 72 runs for Minnesota.
Boston Red Sox
Boston was quiet for the majority of the offseason before making a big splash late by acquiring Trevor Story from Colorado. Will the talented shortstop be able to replicate his numbers outside of Coors Field? He posted an .800 OPS last season with the Rockies and has a career batting average of .272.
The Red Sox lost Eduardo Rodriguez from their starting rotation while acquiring Rich Hill and James Paxton. Both players enter the 2022 season with question marks as Hill is now north of 40 years of age and Paxton is coming off Tommy John surgery.
Toronto Blue Jays
How many times can you say a team lost the reigning Cy Young winner and their pitching staff (arguably) got better?! Toronto lost Robbie Ray to Seattle and Steven Matz, but added Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi.
Gausman went 14-6 in 33 starts, posting a 2.81 ERA with 227 K’s in 192 IP in San Francisco. Kikuchi was 7-9 in his 29 starts with Seattle, but should be able to flourish as a back-end rotation piece behind a staff that already has Jose Berrios, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alek Manoah.
Baltimore Orioles
Another short-and-sweet offseason in Baltimore which saw the Orioles lose Matt Harvey and Jorge Lopez from their rotation while adding Jordan Lyles.
Interested in placing a bet on the 2022 American League East division odds? Caesars Sports is offering up to a $1,500 match bet for first-time deposits in New Jersey, West Virginia, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, New York and Louisiana.
2022 American League Preview | First Pitch
Play ball! After a very interesting offseason, the 2022 MLB season will kick off on Thursday, April 7. Join Drew Martin, Bryan Leonard and Dave Cokin for First Pitch as we preview the American League futures market. Which teams are poised to overachieve based on their projected win totals? Which favorites are on upset alert in their division? Join our team of MLB betting experts every weekday at 1:45pm ET / 10:45am PT for First Pitch as we discuss the baseball betting slate.
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Meet the Author
Jeff’s hunger for handicapping began at a young age being surrounded by parents that made sports betting a daily routine. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of other Cleveland handicappers like Marc Lawrence, Phil Steele, Ralph Michaels, Ed Meyer and Bryan Leonard, Jeff started his sports betting career working for both Northcoast Sports and Phil Steele Publications learning the intricacies of sports betting and becoming a profitable handicapper. Through out his college years, Jeff’s mathematical and analytical prowess helped him develop a betting strategy that turned sports betting into a profitable venture, where he focuses on the NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball and MLB while showing strong results in the WNBA.
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