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08/28/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jays placed Edwin Encarnacion on the 15-day disabled list after the third baseman sprained his left wrist during a sixth-inning at-bat on Saturday.
Encarnacion grounded out in that frame and exited in favor of John McDonald due to the injured wrist, the same one on which he had surgery last offseason.
The 27-year-old Dominican has hit .246 with 13 home runs and 36 RBI in 80 games during his first full season in Toronto.
To fill his spot on the roster, the Jays recalled Mike McCoy from Triple-A Las Vegas. McCoy made the big-league roster out of spring training but hit just .200 over 29 games. In Triple-A, the utility man batted .310 with six homers and 26 RBI in 53 games.
<< Eagles' DE Cole has ankle sprain
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Trent
Cole has a mild ankle sprain.
Cole suffered the injury in the second quarter of Friday's 20-17 preseason win
at Kansas City. An MRI taken early on Saturday revea
<< Kirk fires 63 to grab lead in Tennessee
Farragut, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Kirk fired a nine-under 63 Saturday to
grab a one-stroke lead after 54 holes of the Knoxville Sentinel Open.
Kirk completed three rounds at 15-under-par 201. He will go for his second win
of the season
<< Red Sox activate reliever Hideki Okajima from DL
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -The Boston Red Sox have activated reliever Hideki Okajima from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Michael Bowden to Triple-A Pawtucket.The moves were announced before Boston's game Saturday night at Tampa B
<< Twins' Hudson leaves game
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson left
Saturday's game in the second inning.
Hudson suffered an apparent right ankle sprain.
Laird three clear at The Barclays >>
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scotland's Martin Laird carded a six-under 65
in the third round Saturday to grab a three-stroke lead at The Barclays.
Laird, who won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last
year, comp
Dallas, Columbus battle to scoreless draw >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas extended its road unbeaten run to
10 Major League Soccer games, and its overall league unbeaten run to 12 games,
by earning a 0-0 draw at Columbus on Saturday afternoon at Crew Stadium.
The game,
Afleet Express holds off Fly Down to win Travers >>
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Afleet Express, ridden by Javier
Castellano, edged a late running Fly Down to capture Saturday's $1 million
Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The time for the 1 1/4-miles was
2:03.28
Goldberg tied for lead at Canadian Tour Champ >>
St. Catharines, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Leading money winner Aaron Goldberg shot
a four-under 66 to join Kane Hanson in the lead Saturday after the third round
of the Canadian Tour Championship.
Hanson, the 36-hole leader, managed only an
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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