How will the division races shake out in baseball? | IXGAMES

One very deserving team in the American League East Division won’t reach the MLB playoffs in 2010. The New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox might be the best three teams in all of baseball as they battle each other in baseball’s toughest division. But there are only two playoffs spots available among those three, so which is the one left out in the cold? Bet on those MLB futures at Bodog. The AL Central also looks like it will be a three-team race heading into baseball’s second half as the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are all tightly bunched. This division has gone to a 163rd regular-season the past two seasons and appears poised to possibly do so again. The AL West is a two-team race between the Texas Rangers, who often wilt in that Texas summer heat, and the Los Angeles Angels, the three-time defending champions of the division. In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies have been the powerhouse the past two years but are struggling on the field and with injuries heading into the second half of the season. The Atlanta Braves might have enough to send Manager Bobby Cox into retirement with their first NL East title since 2005. But don’t count out the New York Mets or Phillies. The NL Central was supposed to be a piece of cake for the St. Louis Cardinals, as they were big Bodog MLB betting favorites to repeat as champs. But they are in a dogfight with the surprising Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a division title since 1995. And the NL West is home to baseball’s biggest surprise in the first half of the season: the penny-pinching Padres. San Diego was supposed to sell off its assets but instead is fighting for the best record in the NL and are holding off better rosters in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Colorado thanks to their pitching staff. It’s going to be a wild finish to the best baseball season with every division up for grabs. So stick with Bodog Sportsbook, the Web’s gaming leader for more than 15 years, for all of your MLB betting needs.