In mere days, pitchers and catchers will report to MLB spring training. That means it’s probably a good time to examine baseball betting futures. We know who the major contenders are – the Phillies in the National League and the Red Sox in the American League – but who are the top sleepers and busts?

BETTING SLEEPERS

St. Louis Cardinals (World Series odds: 20 to 1)

The Cardinals relinquished the National League Central to the Cincinnati Reds last season but we shouldn’t consider them down for the count just yet. Their one-two pitching punch of Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter is still as good as any in the game, at least holding a candle to Halladay/Lee. Albert Pujols in a contract year is terrifying. He also has support from Matt Holliday and maybe Lance Berkman, who could squeeze out one more good season since opponents will pitch around the other two stars. Maybe the Cards can compete for a Wild-Card berth?

Detroit Tigers (World Series odds: 30 to 1)

The Tigers, Twins and White Sox have taken turns owning the American League Central over the last several years. Could the door be open for Detroit to return to glory? Justin Verlander is a great staff anchor and Max Scherzer could be just as good this season; he dominated in the second half of 2010. Miguel Cabrera should have better lineup support this year now that the Tigers have added Victor Martinez; Austin Jackson should score a ton of runs at the top of this lineup. Detroit isn’t the deepest team, however, so remember – this is still a sportsbook sleeper, not a favorite.
Milwaukee Brewers (World Series odds: 100 to 1)

What’s with the 100 to 1 odds? The Brewers could be a steal in that position. Offense has never been the problem in recent years. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (contract year), Corey Hart, Casey McGehee, and Rickie Weeks all have 30-homer ability. Pitching is what held the Brewers back in the winnable NL Central. Suddenly, they’ve added Zack Greinke and underrated Shaun Marcum to a rotation that already had Yovani Gallardo. Rand Wolf makes for a fine No. 4. This team could seriously make the playoffs.

BETTING BUSTS

New York Yankees (World Series odds: 5 to 1)

Yep, I said it. The Yankees will be a bust this season. Sure, their lineup is still dangerous with Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and so on. But A-Rod, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada are getting long in the tooth. More importantly, pitching could be a major concern. C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes are nice to have but who knows what A.J. Burnett will do? And who will fill the Yanks’ last two rotation spots with Andy Pettitte retiring?

San Diego Padres (World Series odds: 75 to 1)

At least the books have already clued in and bumped the Padres’ odds down. San Diego was a win away from becoming the 2010 season’s biggest MLB betting surprise and making the playoffs. But, sadly, I think that miracle run will just falsely inflate fans’ expectations this season. They’ll find a way to churn out good pitching with Mat Latos anchoring the staff but how on Earth will the Padres score runs with Adrian Gonzalez gone? This could be the majors’ lowest-scoring team in 2011.

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a free Tuesday college basketball pick is on Georgia (-4.5) to Xavier.

Reasoning: Xavier had been playing some really good ball for a while there and the victory on the road at Richmond by a billion was extremely impressive. They had won seven straight at that point but the last few games have not been so stellar and traveling to Athens against a pretty good 16-6 Georgia team is going to be a tough tough task.

The Musketeers lost in surprising fashion to an extremely mediocre Charlotte squad and did not look very good over the weekend at home in the non-cover against St. Louis. Of course a game or two isn’t the end all and Jamel McLean and Tu Holloway are high quality ballplayers but I’m just not so sure that the X-Men or the Atlantic 10 as a whole are that good this season.

Mark Fox has done an amazing job in a short period of time with this Bulldog program. The crappy days of the Dennis Felton era are now long gone and the corrupt days of Jim Harrick and his nonsense is as well. Fox has brought legitimacy to the program and it’s not like there aren’t players that call Stegman Coliseum their home. Trey Thompkins is going to be a first round draft choice and others like Gerald Robinson, Jeremy Ware and Dustin Price have really played very well and are very good. The last game left little to be desired as it took overtime to beat a terrible Auburn squad but I’m a believer in UGA right now and do believe they are a legitimate top 25 type team.

Xavier will compete because they pretty much always do but it’s a weird spot for them to travel to Athens and in the end I think it will be an unsuccessful one against the Dawgs.

Top expert pick on this game: Georgia.

For more information: A 300,000* winner from the Association is what’s on the docket and it’s a play that pretty much can’t miss from Hotlanta. The superior Hawks are at home and hosting the surging 76ers. What gives? I know, do you? Tuesday’s card is up

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has an NBA lock pick on the Golden State Warriors (-5) hosting Phoenix.

Reasoning: Steve Nash and the Suns have been looking better of late and the victories in three of their last four games show just that. Vince Carter has looked rejuvenated at times and all in all the Suns are alright once again. Granted the window has completely shut in terms of doing anything major but they are at least showing some sign of life unlike a few weeks back.

Meanwhile the Warriors have also started to play some good ball and to be honest with you are the better team of these two teams and especially when at home. Monta Ellis is a baller who can score with the best of them and others like Stephen Curry, Dorell Wright and David Lee are quality ballplayers. The Warriors always had some talent but their ragged up and down style never really leant well to winning enough. It still may not be good enough in the always difficult west but these Warriors have now won three in a row and are a little scary. They just beat the red hot Bulls after downing the Bucks and Jazz and have been victorious in seven of their last ten by the bay.

There will certainly be some points in this game as the large total indicates. Both teams will look to get out on the break and do their thing. But without Amare Stoudemire on the Suns anymore I just feel that the Warriors at home are the definite better team. State lost at home to the Suns earlier in the season and do have a measure of revenge tonight.

I’m not saying this Golden State team is as good as the one that rose up and beat Dirk and the Mavericks in the playoffs a few seasons back but I like what I see from this current outfit and will back them tonight.

The pick: Golden State

For more information: The 400,000* Packers were sweet as sugar and the recent numbers are fairly staggering. The NFL may be done and football as a whole is done but if you think I’m letting my guard down even a lick than you’re crazy! Some faux cappers fade away into oblivion with their carnival barking because the big sales somewhat go away in this business right now but I do the exact opposite and put the pedal even more to the medal and produce the best product known to man.

A pair of plays today including another 400,000* in the MAAC between Loyola and Siena plus a bonus 200,000* The Citadel-NC Greensboro. It may not be Duke against North Carolina but it all amounts to the same in the end and that’s another 2-0 sweep of the board! Get Rivers’ winners

Bodog has set odds on which commercial will get the highest ratings.  They have won the prestigious Sportsbook of the Year award by OffshoreInsiders.com

Super Bowl XLV Specials – Which Super Bowl commercial will have a higher rating on USA Today’s annual Ad Meter?

So who are your favorites? We’d love to hear.

It’s Super Bowl XLV, the Packers vs. Steelers. Using a different database than our previous breakdown, we look at the game from another key standpoint of the spread investor.

The nation’s best sports handicappers make the most of these key performance indicators in predicting the against the spread picks with the performance gap breakdowns.

The 2011 Super Bowl betting odds on this contest are Green Bay (-3) with a total of 44.5 or 45.

Contrasting the yards per rush figures on offense, the facts give the edge to the Pittsburgh Steelers by .2.

Insofar as passing yards per completion on offense, the computations favor the Steelers by .4.

So many professional bettors make the most of yards per point. Offensively the more productive numbers are owned by Pittsburgh by the slimmest .1 margin.

Of the many sports handicapping picks out there, the premier sports service advice on this contest is What a long, great run it was again. No handicapper has ever dominated any sport—decade after decade—the way GodsTips has the NFL going back to our scorephone days. Another sensational day yesterday makes us 67-40 overall, with several moneyline underdogs. With Wise Guys, we are 31-14.

Get the Super Bowl side. Get the first half total and six proposition bets that are widely available. Get a college basketball Wise Guy as well All the winners are up.

Defensively the more tightfisted unit against the run according to yards per rush is Pittsburgh by a stunning 1.5.

Yards per reception digits favor the Steelers as well by 1.1.

Calculations on the yards per point math gives the upper hand to the Green Bay Packers by 2.2.

Now to net turnover margin, the better squad has been Pittsburgh by three.

Yards per point is determined by diving total yards by number of points. Offensively a lower number is considered more efficient. On defense, a higher number is better.

Spread betting trends (all records are against the spread): Pittsburgh is 9-1 in their last 10 playoff games, 16-5 as an underdog of 0.5-3.0, 34-16 as underdog.

Green Bay is 19-6 after allowing less than 15 points in their previous game.

Over/under trends: Pittsburgh over 16-5 playoffs. Green Bay under 8-3 off win.

All the sharp Super Bowl bets are up. The Steelers vs. Packers Super Bowl morning line has Green Bay (-3) with a total of 45.

Here are the latest prop odds for 2011 Super Bowl

Source: BetUs

While the gullible among us put blind faith in the manufactured Brandon Lang Super Bowl record, sharp gamblers have the Super Bowl predictions against the spread, total, and proposition bets.

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a Sunday pick against the spread and it’s on the Boston Celtics (-4.5) hosting Orlando.

Reasoning: the Magic are still a very good NBA team but they have struggled a lot of times this season and are not as well rounded as the Celtics. Pretty much overall Stan Van’s boys are just not nearly as good right now and have regressed a little bit when compared to the last few seasons.

Dwight Howard is obviously a superstar and a guy who will dominate inside but with Kendrick Perkins back and with Shaq in Celtic green there are at least some big bodies on the C’s that will bang and use up their allotted fouls if necessary. To be able to get Rondo, Pierce, Allen, Garnett and the rest of Doc’s squad at home and only lay a handful is more than enough for me. It’s not like this Orlando team has exactly rounded into shape after the trades. They did look a little better at one point after the sluggish start with Richardson, Turkoglu and others but they haven’t been very magical of late after dropping three of their last five games.

Orlando has been beating up the bad teams like Washington and Cleveland and Toronto and Indiana but every time they have had to step it up against major competition they have not been able to do so. The final score may have said four the other day but if you watched the game you saw how LeBron and the Heat were the much better team and that game was in Orlando. The Magic also just lost at Memphis and at Chicago. Something is a little off with this team, whether it be the lack of size or the new pieces not fully fitting or just the team getting a little worse, I don’t fully know. But until they play better in a spot like this I am glad to lay a few points with quite possibly the best team in the entire NBA in the Celtics.

Over the last few seasons and the other day at in Los Angeles this Boston squad has been able to raise their game and play big. Today will be another example of just that.

Top expert pick on this game: Boston Celtics from Matt Rivers.

For more information: Things are going very, very well of late and nothing at all changes on Super Sunday, that I can tell you with absolute and complete conviction. It was a 3-1 Saturday including the big 400,000* on the Oregon Ducks winning outright as the eight point dog along with 300,000* UCLA and 200,000* Virginia, very almost outright.

Not one 400,000* today but two 400,000* today! A pair of monster locks with Ohio State-Minnesota on the hardwoods and Pittsburgh-Green Bay on the gridiron PLUS five Super Bowl props. I am absolutely smoking hot right now and if that’s not what you want to listen to then there’s nothing else that I can do. But when I brag big-time tomorrow you will be kicking yourself! Super Bowl spread pick and more from Rivers is up now.

OffshoreInsiders.com Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a college basketball winner on Iowa State (+4) to Kansas State.

Reasoning: Nobody was more on the jock of Frank Martin’s team last season than I was but the ship has sunk and for this Kansas State team to be laying points on the road in this spot is just silly. No doubt Jacon Pullen is an absolute shining star but the Wildcats have been a disgrace this season and especially so outside of Manhattan.

Iowa State isn’t great by any means and they are a thin team with less scholarship players than most but give the Mayor Fred Hoiberg some credit as he has done a really nice job with the Cyclones. They are not the most talented of teams after losing Craig Brackins but Diante Garrett has been really good leading the way this season and without a shadow of a doubt do I expect a total outright today, even if things have gone a bit south over the last few weeks.

Pullen will score his points and try and keep the ‘Cats in this thing but overall K State has lost player after player and have had more controversy than almost any team in the nation. Things have snowballed in a negative light for a while now and this team on the highway has been horrific. I just don’t see the visitors being able to muster much as the confidence is low and the squad overall is not nearly what they were thought to have been earlier in the season.

Martin’s boys are a terrible 15-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12. They’ve lost pretty much every road game this season and more times than not have gotten whacked in those contests. The last loss at Kansas was a total beating and the previous four at A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Florida were not much better.

Iowa State is 1-7 in the conference, which doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that’s not very good, and they were just pounded in Boulder against Colorado in their fifth straight defeat but I’m alright with that. Certainly the last pair of home losses to Oklahoma and Texas Tech are inexplicably bad but this team will continue to fight and show a little better. The Cyclones proved their upside to me with the tighter than tight game and cover against Kansas along with the win over Baylor about a month or so ago. I expect more of that better type of a performance today by the homeboys and expect an outright as K State continues to regress and shrivel up.

The pick: Iowa State

For more information: Last night Rivers hit with a 400,000* Manhattan stayed in the number the entire game and the 200,000* on the Mavericks won outright! I’m feeling pretty darn good right about now. A whopping four winners today and well over a million* of profit in the end. A pair of Pac-10 games lead the way with a Monster 400,000* Washington-Oregon and a 300,000* involving St. John’s and UCLA. I’m throwing in another 300,000* affair between Clemson and Georgia Tech and will round out the day with a 200,000* on Virginia and Miami, Fl.

I am imploring you not to miss out today, truly. If you do miss out you will kick yourself later on because I am going to brag about a 4-0 sweep. Rivers Saturday card is up