With All-Star weekend over, the second half of the season begins! Not only does that mean the playoff race begins, but it also means new picks and bets from us at the Daily Dingers Podcast! Let’s take a look back at some of our best and worst bets of the 1st half of the MLB season.
The Game Day brings you picks and bets on baseball on our Daily Dingers Podcast with Steven Armato and Jack Parodi. Listen and subscribe today to get the latest MLB betting tips, news, and analysis.
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Daily Dingers MLB Podcast: Our Best & Worst Bets of the 1st Half
Worst Bets From The 1st Half
Jack: Kansas City Royals Over 74.5 Wins & Jorge Soler to Lead the League in Home Runs
As a University of Missouri alum, I guess I must have some built in bias towards the Royals because those futures I had on them and Jorge Soler look atrocious. Soler has been the biggest disappointment in quite some time for Kansas City, and the pitching staff in general has hindered an otherwise solid lineup from winning any ball games.
Steve: Minnesota Twins to Win the AL Central & Kenta Maeda to Win AL Cy Young
After looking like the main team to contend with the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central, the Twins stumbled out of the gate and have never been able to recover. To go along with that, Kenta Maeda, their ace from 2020 who finished second in the Cy Young award voting, has not lived up to the expectations. He sits at 4-3 with a 4.66 ERA, which is well below his 2.70 ERA from the year before.
Best Bets From The 1st Half
Jack: New York Mets Under 91.5 Wins & Miami Marlins Over 71.5 Wins
I will toot my own horn for calling the Marlins being better than advertised and the Mets being worse. At the end of the day, Miami’s arms are fantastic and will carry them to about a .500 record, while New York’s bats seem to always spoil solid pitching outings. They’re going to win the NL East, but won’t win over 90 games doing so.
Steve: Shohei Ohtani to Win AL MVP & Miami Marlins Over 71.5 Wins
After Shohei Ohtani won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2018, even though he missed the final month of the season, it was clear that the voters would support him even if he put up decent numbers as both a hitter and a pitcher. With the way he performed in spring training, it looked like he could have a solid season and be in the mix. Was I expecting him to lead the league in home runs? Not at all. But right now he’s looking like the runaway pick, and all he needs to do is stay healthy.
The Marlins made the playoffs in the shortened 60-game season of 2020 and returned most of that team for 2021. I didn’t consider them a playoff team by any means, but after looking at their pitching staff and their lineup, I thought no way this team wins less that 71.5 games. This looked like a 75-78 win team at the beginning of the year, and barring some major trades that deplete them entirely, the Marlins should be just around that win total.
After you’ve read our Daily Dingers MLB Podcast: Our Best & Worst Bets of the 1st Half…
Listen to the full July 15 MLB bet podcast episode for bet tips:
With only one game on today, Jack and Steve look back at their preseason futures and see where they went right and where they went oh so wrong. They also get into some second half predictions and trade deadline talk. Daily Dingers is brought to you by The Game Day.
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