This year the sports betting gurus will once again have their hands full trying to pick a winner. On paper the MLB odds makers like the St Louis Cardinals chances, and how can you not? This is a team that won the baseball betting last year and has probably only gotten better in the off season.

Obviously any talk about Cardinals’ baseball betting centers around slugger Albert Pujuls the reigning NL MVP and best hitter in sports betting. And this year he’s got protection in the lineup thanks to the re-signing of Matt Holiday –one of the better bats in baseball gambling. The Red Bird’s pitching staff is also superb, led by 19-game winner Adam Wainright the team starting rotation is among the best in baseball betting and the division is theirs to lose.

But the Brewers should give this team a run for its in the MLB betting competition and even if it doesn’t catch the Cardinals in division title race, it’s still a baseball wagering caliber team and could grab a wildcard berth in the MLB playoff betting. Prince Fielder (46 HRs, 140 RBIs) and Ryan Braun (.320) punish opposing pitchers at the plate and if the starting pitching can keep up on the mound this is one of the better teams in the NL betting.

The Cubbies also hope that this is the year that they shake their MLB betting curse, but that seems unlikely. After waiting for than a century to bring a World Series betting town back to Chi-Town what’s another MLB wagering season? Unless Carlos Zambrano can bounce back from a disastrous 2009 MLB baseball betting season the starting pitching simply isn’t good enough to carry this team to an NL Central baseball wagering title.

But with plenty of time to rest and get healthy again the Mets are looking to reverse their fortunes in the 2010 baseball betting season and once again compete for the MLB wagering post season.

After finishing a hugely disappointing 2009 in last place in the NL East betting standings and winding up the season 23 games out (70-92) the Mets are ready to give the Phillies a run for the money.

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The 2010 Mets are much different team than the one that limped to finish line of the 2010 baseball betting season and barring any major injuries and other forms of outrageous bad luck this is a team that should not only compete for the NL East baseball wagering title but one that many MLB odds makers could compete for a spot in the World Series odds competition.

On the mound this team has a solid –if oft injured- starting rotation led by ace Johan Santana, one of the best pitchers in the MLB wagering action. His 13 wins in 2009 led the team, but with even a hint of run support this guy is capable of 20 wins seasons every year. The team also has an above average closer in Francisco Rodriguez who will look to improve on his 36 save total in the ’09 sports betting season.

The teams’ biggest weakness in the MLB odds competition last year was at the plate. When your leading power hitter finishes the MLB betting season with just 12 HRs you know you got major issues. But the Mets addressed this in the off season brining in sluggers Jason Bay and Jeff Francouer.

With a little bit of good luck the Mets could return to the top of the baseball betting competition this year and finally give the CitiField fans something to cheer about.

This is one of the most exciting divisions in the baseball betting and in recent years no division in the MLB odds has been as competitive year in and year out. Last year baseball fans surely remember the drama that capped off the regular season finish to the MLB odds competition in this division.

The Tigers surrounded a very comfortable lead down the stretch and lost to the Twins in a playoff game for the post season. Something wild and crazy like that could easily happen again this baseball betting season. If you take a look at the final standings of the MLB odds results from the 2009 season you might walk away with the impression that AL Central teams perhaps are a notch below the rest of the league.

Take for example the fact that the Twins won the division with a record of 87-76, a full 10 games behind the AL West winner and 16 games behind the Yankees in the East. But that mediocre record is more a result of a terribly difficult division that any lack of talent. When you have to play the White Sox and the Tigers on a regular basis you’re bound to lose a few games. Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago are all going to fight each other to the death again this season and it just might be some of the most entertaining baseball in the league.

But the most recent failures of the Mets in the baseball betting standings might be the toughest of all to swallow. The reason that the futility in the MLB odds that this team has suffered in the past few years is much more egregious is the fact that this team has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to be competitive, yet they finishes last season in the NL East baseball betting standings last season -23 games out of the first place Phillies!

The team’s 70 wins in the MLB odds was a joke. They were blown out of the water in their own division by teams like the Florida Marlins, a team that pays its players with beads and trinkets. But perhaps the biggest blow last season for this team was the fact that it spent over half a billion dollars for a new stadium, meant to compete with the New York Yankees new facility, and the team fell flat on its face.

Granted injuries practically derailed the team last season but when some guy named Daniel Murphy is your top HR hitter with 12, major changes are needed.

Granted, money spent does not always equal baseball betting success, but it’s little coincidence that the Yankees (the biggest spenders in the MLB odds) are the World Series champs and the Pirates, Royals and Orioles (some of the lowest spenders in baseball betting) finished 2009 with some of the worst records in baseball betting.

So in that context of payroll, we can get a good idea of which teams are going to stink again in the 2010 season. The Pirates have to be included on any short list of MLB odds cellar dwellers for this season as the team’s payroll remains miniscule by baseball betting standards, it added no real talent in the off season and it’s been nearly two decades since the team had a winning record.

Throw the Nats in this group of dungeon dwellers as well. Even with the new golden armed rookie Steven Stausborg, this is an awful team and one that should once again finish last in the NL East. The Royals, playing in one of the smallest markets in the MLB odds and traditionally very bad should also once again vie for the worst record in the Bigs. But the very worst team in MLB, look for the Orioles to be at the bottom of the heap when the 2010 dust finally settles.