Dog of the Day: When will we start buying into a very good Red Sox team?
Generally, we're forced to pay attention to the Boston Red Sox whether we like it or not.
Major League Baseball isn't the best at marketing its sport, and part of the problem is coverage of the sport acts like all fans only care about Boston, New York and perhaps Chicago or Los Angeles once in a while. When the Red Sox are good, we hear all about them. When the Red Sox are bad, we still hear all about them.
Then how is this Red Sox team coming under the radar a bit?
The Red Sox are 37-23. They're a half-game out of first place in the AL East. Only six teams have a better run differential. Yet, their success isn't translating to the betting market.
Boston has played 60 times this season and has been an underdog 24 times, according to Team Rankings' stats. That's a lot for a team 14 games over .500. The Red Sox are underdogs again on Tuesday. They're +100 at BetMGM against the Houston Astros, who are -120.
The Red Sox are 16-8 as an underdog, which is the best record in MLB according to Team Rankings. They've simply been mispriced all season when it comes to odds.
The Red Sox weren't expected to do much after a down 2020 season but their hitting has been very good, the pitching has been solid and they have won a lot of games. A sweep of the Yankees over the weekend should have further legitimized their start.
Houston is a very good team too, and Astros starter Framber Valdez is a talented pitcher. Houston did take three of four from Boston last week. But Red Sox starter Martin Perez hasn't been bad and Boston has been playing well all season. A pick of the Red Sox isn't a slight on Houston, it's just fairly rare to find a team like Boston as an underdog.
For the 25th time this season, Boston will be an underdog. Taking the Red Sox when they have been in this position has worked out pretty well.
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