At one time it was said that pitching was everything when handicapping baseball. It's not completely false. However, things have changed in the past few years.

These days teams baby their staring pitching. They have tons of money invested in their arm, so they tend to be very cautious with how many innings they pitch. It's also really difficult to find good pitching when there are over 30 teams with five or six man rotations. Not only that, teams are finding it more valuable to have late inning pitching depth, than to have a starting pitcher go seven innings.

So how much effect does the starting pitcher have in the moneyline? I would say more than 80% of the line is created around the two starting pitchers. I'm not a math wiz, that would mean that only 20% is based around other factors besides starting pitching. Have you recently looked at a box score? Nowadays pitchers hardly ever pitch more than 6 innings. So, with nine innings played in a game, that means 4 innings are not accounted for.

It's still very important to look at home & road statistics. Most teams do 30% better when playing at home rather than on the road. So, you get much better value when placing a bet on a home team.

Vegas oddsmakers are starting to evaluate home and road stats for starting pitchers. When looking at the top pitchers in the league over the past 3 years, you will notice that they have a much better ERA at home as opposed to on the road. In fact, many had earned run averages that were 3 runs worse per 9 innings.

Also, rightly/lefty starters should be factored in as well. Many teams with lefty heavy lineups will struggle big-time against left handed pitching. This means Vegas might shave a few points off the line if they notice a lefty/lefty match-up. Of course injuries and weather information should also be considered.

I have seen many cases at Fenway Park or Wrigley field when I got great value on total wagers when the wind was blowing strait out to center field. This is a batters dream in these parks. Even if they happen to face a tough starting pitcher, the wind will have a major factor on fly balls in the outfield.

If you would like to find expert picks, you can search google to find them. Be careful, not all sports picks are created equal.  

This is posted by a female sports handicapper that wagers on sports for a living. This information will be key when wagering on your next baseball game.