We’re only about a month into the 2022 MLB regular season, which means that teams that are off to a slow start have time to pick up the winning – and teams that have gotten off to a suspiciously strong start still have time to drift back down to their expected pace. We’ve talked a lot about teams like the San Francisco Giants, who have gotten off to surprisingly solid starts to 2022, but today we will look at a few teams that we like to get back to their winning ways, so it might be time to take advantage if their MLB betting odds on futures wagers offers more value than usual.
MLB News: Underperforming Teams That You Should Still Bet On
Atlanta Braves
The Braves (14-16) are already six games behind the New York Mets in the National League East, but once their pitching comes around, they should be ready to take off. They rank third in barrel rate, at 10.6%, and through 582 at-bats, the team has an xBA of .274 and xSLG of .504, both of which rank second in MLB (all data from Statcast). Ronald Acuna Jr just returned from an ACL tear, and with Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna also in the lineup, this team will do even more damage. When the pitching fires up, this team will contend in the division.
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners (13-18) trail the Angels by 5 ½ games in the American League West. However, their offense is not the problem. They lead MLB with an 11.7% walk percentage and lead the American League in on-base percentage (.338) and RBI (82). The team’s slugging percentage is just .403, which means that the Mariners are scoring runs with base hits and running, rather than home runs. The hitters lead MLB with a wRC+ of 127. Ty France and J.P. Crawford are both in MLB’s top eight for OPS as individuals. Once the pitching shows up, the Mariners could push for a wild card.
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs (9-18) are nine games back in the National League Central, and they were not expected to contend this season. However, when you look at run totals for games, you might think about looking at the “over” for the Cubs. They lead MLB with an OPS of .758, and the team has a .265 batting average and a .346 on-base percentage through their first 561 at-bats. Both of those numbers also lead MLB. Only there teams had more hits through that time point, and Japanese newcomer Seiya Suzuki is fifth in OPS.
Philadelphia Phillies
As we mentioned in an earlier article, the Phillies seem built along the lines of the Detroit Tigers in the later years at Tiger Stadium – add as many power hitters to your lineup as possible, and hope that they can outslug your issues with pitching and defense. Nick Castellanos (.921), and Bryce Harper (.850) lead the team in OPS. The team ranks fourth in MLB in OPS (.747) through 628 at-bats. The Phillies are also fifth in RBI and sixth in run scored. The power hitting has paid off, as the team is third in slugging percentage (.420) and hard-hit percentage (45.0%). However, with a record of just 12-16 and a zero run differential, pitching and defense are taking more of a bite out of the team’s performance than management would like, at least to this point.
Toronto Blue Jays
The favorites to win the American League East currently sit at 17-13, 3 ½ games behind the New York Yankees. Toronto led MLB with 26 home runs in 638 at-bats, and they are second in MLB – behind the Yankees – in hard-hit percentage. The only team with more hits is the Mets. Vladimir Guerrero Jr had five home runs in his first 68 at-bats, with a .309 batting average. The pitching has been somewhat inconsistent, as demonstrated by a -10 run differential, but the Blue Jays’ arms, at least on paper, should be able to get them to a division title as long as those bats keep popping.
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