2008 MLB Betting Report 

Who's Hot, Who's not? 

The major league baseball season is under way, and even with most teams only about twenty games in, there are already some incredible story lines taking place in baseball this year. Some were to be expected, many have taken almost everyone by surprise. Here's a quick list of who is hot, and who is not, early into this MLB season.

Hot:

#1: Arizona Diamondbacks 14-5, .737 winning %, best in MLB. The Diamondbacks were expected to be pretty good, but so far they have been dominant, turning in the best winning percentage of any team in major league baseball. It's a long season, but these guys are looking pretty darn legitimate at this point, and if you're the best in baseball, you're definitely hot.

#2: Florida Marlins 12-7. 12-7 isn't overly impressive, but it's a good enough record to be tops in their division, and with a total payroll less than what A-Rod gets paid. So it has to feel good that they also have more wins than the Yankees at this point, as well. They're good enough to be first, and with the lowest payroll in baseball, that's a great return on investment.

#3: Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies. Utley has hit home runs in five consecutive games, giving him a league leading 9 in 20 games. This gives him as many, or more, home runs than four major league teams. Oh, and he's also batting .354 with an .823 slugging percentage. Not bad at all.

#4: Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves. This grizzled veteran is putting on a show. Not only is 6 HR pretty good for this time of year, but after a month of play he is batting a jaw dropping .453 average. His on base percentage is .488, meaning about one out of every two times he goes to bat he ends up on base. That's one hell of a month.

#1: Detroit Tigers 7-13, .350 winning %, tied with worst in the American League. Tigers fans had a lot of expectations coming into this season. Being in the bottom of their division and the American League was not one of them, especially with one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball.

#2: Yankees' Starting Rotation. You knew it was only a matter of time until this blew up, even before the Joba Chamberlain fiasco. Wang and Pettite have held up their parts as very good number one and two pitchers, but when that's followed by your other three pitching ERAs of 5.75, 8.82, and 9.64 with a combined 1-8 record, something needs to change and change fast.

#3: Tampa Bay Rays 8-11, .421 winning %. Maybe this shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but after doubling their payroll the Rays were about everyone's pick as a "surprise" Cinderella team for 2008. They'll have to do a lot better than this, as they are currently dead last in their division.

Shane Dayton (Senior Writer for BetVega.com)