Since Major League Baseball seems to be suffering from a good middle relief pitching, as well as a good closing, an opportunistic way to get around this problem is to bet more “Fire Five Innings” plays.
He’s simply counting on his team’s starting pitcher to do the job he’s expected of him and hold down the opposition while his team builds an early lead. There’s no worrying about blowing another late-inning lead or facing another blown save.
On June 19, there were at least three games where playing starting pitcher for the first five innings would have given him a win rather than the loss suffered by all three teams. First, Cleveland’s Cliff Lee was sailing with a 7-0 lead through 6 innings, but the Indians’ horrible bullpen imploded again and they lost, 8-7, to the Cubs. Next, the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsly was cruising with a nice 4-1 lead after 5 innings, but the Angels scored 4 runs between the 6th and 8th innings and the Dodgers lost the game, 5-4. Finally, José Contreras led 2-1 in 5 innings, but the White Sox lost the game, 4-3, due to missing relief.
While this type of play eliminates any opportunity for late-inning heroics, that is NOT what you expect or why you made the selection you did. Most punters bet on starting pitchers, so why not play the ones you especially like in a way where they are even more important to your chances of winning your play?
A play of “First Five Innings” does that for you most of the time.
