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2006 San Diego Padres Predictions
In a weak division,
there are high hopes for our 2006 San Diego Padres predictions. Despite winning 5
fewer games in 2005 than they had in 2004, the Padres still took the NL
West relatively easy over their inferior opponents. I expect another
division title in 2006 to be harder to come by with a healthy Barry
Bonds returning to the lineup for the Giants.
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I’m sure if you
followed baseball much at all last season you heard about the Padres
players complaining about their ballpark not being hitter-friendly. The
Padres finished just 3 games over .500 at Petco in 2004 and despite
continued complaining they improved to 11 games over the .500 mark in
2005. I expect they’ll understand even more in 2006 that they aren’t
going to be a long ball team and they’ll focus on hitting line drives
which will improve their home record even more. I expect taking the
Padres at home, especially within their division, to be a money play
this season. This team doesn’t have an extremely potent lineup anyway
you look at it, but Brian Giles may be the Padre that seems to have been
hurt the most by the new ball park. Last season he only mananged 15
home runs and 83 Runs Batted in, after being a consistent 30+ home run
guy in Pittsburgh for so many years. Khalil Greene will have to be a
little better in the shortstop position with another year under his
belt. I think you are going to see Mike Piazza is way past his prime
and won’t be able to produce in the catcher spot. This team doesn’t
have a whole lot of offensive punch.
The pitching staff
has Jake Peavy which is pretty much a stud, and Chris Young who is a
young gun poised to make a big move this year after moving over from the
American League. Do Chan Ho Park and Woody Williams have anything left
in the tank? Who knows but if one of them can produce then this staff
is going to be decent from top to bottom. The bullpen still has Trevor
Hoffman who managed 43 saves last season. Linebrink and Alan Embree are
solid options in the setup position. It’s going to take a nice season
from these arms in order for the Padres to do much damage in the
National League West.
San Diego really
struggles on the road as they were just 36-45 last season. Inconsistent
road play can be expected from young teams. With another year of
experience under their belts, they should be able to improve 5 wins on
the road in 2006.
Poor baseball
divisions are made up of inconsistent teams. The inconsistency of the
NL West makes it tough to gage who will be at the top of the division
come October as bad teams can fall into a terrible slump at any time.
It happened to the Royals last season and realistically the teams in
this division are not head and shoulders above a team like Kansas City.
With that being said however, despite a down year in 2005, San Diego is
moving in the right direction, and I think the NL West comes down to the
Padres and the Giants.
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