The Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire, offered a neat bit of understanding on Tuesday night as he changed Minnesota’s tactics this Spring Training to give Justin Morneau chance to practice his national role before joining up with Team Canada’s for the World Baseball Classic.


Gardenhire confirmed designated hitter, Morneau, would instead start Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays at first base – his preferred position with the Canada side.


The reason: to give Morneau extra practice in the role and boost his game potential ahead of the Baseball Classic, which gets under way this March across the Pacific region.


“I just want to get my legs underneath me,” Morneau told reporters. “There’s a big difference between playing five innings and playing nine. Playing three days in a row, I think, will speed that process up a little bit.”


Indeed, Canada are drawn in a tough pool alongside the US, Mexico and Italy this spring, and they need all the help they can get. With Morneau primed as a first-baseman they have a steady hand in the field and don’t need to worry about his form.


Although not a huge deal for Minnesota – who beat Toronto 8-4 on Tuesday – the fact Morneau got this game under his belt will do wonders for the player’s confidence.


As most Twins fans with experience betting MLB World Series will testify, it’s always nice to see one of your own players doing well for their country. Morneau has already come out and said he’d happily play anywhere for the team, with DH or first base his preferred position and has raised eyebrows with comments regarding the shortstop role.


Regardless of where he plays, Twins fans can be safe in the knowledge he will give his upmost to the team. This Baseball Classic could be Morneau’s chance to impress while away from Spring Training and will prepare the 31-year-old for what MLB betting news pundits believe could be a tough season ahead.

Last week, Team USA announced its initial roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, with two Twins stars earning a role in the team ahead of the international baseball competition this March.


Our reliever, Glen Perkins, will fight for a place against some of baseball’s best. He is one of four lefties in the roster that includes young Royals pitcher, Tim Collins and San Francisco reliever, Jeremy Affeldt, who pitched in the World Series last fall.


Meanwhile, infielder, Joe Mauer, a native Minnesota boy, faces competition with Yankees’ Mark Teixeria for first base and Jonathan Lucroy of Milwaukee for catcher.


It is both players’ first call-up to the USA team for the World Baseball Classic, which takes place in four countries this year and is the third tournament of its kind after 2006 and 2009.


Along with the Twins’ USA pair, Canada have brought in first baseman, Justin Mourneau, meaning Minnesota fans betting MLB World Series have some players to follow this spring.


Team USA sit in a competitive Pool D alongside Mexico, Canada and Italy, and with just one game against each opponent in the group stage, there is little room for error. If Perkins is called up to close out a game he must fulfil that role – something he’s achieved over the last two seasons with 143 strikeouts in 132 innings, emerging as one of the best lefties the American League has to offer.


Although the World Baseball Classic is still finding its feet in the international calendar and may not get the full attention it deserves, the tournament will only increase in prestige and popularity over the years and Team USA are firm favourites to take the title this March, according to MLB betting news pundits.


It is great credit for these three Twins players to get the chance to represent their country, and, should they prove a success this spring, they will make Minnesota proud.

The 2012 season will be remembered by Orioles supporters as one that would provide plenty of hope, but ultimately end in disappointment.


Though they progressed to the post-season courtesy of a Wildcard victory over Texas Rangers, progress was halted by the New York Yankees in the division series, with a failure to win game four ending their hopes of a World Series push.


Ahead of the pre-season a record of 93-69 had been enough to secure second spot in the American League East, and hopes at that stage were high that a surprise push for Major League Baseball’s showpiece matches would follow.


The arrival of Endy Chavez and Taylor Teagarden in December helped plant the seeds of optimism ahead of the 2012 season, and the recruitment of Jai Miller, Wei-Yin Chen and Wilson Betemit had many positively giddy about imminent prospects.


Pitching ammunition was added in February in the shape of Matt Lindstrom and Jason Hammel, with Jeremy Guthrie heading in the opposite direction and finding a home at the Colorado Rockies.


What followed did not deliver on early season hopes, and the club weren’t among the MLB World Series picks, but there’s enough in the bank for the Orioles to look ahead to 2013 with a little extra confidence.


The addition of a hitter with a high on-base percentage could help remedy the Orioles’ failure to manufacture many runs this season, with batting attacks often found wanting against the division’s more aggressive pitchers.


But extra quality in the Orioles’ pitching department wouldn’t go amiss either. There’s plenty of capable bodies on board, but not enough with the star power that separates successful teams from victorious ones.


One man who could fill that void is Anaheim Angels right-hander Zack Greinke, though the Orioles’ traditional hesitancy to award signings with contracts longer than four years may deter some of MLB’s biggest names making the switch.


Those who enjoy betting on baseball believe it’s time for the Orioles to show a little long-term faith in their transfer targets. It could be the change that’s needed to deliver a World Series.

In 2005, and following several MLB trade rumours, Ryan Zimmerman was among the first ever group of players to be drafted in by new franchise the Washington Nationals.

He was immediately sent down to the minor league to hone his skills, but it wasn’t long before the former University of Virginia student was making headlines at the very top of Major League Baseball.

His statistics at the bat and in the field as the ball club’s starting third basemen are impressive, and his technical achievement out on the field have been recognised with Gold Glove and Silver Slugger accolades in the recent past.

But, in the modern era, strong technical displays are often not enough to cement your position in club folklore. You need to deliver something more and leave supporters in no doubt about the kind of man you are.

But there aspects to Zimmerman’s relationship with the Nationals that put him a cut above most other players of the modern era.

Firstly, his approach to matches, regardless of the circumstances under each fixture is staged, is beyond question.

Here is a man whose attitude to pre-match preparation stands up to the stiffest scrutiny, and whose level of effort and consistency is of a standard unmatched by most running about in either league in 2012.

And away from baseball, Zimmerman displays those same lionhearted qualities.

Following the passing of his mother, he launched his own charitable foundation, which operates with the sole intention of finding a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS), the disease that took the life of the woman who raised him.

The ziMS foundation provides advice and support for MS supporters and those closest to them, and it generated thousands of dollar since its establishment, of which every cent has gone towards ridding the earth of this wretched disease and helping those battling against it.

Ryan Zimmerman, ranked by many as one of the true MLB picks of recent years, takes his role as a professional baseball player very seriously, and understands the importance of setting a positive example to others.

He has recently signed a new contract that will keep him at the Nationals until 2019, and it,s no surprise, but it is a shame there aren’t more about like him.

When you’re losing matches, it seems like nothing goes your way. Every ball bounces the wrong way, those inches that win points are against you and every opposing player appears to be having a great game.

The Indians knew exactly how that felt earlier this month, when they came close to equalling the worst run of mlb scores in the franchise’s history.

They suffered 11 straight defeats in total and there appeared few rays of sunshine on a horizon that had become increasingly clogged up with grey clouds.

But Cleveland’s own Justin Masterson was the man the desperate ball club was able to turn to on August 8, when they were 6-2 victors over the Minnesota Twins.

It was a result that brought relief not only to the team, but also the entire city, and many in the stadium that day reckon the shrieks of ecstasy when the winning runs were hit were heard all over Cleveland.

Since that day, the Indians have won three further matches, and, while punters betting on baseball are hardly backing the side for a World Series push, the fact that this horrible run of results has come to an end is reason enough to celebrate, especially for the hero Masterson, who played an integral role in the victory that day.

“I'm sure it was a relief in all of Cleveland,” said Masterson.

“We all felt under an increasing amount of pressure, but there was something in the air ahead of the game against Minnesota that made us believe we could do it, that this could be the one.

“And I guess that prophecy came true.”

Cleveland’s challenge for the remainder of the season will be to restore a little
dignity to the ball club and lay foundations that will hopefully ensure there are no further extended barren streaks in the months or years to come.

The Boston Red Sox have made it clear they are looking to make a fresh start after trading four of their highest-paid players to the LA Dodgers, in a trade that has been seen by fans betting MLB as one of the league’s biggest in decades.


Starting pitcher Josh Beckett, first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez, left fielder, Carl Crawford, and infielder, Nick Punto, have left Boston to sign for the Dodgers, with James Loney, Ivan De Jesus, Allen Webster, and two as yet unnamed players heading the other way to join the Red Sox.


While the deal will strengthen the Dodgers’ squad as they prepare for their playoff hopes, it will give the Red Sox a chance to rebuild after a tough couple of years.


This season has been another write-off for the Boston faithful, and general manager, Ben Cherington, has made it clear that these wholesale changes have been made in order to get the club back to where they need to be.


"I think we recognize that we are not who we want to be right now," said Cherrington.


"We needed to make more than cosmetic changes. To build that we required more of a bold move to give us an opportunity to really reshape the roster, reshape the team."


It is fair to say that not many of the Red Sox squad can be happy with how they have performed over this season, but this trade has still come as a shock to many in the game.


With a saving of around $270 million in salaries, the Red Sox have a great chance to now go and assemble a squad capable of getting the franchise back into the big time, with Cherrington knowing this could be the defining moment in Boston’s history.


For more MLB trade rumours, as well as the best odds, picks, and news for the current season, head over to the Bet365 website.

A heavy defeat to the Texas Rangers only further deepened the sense of disappointment felt throughout the Minnesota Twins, after another tough American League season.

The loss took the Twins’ MLB scores to a 1-8 on their current road trip and a season-worst 24 games below .500, leaving no one in any doubt that this year has been another failure.

Despite such a disappointing year, the Twins will not be changing their head coach, with interim boss, Terry Ryan, receiving the backing of the team’s owner, Jim Pohlad.

The coach has been beset by bad luck this season – with a string of injuries robbing Ryan of his star players.

Pohlad has made it clear that Ryan is the man to lead the club back up the ladder next year, despite admitting that it had been a tough year to be a Twins fan.

"It's very frustrating. There's only one way to describe it, and that's losing sucks. When Terry wants to remove the interim (label) from his title, we'll welcome that," Pohlad said, after watching his team’s latest lopsided defeat.

"We don't keep revisiting that every week or every month. We don't keep saying to him, 'Terry, why are you still interim?' Whenever he wants to take that way, he can, as far as we're concerned. He has my full confidence.”

Players like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Josh Willingham prove that there is enough quality in this Twins squad for the team to not be struggling at the bottom of the league.

If Ryan can keep the majority of his key players injury-free next season, then this Minnesota squad is more than capable of being a real force in 2013, a belief backed up by the early MLB picks on Bet365.

Portland Trail Blazers new boy Joel Freeland has received the backing of Team GB team-mate Luol Deng as he prepares for his first season in the NBA.

The 25-year old Englishman was signed by Portland back in 2006, before further developing his game in the ever-improving leagues in Europe. Freeland will now have his chance in the big-time after completing his move to the US from Spanish team Unicaja Malaga.

While it will be anything but easy for the versatile forward to establish himself in the NBA, Freeland has been given the support of Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng, who has seen up-close over the summer just how much the new Portland signing has improved.

Deng and Freeland were part of the Team GB side that competed at the Olympic Games in London, and the 2012 NBA All Star believes his fellow Brit has what it takes to be success in the toughest league in the world.

“I'm excited for Joel,” Deng said to nba news reporters.

“Everybody in Britain wants to play at the highest level and we all agree the NBA is that. He's done a tremendous job in Europe but it's time for him now. In the last few years he's grown so much as a player, and matured so much as a person, he's ready for it.”

Freeland will join a Portland side that has undergone plenty of changes during the off-season, not least in the shape of new head coach Terry Stotts, who has been tasked with establishing the Trail Blazers as a team capable of getting into the play-offs. Punters who bet on nba will be hoping Freeland can establish himself as a key part of Stotts’ plans over the course of the new season.

Memorial Day weekend is almost here and it’s usually the 40-game mark that occurs around that holiday that can be used to assess how good a team is. And most MLB Previews will tell you not to expect many surprises after that.

But does a really hot start necessarily mean post-season success? Let's take a look at some of the best starts before Memorial Day in MLB history and how those teams ended up.

The 1977 LA Dodgers side won 30 of their first 40 games in manager Tommy Lasorda’s first season; ultimately they went onto a 98-64 record, so 68-54 after Memorial Day and eventually made their way to the World Series where they were beaten by the NY Yankees in six games.

The 1998 Yankees were dominant and possibly one of the most dominant teams of all time. They started 31-9, and they didn’t let up after that either going on to record 114 wins. The San Diego Padres couldn’t stop the Yankees bandwagon in the World Series either going down to a clean sweep 4-0, with the result exemplifying the Yankees’ dominance that year.

In 2001, the Seattle Mariners made the same 31-9 start as the Yankees, but they could not sustain the same ebullient form and the regular season success faded away in the post-season as they crashed out 4-1 to the Yankees in the AL Championship series.

But the best start of all was made by the the Detroit Tigers, who went 35-5 in 1984. This stellar start to a season is by some distance the best start in 40-games and they went wire-to-wire in first place the whole season.

Willie Hernandez won the Cy Young and the MVP for the Tigers that year and they finished as strongly as they started, winning 35 of their last 40 games, including the playoffs, before taking the World Series.

The LA Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles are setting the pace at the moment through the 40 game barrier, but only time will tell where they will end up at the come the business end of the season.

Whatever happens, MLB betting tips will tell you that a good start is never a hindrance.

With the month of May coming to a close and the main part of the season yet to come, it’s still not too early to start looking at the race for the Cy Young contenders this year. Most of the big guns - or should that be arms? - are still in contention at the current time and the mix contains many former winners of the award.

Despite the fact that the usual suspects are in contention. there is always one wild card and that just happens to be Toronto Blue Jays’ Brandon Morrow. His hot hard or arm has seen him take his record to 5-2 and his ERA to below 3.0.

So who are the other contenders for the prestigious award?

Well, Jered Weaver is certainly another player who is very much in contention according to many MLB Betting Tips.

He endured a tough start to the season, especially against the Rangers, but since that baptism of fire he has improved, registering some very solid numbers and is no tied for first in the American League for the number of wins.

Consistency has been the key to Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox, who has had only really one bad start this season. but even that blip has done little to spoil his numbers. He has a 5-1 record and a 2.39 ERA.

Justin Verlander has carried on from where he left off last season. He is the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner and his current record sits at 5-1 with a 2.14 ERA. He did look rather lacklustre in the first few weeks of the season but has really caught fire now, leading the American League in several statistical categories.

It’s worth keeping a close eye on the MLB previews and all of the aforementioned players in the weeks and months ahead, as the race for the Cy Young award hots up in the American League.

But, although these guys hold the advantage for now, don’t rule out the prospect more contenders forcing their way into the picture.