In a 162 game seven and a half month long season, it is impossible for sports betting fans to believe that MLB stars will be up for every game. However, as Los Angeles Dodgers great Tommy Lasorda once said, teams will win 50 games, lose 50 games and it's the other 50 games that you have to worry about. Meaning to say, what separates the great baseball betting teams from the poor ones is how many times they are beaten as a favorite.

When it comes to betting on baseball's beaten favorites, one of the many scenarios that has made us a winner in the past, is when we took team's as a - 200 favorite after a loss to open a series against a non divisional opponent. In this scenario spread out over a six year study, the number of favorites that have bounced back in the second game of the series is astounding. Through that six year study, teams in this scenario have come back to form a record of 514 - 295 for a gain of 94 units.

For new sports bettors reading this article, units are a better indicator of a team's success than the win loss record. Although you would be laying more money to get back less because you are once again betting on a favorite, the 94 unit increase is good enough for a 64 percent winning percentage.

As we noted above, it is impossible to believe that a team will be up for every game. In saying that, another scenario where new bettors can make money is by taking favorites when they play inter divisional opponents. When dropping the first game in a series to a divisional underdog, the favorite almost always rebounds in the next game or wins the series outright.

At the start of the MLB betting season, nobody would have believed that the Texas Rangers a team who hadn't made the playoffs in over a decade, would be in the finals vying for the franchise's first World Series ring. Baseball betting fans are watching the little engine that could franchise fight for their playoff lives as they are down one game to nothing against the San Francisco Giants. Who would have thought after the type of playoff Ranger ace Cliff Lee was having, that the Giants would be his kryptonite?

Going into the 2010 edition of the Fall Classic, nobody gave the Texas Rangers a chance to come out of the AL as league champions. Heck going into the season, we had the Rangers pegged as third in their own division, the American League West. As most of you may already know, the West is one of those divisions where you could jump out to an eight game lead by May and basically call yourself division champion.

After the LA Angels lost a few key players to season ending injury and the Mariners dropped off, the flood gates were open for the Rangers to swipe in and take charge of the division. As it turns out, the aggressive style that manager Ron Washington has allowed the team to use has been their saving grace.

In the League playoffs, the Texas Rangers were considered the longest shot of the four teams to go through. Who could blame the critics? The Rangers had to go through Tampa Bay in the first round and either New York or Minnesota in the second round. As it turned out the Rangers could play with all of these teams and are now in the World Series final.

Now after dropping game one in a high scoring affair, do the underdog Texas Rangers still have fight left in them? Or are they drained from the American League playoffs?

2010 MLB betting has been defined as the year of the pitcher. Not since the end of the 1980s, have so many games gone under the totals, and so few home runs been recorded. While a lot of the playoff games have been high scoring affairs, the pitching affect on baseball betting lines has still been apparent. With Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee all setting the foundation for their team's success, we decided to look at some of the other most historical outings by a pitcher in the playoffs. Here are two that come to mind.

• Mariano Rivera - The Sandman of New York has had quite the success when it comes to the playoffs. Over his 37 appearances in post season action, Rivera has recorded and astounding record of eight wins one loss, a point 72 earned run average, 42 saves 43 strikeouts and five World Series rings. What's more incredible, Rivera has only been with one team through all of those appearances. Even if he wasn't the greatest closer of all time during the regular season but still had those playoff numbers, he would be all but guaranteed a spot at Cooperstown.

• Bob Gibson - This 1960s St. Louis Cardinals ace was easily one of the most dominating pitchers ever to live. Throughout his playoff career, Gibson started nine games had a win loss record of seven and two with eight of those games being complete games. He had an earned run average just under two, while collecting 92 strikeouts and two World Series titles.

What's more, in 1967 alone, Gibson essentially defeated the Detroit Tigers by himself. He won all three games he started, allowing just three runs while pitching all of those games in its entirety. Moreover, Gibson, also hit a home run in game seven of the World Series.