Believe it or not, but Interleague betting concludes for the 2009 MLB season on

Sunday. For all 30 MLB teams that means a return to “normal” league play and
familiar opponents. After enduring over two weeks of interleague play, we thought
it might be a good idea to remind you how some teams were faring against the
opposition they’ll be facing for the duration of the year.

Minnesota Twins: The Twins perennially clean up during IL play (24-9 L33 entering
their three-game weekend series with St. Louis on Friday), but let’s remember that
Minnesota is six games under .500 vs. AL foes this season. No matter who they are
playing, this is a very poor road team sporting a 13-22 mark outside the Metrodome
with just 4.2 runs scored per game. They do play in a very weak division, but
also note a very poor 9-17 record in day games.

Interesting to note that the three teams that still play on turf (Twins, Toronto,
Tampa Bay) all are at least eight games over .500 on their home field this year.
Consequently, all three have losing records on the road.

San Diego Padres: One of the most interesting baseball betting trends has to be
San Diego’s atrocious 6-24 mark vs. the American League over the last two seasons.
They scored more than five runs just twice in IL play this season. Their run
differential of -78 is topped only by Washington in terms of futility. A 10-25
road record is also only “topped” by the Nats. In other words, they’ll be happy to
return to the Senior Circuit, against whom they are a respectable 28-31 this
season.

Obviously, you play the most games against your division. Four teams in
particular were dominating division foes prior to the interleague break. One is
MLB’s best team, the LA Dodgers, who are 26-10 vs. the NL West already. After IL
Play concludes, the Dodgers next six games are all vs. division foes. Two is the
Boston Red Sox, the AL’s best team, who are 20-8 vs. AL East foes. They will play
just two division series in July, both on the road. Third is Texas, another
division leader. The Rangers have gone 13-3 vs. the AL West and take note 10 of
their first 13 games once regular league play commences are against division foes.
A surprise on this list is the Milwaukee Brewers, who are 21-10 vs. fellow NL
Central teams, but just 17-24 against everyone else.

What teams do not perform well against frequent (ie division) opponents?
Washingtonis not a surprise, but a 6-27 record vs. the NL East is just plain
pathetic. Pittsburgh is in last place in the NL Central thanks in large part to a
10-21 division record.