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10/22/2005 Saturday MLB Pick
Chicago White Sox -132 over Houston Astros (1.5 Units)
When they said that the winner of the All Star game would determine the league with home field advantage in the World Series, most of us said "who cares". It matters. Interleague home teams have a 5% better home field advantage than normal. Several articles can be read about this fact. There is a familiarity factor, a factor of having to play with/without a DH, etc. This season was a season where we saw home field advantage at its strongest. In fact, interleague home favorites were lethal this season. Running the numbers over the past 7 seasons, we see home teams in the World Series win 66% of the time. The White Sox are a team that plays equally well at home and on the road. Their pitching is the key to this fact. The Astros, on the other hand, we cannot say the same as they are 36-45 on the road. Even if you forget their horrible start to the season, they are barely over 500 on the road. This will not get it done against a White Sox team that finished off the up-and-coming desperate Indians with a sweep on the road, then wiped out the defending champs in a sweep and then pretty much swept the Angels except for a game 1 lapse in which they just had too much rest and were rusty. Their experience with the Angels in Game 1 will help them get over any rustiness they may have for this game. In fact, it should not matter because Contreras is pitching at about the right amount of rest.