Home Sweet Home

Major League starting pitchers more than any other athlete in any other sport are creatures of habit. Most starters pitch every fifth day and have a regimented plan on what they need to do in the four days leading up to their next start. Most pitchers will soft toss one day and long toss the next day. Just about all pitchers will get their running in between starts as well. They all keep books on how they have gotten hitters out in the past. Some write it down while others keep it in their head. It is also real important that starting pitchers have a good relationship with their catchers. A good catcher can get a pitcher through a start even when he doesn't have his best stuff.

This week we are going to highlight the major league pitchers who had the best home records last year. All results are based on how the team did in the pitchers starts. To make this list their must have a better than 2-1 win ratio and their must be more than 10 results. Of course we are only reporting pitchers who are on the same team they were on last year. Like we said earlier pitchers are creatures of habit and familiarity with the mound in their home ballpark is a big deal as well as most pitchers will make half of their starts at home.

Here are the top home win/loss team starts records by pitchers in 2005. John Smoltz (ATL) 14-4. Chris Carpenter (STL) 13-5. Mark Mulder (STL) 13-5. Roy Oswalt (HOU) 15-4. Andy Pettitte (HOU) 14-4. Brandon Backe (HOU) 10-3. Oliver Perez (PIT) 8-3. Jason Schmidt (SF) 9-4. Jake Peavy (SD) 12-5. David Wells (BOS) 10-1. Matt Clement (BOS) 12-5. Randy Johnson (NYY) 15-4. Ted Lilly (TOR) 9-4. Mark Buehrle (CHW) 15-5. Johann Santana (MIN) 12-5. Jamie Moyer (SEA) 15-2.

The two most unlikely pitchers to hit this list are Oliver Perez who went 8-3 in his home team starts for a bad team in Pittsburgh and the ageless Jamie Moyer who went 15-2 in his home team starts for a poor Seattle team. My advise would be that you play on all pitchers on the list when they are favored by $150 or less.

Tom Freese has had winning seasons in MLB in four of the last five years. Tom cashed a combined 68% ATS with his College Basketball Conference Tournament and Big Dance releases last year. You can get all of Tom's plays here everyday. Join in and win big with Freese.