Understanding MLB Injuries
One of the most significant things that can derail an MLB team’s season is when star players suffer injuries. Before making your MLB picks, it is important to understand how injuries can affect MLB odds, whether betting individual games or futures.
Given the nature of the sport, which requires a significant amount of stress on the arm, legs, and core, a player can encounter lots of different injuries.
Baseball Common Injuries
Forearm Tightness
One of the biggest concerns for pitchers is when dealing with forearm tightness. There can be other causes for this symptom, but it can also be a precursor to the dreaded Tommy John surgery.
Tommy John surgery, also known as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, repairs a torn UCL in the elbow. Often, a tendon from somewhere else in the body is used to make the repair. It was first performed on pitcher Tommy John in 1974.
This is a concerning injury because the recovery time usually takes anywhere from a year to 18 months. Thus, if a team has their ace get sidelined due to Tommy John surgery, he likely won’t be able to help the team again until the following season at the earliest.
Strains
A lot of players deal with strains throughout a season. Whether straining a hamstring, quad, oblique, or other body part, these can be tricky as the recovery time can range from a couple of days to a couple of months.
Injuries in MLB Season
While baseball may not be a high-impact sport like football, the grind of a 162-game season lends itself to suffering a ton of nicks and bruises. Other injuries can range from dislocated shoulders to knee injuries to many other injuries.
Sometimes, injuries even come off the field. For instance, in 2008, Hunter Pence of the Houston Astros had to miss a week after suffering several cuts from accidentally falling through a sliding glass door at his home.
Regardless of the injury, it is important to keep an eye on who is playing and who isn’t, as a player’s availability can directly correlate with what MLB picks you should make.