The Week That Was: 8/11 - 8/15

As the stretch run begins in Major League Baseball, trading last week shifted from America's past-time to their present. The effect even pre-season NFL football can have was displayed as NFL volume outpaced MLB trading dramatically.

The New Orleans Saints led the charge with the buzz they've created amongst traders since the acquisition of Jeremy Shockey. Since the trade, investors are bullish on Sean Payton's team even before their first snap as their "Team Fantasy" seats increased nearly (+30.00%) along with substantial increases in "Fantasy Match-ups" against the Indianapolis Colts (+88.00%) and the New England Patriots (+22.00%).

The 2008 pre-season has made many investors, "early" investors, when on average they wait for the beginning of the season to sort out who belongs in their portfolio. Vince Young's Tennessee Titans increased by (+28.00%) after starting the exhibition season 2-0 and being labeled a "team to watch" by many NFL insiders. The Minnesota Vikings, who suffered a huge scare this past weekend with the injury of starting QB Tavaris Jackson, finished the week with huge increases in matchups against Denver (+151.00%) and Pittsburgh (+27.00%). In other NFL match-ups, the Jason Campbell led Washington Redskins are 3-0 this pre-season and investors saw great value ($12.50) on match-up seats against perennial AFC power Jacksonville to an increase of (+26.00%).

One of the premier franchises in football is now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and many investors are looking through the same lens. The Oakland Raiders, who's trading volume has been substantially high since the launch of the NFL market for a team whose last successful season was 5 years ago, opened the week up (+16.00%) and finished at closing with a minor (-5.00%) drop.

On the diamond, it was a week of decreases with the St. Louis Cardinals (-43.00%), Florida Marlins (-42.00%), and the New York Yankees continuing their steep decline at (-53.00%). All 3 teams are still in the playoff race, but took major steps backwards early last week in their quest for wild card and division title contention. With their steep drops, you can expect a lot of traders who haven't lost belief in these teams to pick them up and hope for a final run. And as time continues passing, the Tampa Bay Rays continue to make traders who invested in them early in the season proud. The Rays finished last week with an (+11.00) increase after widening their AL East lead to 4.5 games over the 2nd place Red Sox. AL match-up seats against the Chicago Cubs jumped an extra (+73.00) as both teams show no signs of slowing down. Other match-ups posting strong increases were the White Sox v. Diamondbacks at (+154.00%) and the Mets v. Twins at (+20.00%) which many investors viewed as "value buys."

The upcoming week brings the end of NFL pre-season and MLB match-ups that are expected to generate increased trading on the board with the Angels visiting the Rays for a series with huge playoff implications. The weekend brings match-ups between the Rays and the White Sox, Twins v. Angels, and Phillies v Dodgers in cross-divisional match-ups that will hold great importance as a tiebreaker in each league's respective Wild-Card race.