MLB Odds: World Series Contenders
Writing by admin on Friday, 30 of March , 2007 at 1:47 pm
Yankees, Red Sox. Red Sox, Yankees. Ho-hum.
Check out the 2007 World Series futures market. It’s the same old song and dance – New York and Boston are the co-favorites at 7-2. For a couple of teams with serious questions in their pitching rotations, those are lousy odds.
The Yankees, of course, have the biggest payroll in the majors and a batting order that rivals anything ever assembled. But after Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, where is the pitching going to come from? It might have to be later in the season, in the form of ageless free agent Roger Clemens and minor-league prospect Philip Hughes. The margin of error there is too big to generate confidence in handicappers.
As for the Red Sox, they appear to have a winner in Daisuke Matsuzaka. But their quest for a closer was so futile, they decided to put Jonathan Papelbon back in that role, weakening their rotation in the process. Health issues will always be a concern with the likes of Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett; for that matter, you could say the same for half the team.
There are plenty of familiar teams getting short odds for the championship – possibly none less deserving than the Chicago White Sox at 9-1. The Pale Hose are my favorite candidate for Meltdown of the Year. Their pitching is nowhere near as good as their 2005 World Series team, and it should be just a matter of time before the futility of manager Ozzie Guillen’s “small ball” tactics are finally realized on a larger scale.
If these teams aren’t going to the Fall Classic, who is? The value is in the dark horses, and I’m looking at the Arizona Diamondbacks (30-1) to face the Cleveland Indians (13-1). Cleveland doesn’t have as much value as I would have hoped after last year’s 78-84 finish, but Arizona looks quite tasty with plenty of upside and a relatively easy NL West to conquer. Plus, Randy Johnson is back where he belongs – well, that would be Seattle, but you get the idea.
Category: Online MLB Baseball Betting
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