And to think that Don Mattingly was nearly fired in May because the underachieving Dodgers couldn’t win any games.
“You could have bet the Dodgers to win the World Series at about 40/1 odds back then and there were also odds on Mattingly being the first baseball manager to get fired,” said Jack Randall, from OddsShark.com.
Not anymore. After a torrid spring and summer, the Dodgers are the World Series odds favourite with a week left in the regular season and paying just +350 to win, according to another online betting news site.
The have been a great friend to baseball bettors over the second half of the regular season as they surged to the NL West division title, and now they’re poised to enter the post-season as the favorites on the odds to win the World Series.
Yasiel Puig and company are the top choice at +350 on the odds to win the World Series with just one week left in MLB’s regular-season schedule. If you had picked up the Dodgers on those MLB futures in the spring you’d be looking at a much more lucrative payday, as they were sitting as far back as 40/1 odds at one point.
The Detroit Tigers have been a World Series odds favorite all season long, and they’re at +465 on those updated MLB lines, putting them just ahead of the +475 Boston Red Sox. After slumping last season the BoSox had a longer line to start the 2013 campaign, but that then shrunk as they took control of the AL East division standings.
The Atlanta Braves (+775), who have won the NL East title, and the St. Louis Cardinals (+900), who are trying to wrap up the NL Central title, are next on the list, with the Oakland A’s at +935, the Cincinnati Reds at +1300, and the Pittsburgh Pirates at +1400.
The A’s have won the AL West title, while the Reds and Pirates might have to settle for a wild-card showdown if they can’t overtake the Cardinals in the NL Central.
The Tampa Bay Rays (+2200), Texas Rangers (+2500), and Cleveland Indians (+2500) are the next tier of World Series contenders as they jostle for position in the AL wild-card hunt. The New York Yankees (+4500) are close to being eliminated from the race.
As for the pennant futures at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, the Red Sox lead the way in the AL at +185, followed by the Tigers at +235, and the Athletics at +425. The Rays (+1100), Rangers (+1150), and Indians (+1200) trail the three division leaders on those odds.
The Dodgers then sit as the +140 favorites on the odds to win the NL pennant, with the Braves at +330 and the Cardinals at +370. The Reds are pegged at +600 on the odds to win the NL Pennant at the sportsbooks, with the Pirates behind them at +700 odds.
