The Toronto Blue Jays have advanced to the playoffs in each of the past two years, but the sportsbooks have them set as underdogs to return to the postseason in the 2017 campaign.
The Blue Jays have been listed at odds of +120 (wager $100 to win $120) to make the playoffs this year, and at favoured odds of -150 (wager $150 to win $100) to miss the playoffs on the props board for the 2017 MLB season at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Toronto returned to the post-season for the first time in two decades in 2015, winning their ALDS against the Texas Rangers and then falling in the ALCS to the Kansas City Royals. The Blue Jays then topped the Baltimore Orioles in last year’s AL Wild Card Game and swept the Rangers in the ALDS, before losing in five games to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.
But with Edwin Encarnacion signing with the Indians in the off-season and question marks at first base and in the outfield, the Blue Jays find themselves fourth at +1,000 on the odds to win the AL Pennant behind the Red Sox, Indians, and Astros, and in a logjam with the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, Royals, Mariners, and Orioles on those American League betting futures.
And the Blue Jays are also a distant second behind the Red Sox on the odds to win the AL East division title. Boston is the clear -175 favourite with newly-acquired Chris Sale now headlining the rotation. Toronto is at +425, ahead of New York (+550) and Baltimore (+750).
The Red Sox, meanwhile, have favoured odds of -350 to make the playoffs this season, while sitting at +260 to unexpectedly collapse and miss the postseason altogether. Boston won the AL East with a 93-69 record in 2016, after finishing last in the division in each of the previous two years. Boston, though, was swept by the Indians in three games in their ALDS matchup.
Boston enters the season tied with the Chicago Cubs at +450 on the odds to win the 2017 World Series, with the Cubs holding a massive chalk line of -1,200 to make the playoffs this season (and +650 odds to miss the playoffs). The Cubs, who topped the Indians in seven games to end their World Series drought last year, have most of their key players returning.
The Indians hold down -650 odds to make the playoffs this season, with the Rangers at +135, and the Orioles at +300. The Yankees are at +200, and the Astros are pegged at just -280.
[relatedlinks]
