Just yesterday, Bovada, which is a popular online sports betting site, released their latest World Series Odds and it may come as a surprise to some as, to who the two favorites are to win the World Series are.
The Dodgers (+450) are now co-favorites with the Astros to win the World Series ?
(Odds via @BovadaOfficial) pic.twitter.com/adbcb5MLzH
— B/R Betting (@br_betting) July 30, 2018
It’s not the two teams with the best records in the MLB in the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, but the reigning pennant winners, which is some high praise. The Red Sox and Yankees are arguably the two best teams in the game, but these odds essentially say that the most likely World Series matchup this October would be a rematch of last year’s historically entertaining World Series.
Just a couple of days ago, the Astros were the sole favorites to win it all, and the Dodgers were fourth behind the Yankees and Red Sox while being the favorites to represent the National League. But Los Angeles has just joined the champs, leapfrogging them over teams like the two AL East teams.
Dodgers were favorites in the NL after acquiring Manny Machado, and I guess his acquisition, along with excellent play over the last two-and-a-half months have boosted their chances even more.
Dodgers fans would no doubt mind this as they would love to see their team get revenge on the Astros. Whereas Astros fans would like to see it because it would more like than not make for yet another entertaining series. Luckily, we will see them go head-to-head this weekend
But it is quite surprising that they are the two favorites to win-it-all. Again, the Yankees and Red Sox have been the two best teams, not only in the AL but all of baseball, at least record-wise. Houston is in a five-game slump (as of July 31st morning) but they are the defending champs with an elite record, so they should be given the benefit of the doubt.
They also got better in the offseason, and probably still have the better overall team than their AL counterparts because they have just as an explosive offense, shutdown bullpen, but hands-down the better rotation. And again, they are the champs.
The Red Sox check in as the third favorite after Houston and Los Angeles, with New York having the fourth best odds. After that, Bovada feels that the Chicago Cubs are the biggest threats to dethrone the Dodgers from their NL supremacy. After the Cubbies, there’s a relatively big gap between the Cubs and the sixth team.
According to FanGraphs, the Astros are the sole favorites, with a 22.9% chance to repeat. The Dodgers come in at second with a 14.4% chance to end their 30-year World Series drought. The Indians are surprisingly third, the Red Sox fourth, and Yankees are fifth. And every other team after them has a single-digit percentage chance of winning it all.
But it’s also easy to see why the Red Sox Yankees haven’t been given better odds. Those two teams, along with the Astros are absolute juggernauts and clearly the three best teams in baseball right now. And maybe that’s why the Dodgers’ odds are better than the two AL East ones.
Not only are they the reigning NL champs, and favorites to repeat that, with the acquisition of Manny Machado, but the path to the World Series isn’t going to be as hard as it would be for the Yankees or Red Sox.
One of those two will have to play the wild-card play in, and then face two of Cleveland, Houston, and the AL East champion just to get to the World Series. That’s a tough road for any team, so their odds are understandably lower.
However, with the trade deadline passed, there will no doubt be a change in the odds. The teams have made upgrades in the past few days, and it makes sense to have new odds right after teams finalize their trades. It’s always fun to see what Vegas thinks because they always know something the casual public does not.
