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We still don’t yet know exactly if or when or how Major League Baseball might begin its 2020 season, if there is one at all. The owners and players are reportedly discussing conditions for such a thing this week, should it become safe to do so.
But we do have a rough idea of what MLB is at least considering, and that’s more than enough to gamble on at this point. Literally.
The folks at Sports Betting Dime released this week various odds for winning the World Series, winning divisions, and making the playoffs for every MLB team. Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers are expected to do quite well.
Per Sports Betting Dime, the Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series, at +575, meaning a $100 bet would win $575 should the Dodgers win their first Fall Classic in 32 years. The Yankees are next in line at +600, followed by the Astros (+900), Twins (+1500) and Braves (+1600). This is based on an 80-game season, though reports of the owners’ proposal to players ranged from between a 78- and 82-game schedule.
Betting that there will be no World Series in 2020 is a +150 proposition, meaning a $100 bet wins $150 if things break bad.
Expanding the playoffs from 10 to 14 teams also make it much more likely the Dodgers and Yankees will at the very least make the postseason. Sports Betting Dime set the odds on LA making the playoffs in an expanded field at -4000, meaning you’d need to bet $40 just to win a buck. Similarly, the Yankees are at -3500 to make the postseason.
The Dodgers’ over/under for an 80-game season is 50.5 wins, the highest total offered, just ahead of the Yankees (50 wins).
Links
- Alex Coffey at The Athletic wrote about how Sandy Koufax took a young Dave Stewart under his wing in 1976 at Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
- Ken Gurnick at MLB.com opines on the right field choices on the all-time Dodgers team, with the Dodgers choices Carl Furillo, Babe Herman, Reggie Smith, and Dixie Walker.
- A.J. Ellis was a guest on Andy McCullough and Pedro Moura’s “Scribes of Summer” podcast this week at The Athletic. The accompanying written story chronicles some Ellis memories of Clayton Kershaw.
- The second part of Jay Jaffe’s interview with old friend Josh Lindblom is up at FanGraphs.
- Alden Gonzalez at ESPN profiled Dan Kurtz, who runs the wonderful and informative myKBO.net.
- Craig Edwards at FanGraphs calls shortening the MLB Draft to five rounds a shortsighted move.
- Mookie Betts bought groceries for a bunch of grocery shoppers in Tennessee on Wednesday:
Cool! @mookiebetts surprised shoppers at the Kroger in Bordeaux, TN by buying their groceries. The former Overton Bobcat and current LA Dodgers OF also treated the staff at the store to pizza to thank them for all the hard work they have been doing as essential front-line workers pic.twitter.com/gGcXDkWSMV
— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisWSMV) May 13, 2020