2014 MLB World Series Betting Odds

The baseball postseason gets rolling tonight and tomorrow with the AL & NL wild-card games, and then it starts going full steam when Division Series play kicks in on Thursday. Let’s have a look at the 2014 MLB World Series betting odds, each team’s price to win it all.

THE THREE FAVORITES
Detroit Tigers: 9-2
Los Angeles Dodgers: 9-2
Washington Nationals: 9-2
You can tell how much bettors love the Tigers’ talent, as they have each of the past two postseasons. It’s not hard to see why. Even with Justin Verlander struggling, now David Price is added to the equation. And if Verlander can right himself in October? A trio of Price-Verlander-Scherzer is pretty well unstoppable.
But the Tigers have stopped themselves, notably in last year’s American League Championship Series, when bullpen failings and baserunning blunders opened the door for the Boston Red Sox. It’s not about whether Detroit can win the World Series—they certainly can. But have they demonstrated enough October moxie to justify being one of the three favorites?
You can ask the same question in lesser degrees of the Dodgers and Nationals. Both teams have been eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals each of the last two years. Which brings us to…
THE PRIME CHALLENGERS
Los Angeles Angels: 5-1
Baltimore Orioles: 7-1
St. Louis Cardinals: 8-1
Where’s the respect for the Cardinals? They came on strong down to the stretch to win the NL Central, and over the last three seasons they’ve reached the NLCS all three times, won the pennant twice and taken one World Series. And yet they’re the lowest price of the six division winners? Sign me up for a piece of that action.
THE WILD-CARDS
Oakland A’s: 12-1
Pittsburgh Pirates: 14-1
San Francisco Giants: 14-1
Kansas City Royals: 16-1
It will be interesting to see how much the price on the winners of the two wild-card games drops once they’re out of the one-game shootout. Particularly Pittsburgh, who closed the season playing as well as anyone in baseball. My thought is that if you like one of these teams, you’re probably better off just betting them now while the price is high. You can hedge by taking one or two of the teams in the “prime challengers” area and still have room to come out ahead as long as one of your teams wins it all.
If I were in Las Vegas, I’d grab a ticket on St. Louis at 8-1. I believe you have to hedge futures as much as possible, but there’s no one right now that I like enough to pair up the with Cards, at least at the current prices. My game plan would be to hedge later on by going against St. Louis in an individual series matchup, certainly if they reached the World Series. But for now, I’m all in on the Cards, both straight up and relative to their price.