The San Francisco Giants are contending a year or two ahead of the schedule that the baseball prognosticators had written up for them. By 2023, or perhaps 2022, the veterans on the squad would have moved on at the end of their contracts and the terrific prospects on the farm would be ready for the big leagues. However, as of Saturday, the Giants had a record of 49-26, which was the best in all of Major League Baseball. They led both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, the two teams with the best sports betting odds of winning the World Series, by 4 ½ games in the National League West. Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations, has turned around a franchise in a rebuild in just three seasons, which is extremely fast in the world of baseball.
There are other teams that have also surprised observers this season, so let’s take a closer look and help you out the MLB odds.
MLB News: Surprise Teams that are Shaking up the World Series Odds
The Boston Red Sox looked good in some of the metrics-based projection systems coming into 2021, but human observers were less sanguine. In 2020, the Sox were dead last in the American League East, continuing a trend dating back to 2013 in which Boston either won the division and the World Series or was at the bottom of the standings. Most observers had the Sox in fourth place, behind Tampa Bay, Toronto and the Yankees. The key difference for Boston is that their best players (Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez) are playing like stars, and the pitching has been just good enough. Toronto and New York look to add pieces at the trade deadline, so Boston may need to line up as buyers as well to keep this contending thing going.
The Houston Astros had a weird 2020, finishing below .500 before almost rolling all the way to the World Series. Their offense is firing on all cylinders (which means it may be time to take a look at the noisemaking devices around their dugout again), and they are tied for the best slate in the American League right now. Luis Garcia has come on as a terrific surprise in the starting rotation, a group that has come on mightily since struggling in the early going.
The Milwaukee Brewers are starting to pull away from the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. They opened a three-game set with the Cubs on Monday and blew open a close game with a 10-run eighth inning, rolling to a 14-4 win. Christian Yelich’s bat is humming once again, and if the offense and pitching can keep going, they could run away with this by the end of July.
The Seattle Mariners have a -43 run differential on the season — and was three games over .500 as of Saturday. That’s a weird bit of baseball math, and another oddity from the Mariners’ season so far is that their two best players at the start of 2021, Jarred Kelenic and Kyle Lewis, aren’t even on the roster as of this writing. Can they keep scooting toward a wild card slot in the American League?
There are some unpleasant surprises as well, including the Atlanta Braves, who saw starting pitcher Michael Soroka go down with a torn Achilles tendon for the second time. The team was able to get by with their rotation last year, but this year things have not gone well. With the exception of Ronald Acuna Jr, the offense has not performed up to previous years’ levels, and now the Mets and the Phillies lead the Braves in the NL East.
The Los Angeles Angels might have the best hitter and the best pitcher in the American League — in one person, Shohei Ohtani. However, the rest of the starting rotation has been dreadful, and the bullpen has been a mess. Other than Jared Walsh, no one is hitting, not even Anthony Rendon, who is hitting .230 with that huge contract.
MLB Betting Odds
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