MLB World Series odds

[The Man in Blak]

Chicago Cubs

10/1

 

St Louis Cardinals

11/1

 

Say what?

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

you know how odds work right?

[The Man in Blak]

I just don't get the logic.

 

The Cubs' problems last year were:

1) No OBP

2) No Bullpen

 

The Cubs' problems this year are:

1) No OBP

2) No Bullpen

 

Sure, having Walker and Nomar in there every day is going to help a little bit, but Nomar isn't going to hit .350 again and any positive gains that Walker brings to the table over Grudzielanek is going to be negated by the constant air conditioning that Burnitz will bring to the ballpark every day.

 

The pitching staff's almost exactly in the same shape that it was last year, except that you sub out Matt Clement for Ryan Dempster (1.10 K/BB ratio over the last two years), and tack off 50-60 decent innings of relief from Kent Mercker. Sure, Prior will be back and healthy, but Wood's feeling a twinge again and Zambrano - who was one of the leaders in BPro's Pitcher Abuse Points stat, IIRC - is primed for regression to the mean or, worse, an arm-related implosion.

 

Replace Alou and Sosa with Hollandsworth and Burnitz and this team is worse than the team that finished 16 games behind the Cardinals last year, and I'm not even considering the Dusty Factor yet.

[CanadianChris]

They don't post odds based on who will actually win; they post odds based on who the public wants to throw money behind. For some unknown reason, John Q. Idiot likes the Cubs more than the Cards, and the books are posting odds that reflect this.

[The Man in Blak]

Yeah, I realize that. I just can't believe that the anti-Sosa hysteria was huge enough to make people bet on the Cubs.

 

Then again, there's probably people who do recreational betting on the Cubs, just to say that they bet on them.

[Mik]

Well, they still have the best staff in the NL and it's always seems to happen when you don't expect it. Who is to say they don't add a huge bat midseason and make the playoffs? Once they are in, their staff is good enough.

 

I'm not saying that's what is going to happen, but you could easily justify a bet on the Cubs.

[Dobbs 3K]

"Brewers 150-1"

 

"Hope springs attorney." (in reference to the Brewers' new owner)

[The Czech Republic]

Prior will be back and healthy

Wrong