The Big Lurvacious, otherwise known as Lurvey, is a friend and stat guy at ESPN, most commonly on Baseball Tonight. He’s only 26 but is on the fast track big wig over there, mostly because he brings the heat day in, day out. He wrote up a little futures preview of what he likes for betting next year’s world series. If Lurvey speaks, take note.
Bodog apparently released their odds to win the 2012 World Series today. There are a few odds on here that really jump out to me as good or bad bets. Getting in on these prior to free agent signings — if we think we have a beat on something — could be huge.
Odds I like:
- Seattle Mariners, 60-to-1: They have been linked to big bats, primarily Prince Fielder, this offseason. If they don’t get one, then this is not one I’m interested in. But if they do land a big bat, all of sudden they have a passable offense, some strong defense, some sick pitching and a winnable division. They need to land that big bat — though 60-to-1 might make it worthwhile before we know.
- Cleveland Indians, 50-to-1: Not trying to be a homer here, but the AL Central fucking sucks and the Indians offense could actually be quite strong in 2012. Couple that with an already-solid bullpen and a rotation that is filled with a lot of guys who are strong bets to at least MAKE a lot of decent starts (Jimenez, Masterson, Carmona, Lowe, TBD). I could be convinced on the odds of a lot of these AL Central teams, though Detroit at 14-to-1 is not that appealing.
- Toronto Blue Jays, 35-to-1: One of the up-and-coming teams in baseball and I expect them to be very active this offseason in landing an impact player. Excessively difficult division, but there’s very real reasons to believe that the Red Sox could be down in 2012.
- Los Angeles Angels, 25-to-1: This might be the best bet of them all. Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana already slotted into the rotation, a new GM who is not a complete moron like the last one and Arte Moreno’s money to go out and improve a club that was already pretty good in 2012.
- Others to consider: Reds (25-to-1), Rockies (25-to-1), Marlins (30-to-1), White Sox (30-to-1) and Royals (75-to-1).
Odds for all teams after the jump…
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