Possible World Series Odds
At the time of this article, the Texas Rangers currently have a 3-2 series lead over the New York Yankees in the ALCS, while the San Francisco Giants currently have a 3-1 series lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.
Assuming the leaders finish out on top and that the World Series started today, which of these two teams has the better chance in the Series and why? What exactly are handicappers looking at when measuring these two teams?
First up, you have to talk about the hottest team right now, and that would be the San Francisco Giants. Odds here are much harder to call than in online casinos for USA players, where everything’s basically a fixed number game, but deference is shown to a hot team able to completely dominate another fantastic team.
The Phillies are back-to-back NL Pennant winners, with the 2008 World Series to their credit. With a brutal lineup and Halladay essentially locking down the ace spot in the starting rotation, plus a wide range of big bats at the plate like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, the Phillies were early favorites to win the NLCS.
Now that the Giants have a 3-1 series lead, with Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum pitching in a potential clincher, the odds of San Fran winning out and going to the World Series are about as good as not hitting the double zero playing online roulette game.
So, for the NL, it looks like the Giants are favored to win. In the AL, however, things are a little tighter as the Yankees have closed the gap with Texas, heading back to Arlington for games 6 and possibly 7.
The New York Yankees, defending world champions, have a dream-team of a roster and make no apologies about stealing the likes of A-Rod and Mark Teixeira from teams like the Rangers. Their starting rotation, consisting of legends like Pettitte and CC, and their bullpen holding Chamberlain and Rivera, the Yankees are usually favorites if only for their pitching. Then you get into the bats with a 1 through 9 as productive as any Yankee team in history, and you have a major contender on your hands.
However, for the first 4 games of the ALCS, the Texas Rangers absolutely dominated New York in every inning but 1. For all intents and purposes, it should have been a clean sweep of the Yankees, with Hamilton sending a few over the fence, solid defense and lights-out pitching by Lee, Lewis and Hunter.
Although the gap is now closed, with the Yankees touching Wilson up in his second outing, the Rangers are still favored in the series. Not only do they have two more games at home, but they also have Cliff Lee for game 7 if it makes it there.
Currently, most are deadlocked on who will win between these two clubs in a hypothetical matchup. Both are pulling 3:2 odds on average, and the two teams are eerily similar.
However, the Giants, with their Cy Young winner and home-field advantage, will most likely pull sight favorites over the Rangers, especially if Lee has to pitch in a game 7 which will force him back in the rotation.
It won’t be by a large margin, but the Giants should be favored by most.
