Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
Four years ago, Zack Greinke finished second in voting for the National League Cy Young Award as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers after going 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA.
Greinke signed a monster contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks the following season before getting traded to the Houston Astros at this year’s MLB trade deadline, and he has helped them move to +230 favorites (bet $100 to win $230) to take home their second World Series in three seasons at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Of course, the Astros defeated the Dodgers in seven games of an epic 2017 World Series, and they have essentially swapped Greinke for former ace Dallas Keuchel, who won the AL Cy Young Award in 2015. Houston now has arguably the top three-man rotation in baseball with Greinke, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, to go along with an outstanding offense.
It would not be surprising at all to see a rematch in the World Series with a Los Angeles team that is currently the +285 second choice at sports betting sites despite continuing to have MLB’s best record and leading the NL West by an incredible 18 games.
The Dodgers still have to be confident that they can match up with the Astros because their rotation remains formidable with Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw as the top three starters and Cody Bellinger as a leading NL MVP candidate. The key for Los Angeles down the stretch will be avoiding injuries and maintaining a solid enough pace to earn the team home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Other solid contenders on the 2019 World Series odds include the New York Yankees (+450), Atlanta Braves (+850), Minnesota Twins (+1200), Chicago Cubs (+1600) and Cleveland Indians (+1600). New York is rightfully the third choice to win it all, riding a seven-game winning streak to stay a half-game ahead of Houston in the AL. Minnesota and Cleveland are also threats in the AL if they can get hot in the postseason.
In the NL, Atlanta has been a pleasant surprise in leading the NL East while Chicago is trying to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals (+1800) and Milwaukee Brewers (+3000) in the NL Central. But the Braves are definitely viewed as the top threat to the Dodgers in the NL even though they have a lot of work to do in order to steal home-field advantage.
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