As the second half of the Major League Baseball season prepares to begin in earnest Friday, the five teams in the National League Central are separated by a total of 4.5 games.
That’s a tighter margin than what separates first and second in any of the other five divisions.
As play began Friday, the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros all enjoyed leads of at least 5.5 games in the A.L., the Atlanta Braves opened the second half of their slate with a 6.0-game lead and the Los Angeles Dodgers are running away with the N.L. West with a 13.5-game cushion.
The Dodgers have an MLB-best 60-32 record (.652), followed closely by the Yankees (57-31), Twins (56-33) and Astros (57-34) and Braves (54-37)
With a few weeks to go before the July 31 trade deadline, sportsbooks are bullish on the big-market teams.
PointsBet (+290) and FanDuel listed the Dodgers as current World Series favorites on Friday, with William Hill favoring the Yankees (+300) slightly above the Dodgers (+350).
The same three teams are among the top three at each of the three books: PointsBet: Dodgers (+290), Astros (+350), Yankees (+350) FanDuel: Dodgers (+280), Yankees (+350), Astros (+400) William Hill: Yankees (+300), Dodgers (+350), Astros (+450
PointsBets and FanDuel both have the Braves as the fourth betting favorite at +950 and +750, respectively, while William Hill has the Twins at +500 and the Braves at +1000.
Noticeably absent near the top are any of those teams from the dogfight in the N.L. Central.
FanDuel lists the divisional odds in the same order of the standings coming out of the break: Cubs (+140), Brewers (+160), Cardinals (+380), Pirates (+900) and Reds (+1300).
While the Dodgers are overwhelming favorites to emerge out of the NL come October (+121 by PointsBet with the Braves next closest at +300), the battle is expected to be much tighter in the loaded AL.
The Yankees lead the pack at +175 by PointsBet and FanDuel and +160 by William Hill, with the Astros close behind (+180, +200, +225). William Hill is more bullish on the Twins (+300) being a major factor down to the wire compared to PointsBet (+475) and FanDuel (+450).
Keeping a close eye on the July 31 trade deadline and marquee players on the market who could move the needle with one of the contenders may provide an opportunity to jump on current odds for a team ready to make a second-half charge.
Los Angeles Dodgers: +290 Houston Astros: +350 New York Yankees: +350 Atlanta Braves: +950 Minnesota Twins: +950 Chicago Cubs: +1600 Boston Red Sox: +2200 Washington Nationals: +2200 Tampa Bay Rays: +2200 Philadelphia Phillies: +2500 Milwaukee Brewers: +2800 Cleveland Indians: +3300 Texas Rangers: +5000 Oakland Athletics: +6000 St. Louis Cardinals: +6000 Colorado Rockies: +6600 Pittsburgh Pirates: +9000 San Diego Padres: +10000 Cincinnati Reds: +10000 Arizona Diamondbacks: +10000 Los Angeles Angels: +15000 New York Mets: +15000 Chicago White Sox: +40000 San Francisco Giants: +200000 Toronto Blue Jays: +250000 Detroit Tigers: +250000 Seattle Mariners: +400000 Miami Marlins: +500000 Kansas City Royals: +500000 Baltimore Orioles: +500000
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
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