Yahoo Sports The Daily Sweat: Baseball now takes center stage
The Colorado Avalanche secured the Stanley Cup on Sunday night, and then shortly thereafter, it hit. We have officially entered the slowest part of the year for sports fans and bettors. We now turn to baseball to carry us through the next few months and get us to the fall.
The bad news is that most sports are now in their offseason. NFL football is about a month away from training camps opening and about two and a half months from kicking off the regular season. College football will be back a few weeks before then. The NHL is out of the picture until mid-October and the NBA will be gone for a few weeks longer than that.
Baseball is without a doubt the sport that features the most game-to-game variance, which could make it an absolutely maddening sport to bet on a day-by-day basis. Blown saves, -300 favorites losing, and meaningless runs off mop-up-duty pitchers impacting the total and run lines — baseball has it all.
However, there are also many things to love about betting baseball. It's on literally almost every day throughout the summer. Outside of the All-Star break in mid-July, baseball is available every day. Not only is there at least one game to bet on, there's usually at least eight games a day with many nights featuring 13-15 games. There's also often afternoon action during the week to help spice up your work day. Personally, I love betting baseball.
Maybe you've taken the first few months of the season off, and now that the other sports are out of the picture, it's time for you to get into the swing of the MLB season. Here's what you've missed.
What you've missed so far
If you're late to the baseball season, that might be a good thing. All you've really missed so far is New Yorkers being obnoxious about their baseball teams. As a New Yorker, I'm allowed to say that.
The New York Yankees are the best team in baseball, and it's not even close. They've posted a 53-20 record, which is 6.5 games better than the second-best team. Aaron Judge walked off the Astros on Sunday after the Yankees were no-hit for 6.1 innings by Jose Urquidy. The Yankees are currently +450 co-favorites to win the World Series along with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers however are not currently the best team in the National League. They're in second place, half a game behind the somewhat surprising New York Mets. The Mets have the best record in the NL despite missing Jacob deGrom for the whole season and also being without Max Scherzer since mid-May. The Mets are +650 to win the World Series, which is tied with the Houston Astros for the third-best odds.
No other team has better than 10-to-1 odds. The Toronto Blue Jays have the fifth-best odds at 11-to-1, despite the fact that they're in fourth place in the AL East and 12.5 games behind the aforementioned Yankees. The Padres are 13-to-1 while last year's World Series champions, the Braves, are 14-to-1 to repeat.
From an awards perspective, the favorites are beginning to get some separation. Aaron Judge is now a -110 favorite to win the AL MVP. The Angels' duo of Shohei Ohtani (+350) and Mike Trout (+650) are behind him. In the NL, Paul Goldschmidt is now a +160 favorite to win MVP. Pete Alonso of the Mets is +500 while Manny Machado is +600.
Sandy Alcantara is the favorite to win the Cy Young in the NL at +250. Corbin Burnes and Joe Musgrove are both +500 and next in line. In the AL, Shane McClanahan is also +250 and the favorite. Justin Verlander is +400 and Alek Manoah is +550 to win the Cy Young.
In terms of rookies, Julio Rodriguez is an odds-on -135 favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year. After making his season debut just one week ago, Oneil Cruz is now the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year in the NL at +375.
What's on Monday's MLB schedule
Monday's MLB slate features a nine-game schedule. The biggest favorite of the day is the New York Yankees, who are -300 favorites at home over the lowly Oakland Athletics. The Yankees are 2.5-run favorites. Jordan Montgomery is on the bump for the Yankees, going against Paul Blackburn, who has arguably been Oakland's best pitcher.
Surely, a popular bet will be a parlay bet featuring the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are -190 favorites on the road against Colorado. The total for that game at Coors Field is set at 11.5 runs.
In terms of intriguing matchups, the best might be the Cleveland Guardians hosting the Minnesota Twins. The Twins lead the AL Central division with Cleveland just two games behind them. The Chicago White Sox were big favorites to win this division, but they currently find themselves 5.5 games back. On Monday, the Twins are -125 road favorites with Sonny Gray on the mound.
Wimbledon underway
If you're not interested in baseball, it might be a slow summer for you. However, there's some high quality tennis coming up for you in the coming weeks.
The first round of Wimbledon got underway on Monday morning. The tournament will continue over the next two weeks, with the women's final July 9 and the men's final the next day.
Iga Swiatek of Poland is a sizable favorite on the woman's side at +150. Ons Jabeur is +700. CoCo Gauff is 12-to-1. A lot of eyes will be on Serena Williams, who returns to the court and is 20-to-1 to win.
On the men's side, Novak Djokovic is -125 to win the tournament. Matteo Berrettini is +550. Other challengers include Rafael Nadal at +700 and Carlos Alcaraz at 12-to-1.
If you're not feeling baseball, you at least have something for the next two weeks, but it might be rough after that.
