The Daily Sweat: Don't forget about the Blue Jays in the post-deadline shuffle

The San Diego Padres had the biggest change in World Series odds this week as the winners of the trade deadline. The New York Yankees did well too, and took over as the favorites to win it all. They had been tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A little further down the list, the Toronto Blue Jays took a bit of a step forward too.

There are just seven teams that have better than 25-to-1 odds to win the World Series. Six of them are the obvious candidates. Toronto is comfortably in the club, too.

The Blue Jays are +1200 to win the World Series at BetMGM, a bit better than the +1400 they were before the deadline. The Jays start the post-deadline season on Wednesday as -115 favorites at the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Blue Jays have a longer road than many of the teams ahead of them in the odds because they're not winning their division. The Yankees have that all but wrapped up with their 11-game lead. But the Blue Jays have quietly gotten over their early-season malaise and are 58-45. They had a foundation that made them exciting coming into the season, and those players are coming alive in recent weeks. Then the Jays added a trio of pitchers, most importantly reliever Anthony Bass and his 1.41 ERA from the Miami Marlins. They also got second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield from the Kansas City Royals. Merrifield isn't having his best season but he'll fit well in a much better lineup.

Other teams made bigger moves at the deadline and some are in better positions in their division. But the Blue Jays are a bit further under the radar, and that could be a good thing for baseball bettors the rest of the season.

Here's a first look at the sports betting slate for Wednesday:

A full MLB slate

There will be a lot of excitement among the contenders this week as they add new faces that were added at the trade deadline. We'll see plenty of them in action on Thursday.

The problem for bettors in a post-deadline baseball world is the teams that traded away all their key players. You'll find some massive betting lines the rest of the way as the best teams in baseball take on the bottom feeders who gave up on their season. At least we have some competitive games on Wednesday.

One of the more interesting games happens early, as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are a -135 favorite. The Phillies have been pretty good lately, added pieces at the deadline and have Zack Wheeler on the mound. Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball and is generally worth a look whenever he is an underdog.

What's the best bet?

I'll go with the Oakland A's as a big underdog against the Los Angeles Angels. The A's, who have been playing some good ball lately, are a big underdog because Shohei Ohtani is on the mound. But the Angels are just 9-8 in Ohtani's starts this season. He doesn't have a lot of help. Los Angeles trading closer Raisel Iglesias to the Atlanta Braves doesn't help much either. Oakland is in a decent spot as a +195 underdog.