The trade deadline is over and oddsmakers are still expecting the postseason to be the end of Major League Baseball’s longest curse.
In the first odds released after the deadline, the Chicago Cubs still lead the way with the best odds to win the World Series at +350. Thanks to adding relief pitching, like Aroldis Chapman, the Cubs are still head and shoulders above the San Francisco Giants, which own the second-best odds at +650.
After slumping for a bit after the All-Star break, the Cubs are back to their winning ways, going 5-1 in the last six games. It’s tough to say a team is pretty much guaranteed to make the playoffs at the beginning of August, but the Cubs are pretty close to that confidence.
They own an eight-game lead over second-place St. Louis, and with the pitching staff currently employed in Chicago, it would either take a mountain of injuries or a historic meltdown to not make the playoffs. It’s the Cubs, so the latter is still possible.
Oddsmakers are putting plenty of trust into the Cubs. They’re making the playoffs and will likely enter with a top seed. Other National League divisions will take a bit more work to win, so we can’t be completely sure the Giants or Washington Nationals will make the playoffs, even though it’s likely.
In the American League, the races are a bit closer, and the Texas Rangers own the best odds to win the World Series at +650. Texas went all-in after the trade deadline, and oddsmakers bumped them up a bit from the +700 they had entering the deadline.
The Rangers still have to get by Houston to win the division, which has surged since a slow start. The Rangers should make the playoffs and will square off against a more balanced set of teams, like Toronto, Cleveland, Boston and Baltimore, which all are top-eight options to win the World Series.
Two teams to keep an eye on would be the Astros and Dodgers. Los Angeles is going off at +1600, the ninth-best odds. The Dodgers have enough talent and should welcome back most of their injury-riddled starters by the playoffs to make some noise.
The Astros are +1800 and may not have the best pitching, but they have enough young talent to make a run in the playoffs. If Houston can get into the playoffs, the experience last year should help them navigate its way through the playoffs.
