Last year’s surprise World Series team should be back again to compete for another National League crown.
The New York Mets are second only to the Chicago Cubs in best odds to win their respective divisions. The Mets are at -110 to win the National League East, edging last year’s prohibitive favorite Washington Nationals at +110. Miami is supposed to compete at +600, while Atlanta and Philadelphia will likely be on the outside looking in at +2500 and +3300.
The Phillies offer an interesting case. There’s’ likely no way Philadelphia competes, but I’ve seen in recent years young teams be ahead of schedule. It’s not a horrible bet to take a flier on a team with that high of odds to win a division. Last year the Mets weren’t supposed to compete and got off to a hot start en route to a NL pennant.
It will be tough to compete against the Nationals and Mets, though. Both teams will showcase dynamic pitching staffs, with the Mets trotting out Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey, and the Nationals showcasing Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez.
Not sure either team gets an edge. To decide who I’m putting the best bet on in 2016, I’m going with offense. In that category, I’m siding with the Nationals.
Washington features one of the best players in MLB in Bryce Harper, and it can compliment him with Anthony Rendon, Ben Revere and Daniel Murphy. I like Yoenis Cespedes, but he’s not in the same category as Harper, and the other complimentary players don’t do enough for me to put enough value on the Mets to go with -110 on them.
The Nationals don’t own much value either, but I feel like nobody’s talking about them this year, giving them far more room to make a move this season. The Nationals were a disappointment last season. That won’t happen again this year.
