2007 MLB Baseball Spring Training games are now underway!  Bettors are now looking for some futures and solid MLB baseball predictions. Baseball’s regular season is just less than 1 month away, but in this article we’re going to attempt to look into late October.  Let’s take a look at some pre-season odds to win the World Series (as listed on Bodog Sportsbook):

The baseball teams that have no chance to win it all:

Some teams just don’t have much of a prayer to win the world series.  A few of these teams will give you great value throughout the regular season however, so don’t be quick to discard these teams day in and day out:

• Kansas City 350-1

• Pittsburgh 300-1

• Tampa Bay 350-1

• Washington 500-1

 The long shots (30-1 or higher):

The teams that are on the cusp, or maybe 1 season away:

• Arizona 60-1

• Atlanta 30-1

• Baltimore 100-1

• Cincinnati 50-1

• Colorado 150-1

• Florida 50-1

• Houston 40-1

• Milwaukee 50-1

• Minnesota 30-1

• San Diego 30-1

• Seattle 100-1

• Texas 40-1

A few teams to watch out for:

• Arizona is a better team than their 60-1 odds would indicate.  Although I don’t think they will win their division, that line seems off to me.  The same goes for Atlanta at 30-1.

• Florida is an improving young team, but will the bullpen hold them in enough games?  50-1 is steep, but the bullpen is a major question mark.

• My favorite on this list has to be Milwaukee at 50-1.  This team reminds me a lot of the Detroit Tigers of last season, a team that isn’t very flashy at any one position, solid starting pitching, and adequate relief pitching (although the Tigers were much better than expected in the pen last year).  If this isn’t the year for the Brewers, then next year surely is.

The middle of the pack (10-1 to 20-1):

• Chicago White Sox 10-1

• Cleveland 20-1

• LA Angels 10-1

• LA Dodgers 13-1

• NY Mets 11-1

• Oakland 20-1

• Philadelphia 13-1

• San Francisco 20-1

• St. Louis 12-1

• Toronto 20-1

Teams that stand out:

• Chicago and Cleveland out the AL Central look good for the price.  I look for Chicago to have a great season now that they might be able to fly under the radar after watching Minnesota and Detroit lead the Central from start to finish.  The big question mark with Cleveland is, will the bullpen be able to hold a lead?  24 saves last season to 23 blown saves isn’t going to get it done, they have the offense and starting pitching to pull it off though.

• Philadelphia is intriguing pick at 13-1, they have been close to making the playoffs the last 2 seasons, will the addition of Freddy Garcia be enough to put them over the top?

• One look at this section and the next and you will see that only one team in the national league has better than 10-1 odds, the Mets are at 11-1, the Cards are 12-1.  Both of these teams played in the NLCS last year, the Mets have had too much turnover in their lineup for my liking, but St. Louis is a nice play at 12-1.

• My favorite on this list is the LA Angels at 10-1, and if they are going to win it all, they have to get more production out of Garrett Anderson and Vlad Guerrero.  A slow start last year cost them the division to Oakland, and with so many strong teams in the AL, the wildcard is most likely coming out of the East or Central.  This is a solid play at 10-1.

The cream of the crop:

• Boston 9-1

• Chicago Cubs 9-1

• Detroit 5-1

• New York Yankees 7-2

Surprise, surprise, the Yankees are the favorites to win the 2007 world series again.  But then again, they are the favorites every year and they haven’t done anything in the last few postseasons.  There are better options than the Yankees, especially considering how strong the American League is this year.

The same goes for Detroit.  Detroit’s problem isn’t that they don’t the talent, but the Tigers aren’t sneaking up on anyone this baseball season.  Last year not many people outside of Detroit took this team seriously.  Sure, it was a nice little story for a city that has fallen on tough times as of late, but now they will get everyone’s best shot night in and night out.  This makes 5-1 look tempting, but it will be tough.

Boston needs to beat the Yankees more than once every 20 years for me to take them at that price, I love this team but I’m sorry there are better options out there.  No bullpen, and inconsistent starting pitching will not get you to the World Series.

The Cubs, well what can you say?  9-1 is tempting, but I think they have too many question marks going into this season.  Most of questions revolve the health of some of their key players, Prior, Wood, Lee are all coming off of injury plagued seasons last year and the team as a whole didn’t do much right anyways.  If you had to play one of these 4 teams, take a flyer on the Cubs, although I don’t recommend it.

So let’s recap:

These are the teams that I feel provide just enough value, if you’re not feeling gutsy enough to make a World Series play, play the league or division.  These are the teams that could come out of nowhere like Detroit did last year:

• Arizona 60-1

• Florida 50-1

• Milwaukee 50-1

Teams that we’ve heard from before, and won’t sneak up on anyone.  But they provide us good enough value for a nice hit if they win:

• Philadelphia 13-1

• Chicago White Sox 10-1

• LA Angels 10-1

I don’t recommend playing any of the big 4, the risk/reward doesn’t seem to be there.

So with all of that being said, the winner is………..

The Los Angeles Angles @ 10-1 (2007 MLB Baseball World Series Prediction)

Part of the beauty in futures betting is that optimism reigns supreme, but this isn’t necessarily a money making venture.  Remember that a futures bet should be a small percentage of your bankroll.  Play smart, but have a little fun with it too because if you’re right, you’ll have bragging rights until next season!  Best of luck throughout the 2007 Major League Baseball season and with your predictions.

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