It’s that classic time of Fall.
The World Series begins Friday night, with the Dodgers set to take on the Blue Jays. L.A. will represent the National League, and despite an underwhelming regular season where it coasted to 90 wins, it is not a surprise to many.
The Blue Jays, however, are quite the opposite.
With 60-1 odds before the season, and 80-1 odds as late as June according to sportsoddshistory.com, the Blue Jays would be one of the most unlikely champions in baseball history. These teams did meet for one series in the regular season, with the Dodgers winning two out of the three games in Los Angeles.
Will Toronto continue its Cinderella run, or will the Dodgers be the first team since the 2000 Yankees (the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000) to become back-to-back champs?
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As great of a story as the Blue Jays winning it all would be, I can’t see past the power of the Dodgers. It’s not just the power of their bats, but their array of powerful arms in the rotation, that are all now healthy at the same time.
A possible concern for L.A. might be the week-long layoff, as it swept the Brewers in the NLCS, while the Blue Jays won the ALCS in seven games. However, that is not enough for me to go against what is clearly the more talented team here. The Dodgers winning in five games is the most likely outcome (+330 odds) according to the sportsbooks, which brings me to my best bet.
Blake Snell has been dominant this postseason, going 3-0 with a 0.86 era in three starts. If this does end with the Dodgers winning in five, that could line Snell up to pitch the clincher and give him a shot at two of the four series wins. It’s a formula that earned starting pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Cole Hamels World Series MVP honors in years past, and at 19-1 odds (a $10 bet win $190), it is worth a bet, considering Snell’s dominant form.
The last time we saw Snell in the World Series was as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020. In Game 6 of that series, against the Dodgers, he was controversially taken out of a game he was leading 1-0. After Snell’s exit, the Dodgers would rally and win the game to clinch the series.
Five years later, it would be fitting if Snell was on the winning side, this time with the Dodgers. And with how well he is pitching, and with the way the series lines up, I like him as a dark horse for MVP.
Will Hill, a contributor on the Bear Bets Podcast, has been betting on sports for over a decade. He is a betting analyst who has been a host on VSiN, as well as the Goldboys Network.
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