Bookmaker makes Blue Jays the World Series favorite

By C. Trent Rosecrans | Blogger

December 19, 2012 1:07 pm ET

Does R.A. Dickey make the Blue Jays the World Series favorites? (US Presswire)

Have the Blue Jays' moves, including adding reigning National League Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, help Toronto win the World Series? According to some folks in Las Vegas, Toronto is now the favorite to win the World Series. Bovada.lv has released its latest odds for 2013, with the Blue Jays leading the way with 15-2 odds. The Blue Jays were 12-1 at Bovada.lv before acquiring Dickey.

Now, let's remember, the goal of the oddsmakers isn't to get it right -- it's to get money on both sides. So the Blue Jays having the best odds isn't because the people in Las Vegas think the Blue Jays will win, they think enough people will think the Blue Jays will win and enough people will think they won't, to even out on both sides. But that doesn't mean these things aren't fun.

Here's the latest MLB odds from Bovada.lv:

Toronto Blue Jays 15-2
Los Angeles Angels 17-2
Los Angeles Dodgers 17-2
Washington Nationals 9-1
Detroit Tigers 10-1
Cincinnati Reds 12-1
Texas Rangers 12-1
New York Yankees 14-1
Atlanta Braves 16-1
Philadelphia Phillies 16-1
San Francisco Giants 16-1
Tampa Bay Rays 22-1
Boston Red Sox 25-1
St. Louis Cardinals 25-1
Oakland Athletics 30-1
Milwaukee Brewers 35-1
Baltimore Orioles 40-1
Chicago White Sox 40-1
Arizona Diamondbacks 45-1
Kansas City Royals 50-1
Pittsburgh Pirates 50-1
Cleveland Indians 75-1
Minnesota Twins 75-1
New York Mets 75-1
Seattle Mariners 75-1
Chicago Cubs 100-1
Colorado Rockies 100-1
Miami Marlins 100-1
San Diego Padres 100-1
Houston Astros 200-1

Okay, we're better than six. Things are looking up.

Now, let's remember, the goal of the oddsmakers isn't to get it right -- it's to get money on both sides. So the Blue Jays having the best odds isn't because the people in Las Vegas think the Blue Jays will win, they think enough people will think the Blue Jays will win and enough people will think they won't, to even out on both sides. But that doesn't mean these things aren't fun.

--> That description is more accurate for 'side' bets where there are two choices. Not so much for future bets. With futures the majority of action is going to come on people betting their 'favorite' team so the more popular teams are going to have a lower payoff because they naturally will get bet up. While teams like the Jays will have have a 'higher' payoff to draw action from the actual handicappers.

Of course these are Vegas odds intended to sort of even out the amounts bet on each team. Since there's a lot more NY money floating around than Rockies money, the odds on teams like them must be higher. It has less to do with how good the teams actually are, than how much money their fans have, and are willing to bet.

How sad is it that the pathetic Pirates are 50-1 while we're 75-1? Not much Pirate money either, I'd think.

the Cardinals would be a good $100 bet...heck I'll throw $100 on the Mets too :)

Sad thing is that we should be going off at worse than 75-1. Vegas creates these lines with the intention of creating as much action as possible. The Mets are considered to be a public team based on the market they play in; which artificially lowers our price tag, since the same amount of people will throw down on the Mets to win it all if they are 75-1 or 200-1...