In baseball the top dogs tend to stay the top dogs, and that’s as true in 2012 as it has been at any point in the last five years. The Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers are all considered preseason favorites to take home World Series honors, but each team’s respective claim to the throne is surprisingly different.
The Phillies are currently 11/2 (via Bovada’s 2012 World Series Odds) to win it all, but given the high hopes that everyone has for the Atlanta Braves and the general strength of the NL East, Philly’s path to a championship is mired with uncertainty. And that’s to say nothing of the questions surrounding the squad’s personnel, obviously. Will Ryan Howard persevere through injuries and eventually live up to his massive, ridiculous contract? Will left field be a point of strength or weakness? Will Jonathan Papelbon live up to the hype in his closer role? Can this squad get consistent offensive production? If the answer to those last four questions proves to be ‘yes,’ then the Phillies are more than deserving of the lofty expectations set out for them. If the answer to any of them is a ‘no,’ though – watch out.
The Angels and Yankees are viewed favorably by prognosticators heading into the coming year for obvious reasons, and that’s why both are currently listed at 13/2 to win the whole thing.
Although the Angels and Albert Pujols may have gotten off on the wrong foot with those ill-advised billboards currently sprinkled all over Southern California, you have to figure that arguably the most consistent bat in the sport will have something to prove this season. With 37 homers and some injury problems complicating a contract year in 2011, Pujols should aim to drown out all the noise and simply get back to handling business next year. If the Angels’ newest acquisition plays up to his talent level – they’re a mighty dangerous team.
Similarly, the Yankees have missed the postseason a grand total of once in the last 17 years. Between Mark Teixeira reportedly coming into camp in excellent shape and the general hungriness displayed by the squad’s stars in the early going, New York could be poised for a big year in 2012.
The Tigers, Red Sox and Rangers are also all threats, albeit there are a lot more variables that need to work out for those three than for the aforementioned teams with better odds to win it all. Detroit is listed at 8/1 to win it all, and Boston and Texas are 10/1. The Tigers are tough to gauge as a unit at this point, but given the weak division that they call home it’s hard to envision them stumbling at any point. And once you get to the postseason, of course, it goes without saying that anything could happen. The Red Sox are looking to rebound from an embarrassing, painful-to-watch year where they made more headlines for alcohol policies than actual results, so you have to figure that the team (and all its new faces) will be extra motivated to make a strong impression. And the Rangers – well, they’re the Rangers. They’re always threats to win it all, but a certain propensity for coming up short in the end makes Texas the LeBron James of Major League Baseball.
Any way you want to look at it, this should be an interesting year.
Odds To Win 2012 World Series – available for betting at Bovada
