As Felix Hernandez has already shown, pitchers start the regular season ahead of hitters. This is the time as a pitcher to grab a few fairly easy wins before the hitters get caught up to snackin on fastballs. Still, King Felix plays on a team that doesn’t really feel like scoring many runs. That’s been okay for him in the past, but will be a big disadvantage with top pitchers rolling for some of the most explosive AL lineups in years.
Say, like a Justin Verlander, the defending Cy Young award winner that has gained a Prince Fielder in the off-season. In fact, it’s a trend for the most likely candidates to have tons of offensive help that allows them to win a game even when if they give up four runs. The AL favorites are clustered on just a few teams including the Angels, Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Rays. All are heavy favorites to push for the playoffs
and the odds of a player from these teams winning the Cy Young are tremendous considering 16 of the 21 players that Bovada lists on their 2012 Cy Young odds are from them. Felix Hernandez is still getting encouraging odds at 7/1 because he would still find a way to win 13 games with double-A players.
The pattern of the good pitching is found in three’s in both the NL and AL. Somehow, the better teams have found a way to not only gather two strong starters, but three pitchers that could be aces on any other good team.
The Angels have Dan Haren (15/1), Jared Weaver (11/2), and newly acquired C.J. Wilson (12/1) with run support from a machine named Albert. The Red Sox still have the same faces as last year with new faces in the bullpen and the hopes that Dice-K can come back and pitch well after injury.
The Phillies have Halladay (11/2), Lee (8/1), and Hamels (14/1) but don’t think that they are the best three pitchers in the National League. The Giants and Nationals young arms are for real and with aces like Tim Lincecum (9/1) and Stephen Strasburg (18/1) at the top of the rotation, it’s not a lock for anybody to win the award. The NL has more scattered parts than the AL with people like defending Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw (11/2), on a team like the Dodgers with no other ace. That can either make you can stand more or make an average season blend in more with the others.
The current favorites per the latest Cy Young award betting odds found on Bovada has last year’s winners Justin Verlander (9/2) and Clayton Kershaw (+550 or 11/2) on top again, which makes sense considering the young age and live arms that each both have. With the departure of both Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols from the NL into the AL, the NL will now be free of the stress that they cause while the AL pitchers consider any possible position changes.
More 2012 Cy Young Award Odds – click to bet these at Bovada
