If you had asked me the final four teams that still have a shot to win the World Series, I probably wouldn’t have any of the four teams that are actually still alive to win it all. Maybe the St. Louis Cardinals? But remember when everybody seemed to have coronated the Oakland Athletics and the Detroit Tigers to play in the World Series? Some even had the LA Dodgers and the LA Angels right up there too.
Instead we have the Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants playing in the National League Championship Series and the Baltimore Orioles playing the—gasp!—Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. For a little perspective, the Orioles and Cardinals were 7/1 odds before the postseason started while the Giants and Royals were both sitting at 14/1 odds.
Whoever flagged any of these four teams to make it this far should have big smiles on their faces. Right now, the Orioles are the short favorites at 2/1, followed by the Cardinals at 5/2, and the Giants and Royals at 3/1 odds apiece. In short, it’s still incredibly wide open and the World Series is still up for the taking.
In the NLCS, the Cards are the 8/0 favorites to advance to the World Series with the Giants at even money. Again, that’s splitting hairs between two teams that have either played in the NLCS since 2010. This is the fourth straight season for the Cards to make it this far while the Giants are making their third trip in the last five seasons. The two teams even met in 2012 when San Francisco rallied from a 3-1 deficit before winning the World Series. Something tells me this series will go down to a Game 7, which should account for the Cardinals being the short faves.
Meanwhile, the Orioles are the favorites at 5/6 odds while the Royals are 6/5 odds to win the ALCS. It’s hard to against a team like the Royals because I don’t want to get struck by lightning. This team looks like it’s built to win it all and if you’re looking for a team to root for, it has to be the Kansas City Royals.
I’m taking the Cardinals and the Royals to make it to the World Series. It’s too early to tell which of these two teams will win the whole thing but I’m hitching my wagon on both playing after the championship series.
