As of today, the best value on the board to win the World Series is the Atlanta ball club. As tied for the 5th best odd to take home the trophy, the Braves can still win home field advantage throughout the National League Series play this weekend. The Braves have a deep lineup, a solid Bullpen – and will have home advantage in the 1st round. The odd reflects that they may have to play the favorite (Dodgers) in the NLDS- should they finish behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the Standings in the last 2 days of the season.

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

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Odds To Win the World Series:

LA Dodgers +250

Boston Red Sox +350

Detroit Tigers +450

St. Louis Cardinals +600

Atlanta Braves +800

Oakland Athletics +800

Cincinnati Reds +1500

Pittsburgh Pirates +1700

Tampa Bay Rays +1800

Cleveland Indians +2000

Texas Rangers +2000

Cardinals Clinch the NL Central Sept.27/2013

The Dodgers as the favorite is not even worth a gamble on. They will not have home field advantage in the 1st Round, and if the Braves or Cardinals win their 1st Round Series versus the Reds or Pirates, they will not have more games at Dodger Stadium for the 2nd Round Either. In fact, since the AL won the World Series, LA might have to do a lot of damage on the road in order to capture their first World Series Title in 25 years.

Simply put, the Vegas folks that the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorite to win the World Series.  Now this is my preseason pick, so I hope they are right, however +250 is not any value worth throwing down a few Benjamin Franklin’s for.

Boston is in 2nd, and wouldn’t that be something, if the two teams that engineered the biggest trade of 2012, meet in the Fall Classic?  I don’t think this will happen either, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t.

The Tigers and Cardinals are the 3 and 4 seeds currently and respectively, probably based on their playoff track record and ALL – Star Lineups.

I don’t like picking Detroit without Miguel Cabrera 100 % right now at that clip.

The value picks will lie with the Oakland Athletics and Atlanta Braves.  As a betting expert, i would tell you the value is great with these 5 and 6 seeds, because in a 5 game series anything could happen.

I will get more into individual series breakdowns tomorrow as the playoff prediction blog I will write, yet I am saying that +800 for the Braves and A’s is worth it.

If they were to upset in the LDS Round, with that kind of odds pending for the World Series Title, you could then hedge your bets to assume a nice profit – with winning back your original stake as a safeguard.

I also like the Reds at +1500 and the Rays for +1800.

With their hit and miss pitching staffs, they could advance through the Wild Card Game (TB has not ensured itself of a playoff berth either mind you).

Just another quick note, back in May, I put $20 on the Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series at +2200.  I am already in the position to cover my original bet if they can make the Wild Card Game.

I like the way the Rays conduct business, and I have stated in various tweets the last 24 hours, the Tampa Bay franchise has now had 5 – 90 Win+ Seasons in the last 6 years.

Joe Maddon has guided the club to a record of 548 – 422 in that time – frame, which trails just the New York Yankees for #1 in victories since the start of the 2012 year,

Now that the Pinstripers are out of contention, I hope the A’s and Rays can meet in the ALCS.  This would ensure one of the lowest salaried teams would make the 2013 World Series.

Detroit and Boston rival each other with Team Payrolls in the mid $100 MIL’s, while Texas is just below that total by about $20 MIL.  Cleveland would be third in payroll if they made the playoffs with the Rays and Athletics.

The National League features the Dodgers hovering at around a $225 MIL Payroll, and the Cards are just north of $100  MIL.  Atlanta and Cincinnati are fairy similar in their payrolls, while Pittsburgh has the lowest payroll out of the NL Playoffs.

Beane has seen his club have one of the top 10 best records in baseball since the start of the 2000 year. They draft awesome – sell high on their players coming for Free Agency, and have adopted the ‘Moneyball’ Philosophy, Here they are in the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row, and likely to rematch versus the Detroit Tigers starting next week. The Motown Boys have shown in the past, that they don’t do well in long layoffs, so the Athletics should have a punchers chance in the series. At +800 for the World Series, these guys have good value. Even if it is hard to win 3 rounds, you can hedge on your initial bet – and then if they pull through with the title, it is gravy.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners. ***

***Chuck Booth – Lead Baseball Analysr/Website Owner and author of the Fastest 30 Ballgames:  

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