The Los Angeles Dodgers are 19-13 to open the season.
They are first in the NL West, four games ahead of the second-place San Francisco Giants.
By the look of things, LA has the potential to win the division by at least 15 or maybe even 20 games.
They have Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Muncy, Will Smith, and many other stars, and injured contributors such as Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw will be back eventually.
Yet there is a feeling around the league that the Dodgers haven’t even hit their ceiling.
With that being the case, recent odds have the Dodgers as the favorites to win the World Series.
“The World Series latest odds for top 10 favorites, per @BetOnline_ag: Dodgers: 7/2, Atlanta: 9/2, Yankees: 15/2, Orioles: 10/1, Phillies: 12/1, Astros: 14/1, Rangers: 14/1, Mariners: 18/1, Cubs: 25/1, Twins: 28/1, Blue Jays: 28/1,” MLB insider Bob Nightengale tweeted.
The World Series latest odds for top 10 favorites, per @BetOnline_ag:
Dodgers: 7/2
Atlanta: 9/2
Yankees: 15/2
Orioles: 10/1
Phillies: 12/1
Astros: 14/1
Rangers: 14/1
Mariners: 18/1
Cubs: 25/1
Twins: 28/1
Blue Jays: 28/1— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 1, 2024
It’s still too early to make any conclusions, both about the season so far and about this list.
However, it’s pretty accurate, because no matter their current record (it’s still pretty good), LA is more equipped than any other squad to deal with the rigors of both the regular season and the playoffs.
In addition to that, they could have most of their pitching staff back in full health by the summer or September, setting themselves up to have a deep, quality pitching unit come October.
That hasn’t happened in recent postseasons, so they made it a priority this time.
With that lineup, it’s hard to see the Dodgers losing in October, but it’s still possible.
Paper, and theory, doesn’t matter in baseball: games have to be played.
