Phillies Phavorites for World Series 2011!

Frank Doyle looks ahead to seven glorious months of summer betting as Major League Baseball returns.

The Phillies, the losingest team in baseball history, are the ante-post favorites to win the 2011 World Series. The Phillies have lost 10,232 games since their foundation in 1883, 278 ahead of the Braves, who were founded seven years earlier.

Baseball stats are the gift that keeps on giving, but Philadelphia is a legit favorite. The addition of Cliff Lee has elevated the Phillies’ starting rotation from stellar to inter-galactic and they’re clearly the team to bet.

The MLB odds on Philadelphia to win the Series are +300, +150 for the National League Pennant, an astonishing -345 for the National League East and the over/under for their total regular season wins is 96.5. So the Phils are looking pretty good, all things considered.

The Red Sox and the Yankees – yes, it is those guys again – are next in World Series odds at +450 and +700 and it’s +1300 the field then. The most interesting thing about the top contenders, in contrast to three quarters of a century of baseball history going back to Ty Cobb and the pre-Prohibition Dead Ball Era, is that favoritism is decided by defense rather than offense. Chicks might still dig the long ball, but bettors do not.

Boston’s favoritism over the Yankees is unusual. The Yankees are the most public team in Major League Baseball, if not all of sports, so for them to be so far back the field is interesting. Are they really in that much trouble?

The Yankees are seen to be at a disadvantage because Cliff Lee didn’t sign for them, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a team of tomatoes. They didn’t get the production out of AJ Burnett that they hoped for last year but CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes are high quality hurlers. Throw in the big bats of the Yankees offense and betting over 91.5 regular season wins seems pretty attractive.

Has the time come for the Milwaukee Brewers? They’re favorites for the National League Central, but it’s hard to fully see why. The trade for Zack Greinke generated a lot of excitement, but are the Brewers able to support him? And exactly how much support does Greinke need? Under 85.5 regular season games won is worth a bet.

But if that’s bad, watching the Pirates is worse. Pittsburgh hasn’t been to the playoffs since 1992, and it’s no more likely to get there this year either. For one of the great sports cities and one of the great baseball teams, a team that had the honour of suiting Roberto Clemente, one of the greatest men in the history of the game, it’s so sad it’s heartbreaking. Pirates fans should salve their pain by betting under 66.5 regular season wins. It takes away some of the sting of another quiet October at PNC Park.