Hell has frozen over: the Chicago Cubs won a World Series for the first time since 1908. Many are calling Game 7 on Wednesday night the most entertaining baseball game ever played, and with over 40 million viewers, it became the most watched game in 25 years.
Baseball is riding a high right now in America. Guess what? Gambling experts think the Cubs may repeat as champions next year.
According to Las Vegas SuperBook, Chicago is the favorite with 3-1 odds to win the 2017 World Series.
This could be surprising to Giants fans, but seven other teams check in front of San Francisco.
10-1 odds: Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox
12-1 odds: Mets, Astros Indians
14-1 odds: Blue Jays
16-1 odds: Giants, Rangers
20-1 odds: Cardinals
Four other National League teams are listed ahead of the Giants, including the Dodgers, which means Vegas thinks San Francisco will be a wild card team in 2016.
There’s two ways to look at this:
A) The Giants have regressed from the beast they once were earlier in the decade. Buster Posey isn’t a year-in, year-out MVP candidate, the lineup lacks power, the outfield doesn’t have any strong arms and the bullpen will be entirely different come April. Maybe they really aren’t an elite Major League Baseball team anymore.
B) Or… Is Las Vegas is sleeping on a team who knows how to win championships? If the Giants had acquired an Aroldis Chapman, or an Andrew Miller or even a Mark Melancon, it could’ve been them and not the Cubs taking down the Indians in Cleveland. Bruce Bochy is a Hall of Fame manager, Bobby Evans and Bruce Sabean are proven geniuses in making minor tweaks to the roster and this team still has Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Matt Moore.
Which side of the coin are you on, Giants fans?