NEWSLETTER
Although it is not crazy to say that it’s not crazy to say the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series in 2015 (did you follow that?), it is a little crazy to say that the Chicago Cubs have the highest odds in all of baseball – or, heck, even top five odds – win the World Series in 2015.
Of course, we know that betting odds don’t always track reality, because, as more and more of those crazy Cubs fans (God bless you) place bets on the 2015 Cubs to win the World Series, bookmakers have to keep shifting the odds to try and balance out the money. We’ve talked about this before this offseason, as the Cubs’ odds started out way too low, moved rapidly with the hiring of Joe Maddon and the signing of Jon Lester, and got downright silly by the end of 2014.
And if you thought the silliness would recede once the hype died down a bit in January, you were wrong. Here’s something BN’er CT sent to me this week:
Yes, you’re reading that correctly: the Cubs are listed as World Series favorites, tied with two other teams at just 6:1.
To be sure, that’s just one casino (Bovada still has the Cubs at “only” 12:1, behind the Dodgers and Nationals). But it underscores the fact that lots of Cubs fans simply want to bet on the Cubs this year whether that bet is rational or not.
And that part, regardless of your position on gambling, is actually kind of fun. It’s a testament to how nuts – in ways that manifest both positively and negatively – this fan base is for their team, and how eager they are for good things to happen in 2015. That’s cool.
Still, I can’t help but caution folks: (1) Don’t take that bet; and (2) I believe that “success” for this club in 2015 is going to be staying within a realistic stone’s throw of contention into August and September. That’s what will make me feel like it was a good year, all things considered, for the Cubs. If they wind up in they playoffs from there, that would be great (and, since the playoffs are a crapshoot, we know that anything can happen).
EDIT: D’oh. As pointed out in the comments, the Nats at 9:2 are actually the favorites in that MGM sheet (I saw the 9, but my eyes glossed over the 2). The Cubs, with the Dodgers, are second at 6:1. My bad. The insanity of Cubs fans stands, though.
