Boston Red Sox Top World Series Futures Betting Market

The period between the end of the World Series and the start of Spring Training has historically been known as the ‘Hot Stove League’. This is the time when teams make trades and sign free agents in preparation for the forthcoming baseball season. The current ‘Hot Stove League’, however, has been more of a ‘Warm Stove League’. The market for superstar free agents has been extremely weak with teams reticent to break out the checkbook to sign the big dollar contracts. The new trend is toward giving young prospects the responsibility of veterans very quickly in their developmental process. That’s good news for the youngsters but not good news for the free agents looking for a big payday.

Making the weakness of the 2019 free agent market so profound is the overall depth and quality of the players available. This might be due to a weak ‘demand’ side since players that would have been snatched up immediately in the past are still without a team as the weeks count down until the start of Spring Training. There are superstars across the board with some huge names at the very top including Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel. The market is so weak that players don’t know quite how to react. Some players have accused the Major League Baseball teams of colluding against them but there’s scant evidence to suggest that is the case.

Another theory advanced by a few players is a critique of the advanced statistical metrics which they argue has upended the ‘star system’ that existed for so many years. According to the players baseball fans ‘buy tickets to see superstars’. To some extent that is true but a more correct assertion would be that baseball fans ‘buy tickets to see their team win’. While there is some correlation between having superstars in the lineup and winning games it’s not as strong as the players seem to think. This is the direction that the sport is moving in and teams are figuring out that they can compete for and win championships without paying ridiculous salaries to players past their prime.

All of this makes setting prices to win the 2019 World Series very difficult. Most teams are playing a ‘wait and see’ game to see where the market goes. They could be hoping that they could get a big name player at less than market value. Meanwhile, players are getting anxious that they’re free agents and yet their phone isn’t ringing. This might give them more motivation their previous team than in in the past. One thing that is certain—the opening day rosters will look markedly different than they do now.

At the top of the World Series betting odds market is the defending MLB champion Boston Red Sox. They are co-favorites along with the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees with all three teams priced at +600. The only other team priced at single digit odds is the highest ranked National League team, the Los Angeles Dodgers at +700. The Dodgers were the losing team in the 2018 World Series.

There’s a whole slew of teams priced between +1000 and +2500 including the Chicago Cubs (+1100), Atlanta Braves (+1200), Philadelphia Phillies (+1300), Cleveland Indians (+1600), Milwaukee Brewers (+1600), New York Mets (+1600), St. Louis Cardinals (+1600), Washington Nationals (+1800) and Oakland Athletics (+2500). The Colorado Rockies are at +2800 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays both at +4000. The biggest longshot is the Baltimore Orioles (+25000) followed by the Miami Marlins (+20000), Kansas City Royals (+20000), Detroit Tigers (+15000), Texas Rangers (+12500) and San Diego Padres (+12500).