MLB Baseball News

The Major League Baseball playoffs start Friday with two more teams than ever before.  The favorites to win this year’s World Series according to oddsmakers are the New York Yankees, who narrowly won their division. The favorite to come out of the National League are the upstart Washington Nationals. With the new playoff format, both the Yanks and Nats will have to start the playoffs on the road.

The teams with the longest odds are the wild cards, who face sudden-death games on Friday they must win to advance to the best-of-five League Division Series. The longest long shot of all are the Baltimore Orioles, who have their first winning record in almost a decade.  The longest shot of the six division winners are the Oakland Athletics.

Here are the current World Series odds for all 10 MLB playoff teams:

Ichiro Suzuki debuted with the New York Yankees on Monday night, going 1-for-4 with a stolen base in a 4-1 road win over his former team, the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees traded a few minor prospects to the Mariners to acquire the aging Japanese star in a seemingly desperate move after losing four straight in Oakland over the weekend.

Ichiro, who turns 39 this October, said he was “overcome” by leaving the team he played with for over 11 seasons, but was generally thrilled about the trade he requested. “I’m going from a team that’s having the most losses to a team that has the most wins. It’s been hard to contain my excitement,” explained Ichiro, who batted eighth in his Yankee debut.

Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh said the trade surprised and intrigued him. “This is something he wanted and I look forward to seeing him play for the Yankees,” said Japan’s Babe Ruth.

The 2012 Major League Baseball is at its psychic midpoint, and the New York Yankees are currently the betting favorite to win the World Series. The San Francisco Giants and upstart Washington Nationals are co-favorites to represent the National League in the Fall Classic, while the two-time defending AL champion Texas Rangers are close behind the Yanks.

Here are your 2012 World Series odds for all 30 MLB teams:

• 1. New York Yankees +250 to win ALCS, +450 to win World Series
• 2. Texas Rangers +250, +500
• T3. San Francisco Giants +450 to win NLCS, +1100 to win World Series
• T3. Washington Nationals +450, +1100
• 5. Los Angeles Angels +600, +1100
• 6. Cincinnati Reds +550, +1400
• 7. Detroit Tigers +750, +1400
• 8. Atlanta Braves +700, +1600
• 9. Los Angeles Dodgers +700, +1600

Eight of baseball’s best sluggers who feel like showing up will compete Monday night in the Home Run Derby, the week’s second-biggest exhibition, and oddsmakers expect it to be an American League-dominated affair. Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista is the favorite to win this year even though he came up short last year.

The closest competition for Joey Bats is expected to come from last year’s winner, Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees, and Prince Fielder, competing for the first time as a member of the Detroit Tigers. Even Mark Trumbo of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has better odds than any of the four National League representatives.

Matt Kemp of the Dodgers has the best odds of any NL-er despite having the fewest home runs this season of any of the contestants. The biggest longshot is Andrew McCutcheon of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a late replacement for injured Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins.