I have good news and bad news for Phillies fans. The good news is that Vegas has officially installed the Phillies as a 9-4 favorite to win the World Series, besting the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, and others. The bad news is that Vegas has officially installed the Phillies as a 9-4 favorite to win the World Series, besting the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, and others:
Some books have even posted prop bets on the Philadelphia pitching staff, such as over/under 59.5 wins from the starters…
The Phillies’ total over/under wins is set at 96.5 with the Red Sox a close second at 95.5 (the Yankees are at 91.5).
Thankfully, you only need to go back two years to find a team that won the World Series as the preseason favorite. That would be the 2009 Yankees, which is kind of misleading since everyone kinda expects the Yankees to win it every year anyway. I find the preseason favorite crown to be a rather heavy one. You never want to be the preseason favorite. You always want to be that team that sneaks in the back door, the one that people are like, “Hey! Who let them in?!” Look at the Giants last year. No one expected them to win it all. In fact, I still don’t buy them winning the 2010 World Series. I think it was a Taiwanese animated cartoon designed to trick us.
Then you have Cole Hamels getting shelled yesterday and Roy Oswalt nearly getting his head taken off the day before, and suddenly this all feels terribly ominous. I expect a piano to fall on Roy Halladay any day now. So be warned, Phillies fans. Being the favorite is NEVER a good sign.
