National League Futures Overview
The betting on this season’s National League pennant race began mainly as a three-team affair and remained that way into the second half. The Dodgers opened as favorites at around +150 on most NL championship betting boards, with the Phillies next at +250, followed by the Braves at +400. These three still topped the boards with about 60 games to go.
But the Diamondbacks only won 84 games last season before catching fire in the playoffs and winning the pennant at odds of around 70/1.
Is there an Arizona lurking somewhere on this season’s updated NL pennant board?
The Dodgers played their way through some injuries to a solid lead in the NL West into the All-Star break and were getting healthier as the season progressed. At the 100-game mark, Los Angeles still sat as the top choice on FanDuel’s NL championship board at +180.
Following a couple of wild-card appearances as underdogs the last two seasons, Philadelphia posted the best record in baseball through the break. Consequently, the best price to be found on the Phillies to win the pennant was the +200 offered at Bet365.
Then there’s Atlanta, which lost a Cy Young candidate for the season to injury in April, then lost last year’s NL MVP in May, and later lost two starters for significant time. The Braves were catching +460 on FanDuel’s updated NL pennant board.
Next Tier of Contenders
The NL championship betting looked like this:
- Milwaukee Brewers, season-long leaders in the NL Central, getting +1300 at Bet365;
- San Diego Padres, definite wild-card contenders, catching +2200 at Bet365;
- St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, both owners of wild-card spots through the break, both catching +2300 at FanDuel;
- Defending League champion Diamondbacks, also right in that wild-card race, getting +3100 at FanDuel;
- Pittsburgh Pirates, over .500 into late July, catching +4000 at Bet365.
