American League’s Familiar Faces
Many of the usual suspects are at the head of their respective division races in the American League. The Boston Red Sox top the AL East standings, but as ever that division is as competitive as they come.
The Tampa Bay Rays, despite their much smaller budget, are still competing alongside the Red Sox and are just 0.5 of a game behind them. The New York Yankees trail the division leaders by 4.5 and have yet to fully click, despite their deep pockets and vast array of talent.
The division race looks set to go all the way to the wire with the Red Sox 7/4 favourites to win the AL East, Tampa at 21/10 and the Yankees are available at 5/2.
The AL West has seen two very familiar foes go hammer and tongs for the title. The Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics have finished first or second place in the last three seasons and again look set to battle it out in the West. The Astros are just two games ahead of their rivals but the two teams have pulled clear and the Astros have the best record in the American League.
Astros shooting for the stars
Houston are 3/1 to win the American League and are riding a ten-match winning streak, which includes an impressive four-game sweep of Chicago White Sox and a thumping sweep of the Orioles, the last of which came last night in a 13-0 rout.
The Astros have a plus 135 run differential and also top a number of analytical charts too with Houston scoring 425 runs – nobody else has more than 380.
Chicago White Sox are next on the list at 7/2, while the Yankees can be backed at 19/4 and the Rays are 27/4 to reach the World Series again, just like last season.
Dodgers aiming to avoid an upset
They lost in six to the LA Dodgers back in October and many are predicting a repeat for the Dodger Stadium faithful.
The Dodgers are 8/5 to win the National League, even though they are in the hot Western division which also houses San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. Los Angeles are at .595 with the Padres at .584 and the fast-starting Giants standing tall at .649.
A sweep of LA and 7 straight wins for San Diego.
https://t.co/cXLaRgMdE9 pic.twitter.com/iIsULo2Lw3
— MLB (@MLB) June 24, 2021
Run differential is usually a good indicator of the best teams and the Giants (second), Dodgers (third) and Padres (fifth) are all in the top five of MLB in that category.
The New York Mets are only 11th but they lead the East despite having racked up an incredible amount of injuries.
Francisco Lindor’s bat is just starting to get hot and ace pitcher Jacob deGrom’s ERA is a pretty absurd 0.5. The Mets are 16/5 to win the National League and 27/4 for the World Series, but Houston don’t have many problems at the moment and are the most interesting contenders at 7/1.
*All odds correct at time of writing