Sam Panayotovich
FOX Sports Betting Analyst
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees continue their three-game series this Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium.
You can watch all the action on FOX and the FOX Sports app with coverage starting at 7:15 pm ET.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that both teams haven’t skipped a beat since meeting in last year’s World Series, though it hasn’t been without adversity.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole had Tommy John surgery in March and AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil has been on the shelf all season with a strained lat muscle. Meanwhile, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen are all on the injured list for Los Angeles.
Sheesh.
Despite all the injuries to their pitching staffs, both teams keep winning. New York (35-20) has the third-best record in baseball behind the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, and Los Angeles (34-22) is right on their heels.
Great teams always find a way.
It also helps to have superheroes like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.
“It feels like the Dodgers haven’t really had a great year,” Westgate SuperBook senior baseball trader Randy Blum told FOX Sports. “Then you look up, and they’re a top-three team in baseball that’s sitting in first place. It speaks to the depth of their team and their ability to sustain injuries.
“The offense is still very legit,” Blum continued. “They’re winning some shootouts. Ohtani has just been amazing. I’m double the market on him for MVP because he’s going to start pitching soon. The guy has the best numbers of any player in the National League, and now he’s going to pitch.
“They’re also going to get some of these pitchers back from what I’ve been reading from the beat writers. We’ll probably never see ‘em at 100 percent, but reinforcements are on the way. They’re winning without these guys and if they get even half of them back, they’re still the team to beat.”
World Series odds via DraftKings Sportsbook:
Los Angeles Dodgers: +280 (bet $10 to win $38 total)
New York Yankees: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Philadelphia Phillies: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)
Detroit Tigers: +850 (bet $10 to win $95 total)
New York Mets: +950 (bet $10 to win $105 total)
Chicago Cubs: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Seattle Mariners: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total)
Houston Astros: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Minnesota Twins: +1900 (bet $10 to win $200 total)
Atlanta Braves: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
As for the Bronx Bombers, they’re doing exactly that — bombing the baseball. They currently lead the Majors with 88 home runs and Judge is on pace to have one of the greatest all-around seasons of all time.
He’s slashing an insane .391/.739/1.227 with 18 homers, 51 runs and 47 RBIs and the advanced metrics say he’s already worth over four wins.
Judge is as high as -10000 to win the AL MVP.
“As good as Judge has been, I’m more impressed by the pitching staff,” Blum admitted. “It’s so unexpected. This was a huge concern in Spring Training after [Gerrit] Cole got hurt and Luis Gil got hurt. This is not what was expected.
“[Carlos] Rodon has performed in the past, but even he’s having his best year as a Yankee. They’re piecing the rest of the rotation together.”
But what about Judge?
“I don’t want to sell Judge short,” Blum said. “He’s been incredible. He should win another MVP, which should be his fourth. I thought he got robbed his rookie season the year they gave it to Jose Altuve.”
Assuming Judge finishes the season strong, he’ll win his third MVP award in pinstripes to draw even with Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle.
He’ll quite literally be one of the greatest Yankees of all-time.
“He’s obviously got to sustain it for a few years,” Blum said. “Barring injuries or a very steep decline, there’s no reason he can’t keep it up. And the power will always be there because he’s such a large individual.”
Sam Panayotovich is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and the BetMGM Network. He previously worked for WGN Radio, NBC Sports and VSiN. Follow him on Twitter @spshoot.
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