Everyone knows you need stellar pitching in the Major League Baseball playoffs. The Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles know it, too.
By adding some of the top starting pitchers remaining on the market before Tuesday's MLB trade deadline, the Astros and Orioles experienced the biggest shifts on the odds board to win the World Series.
The Astros reunited with Justin Verlander by sending two top prospects to the New York Mets. Verlander had been with the Astros from late in the 2017 season through last year, winning two Cy Young Awards and a World Series title.
Houston entered Tuesday with the fifth-shortest odds (+850) to win the World Series at FanDuel Sportsbook -- right behind the American League West rival Texas Rangers, who acquired another former Mets ace, Max Scherzer, over the weekend. Post-deadline Tuesday, the Rangers had stayed put at +800 while the Astros leapfrogged them by shooting to +700.
At BetMGM, the Astros similarly began the week at +800 and moved to +700 to win the World Series by Tuesday evening.
The odds still favor the Atlanta Braves, who own the best record in baseball and are at +300 (FanDuel) and +325 (BetMGM) to win the World Series. And the team with baseball's second-best record entering Tuesday, the Orioles, is being taken more seriously as title contenders following the acquisition of Jack Flaherty.
Baltimore, which was rumored to be in the mix for Verlander, sent three prospects to the St. Louis Cardinals to acquire Flaherty, a right-hander who finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting in 2019 and still has potent stuff. Flaherty has a career 3.58 ERA with 706 strikeouts in 633 innings, including a 4.43 ERA in 20 starts this season with 106 strikeouts in 109 2/3 frames.
The Orioles were +1700 to win the World Series at FanDuel before the Flaherty trade. Their odds have since shortened dramatically to +1300, the sixth lowest on FanDuel's board.
Some teams went in the opposite direction after making unconvincing moves Tuesday -- or after selling the farm. That includes both teams from New York.
The Yankees entered the week +3000 at BetMGM to win the World Series despite being in last place in the American League East. Rather than being firm sellers or aggressive buyers Tuesday, the Yankees added a pair of relief pitchers, Keynan Middleton from the Chicago White Sox and Spencer Howard from the Rangers.
BetMGM had them at +3500 after the deadline passed, with the division rival Tampa Bay Rays (+700), Orioles (+1200) and Toronto Blue Jays (+1600) all in the top seven on BetMGM's board.
The Mets shipped away not only Scherzer and Verlander but also relief pitcher David Robertson, outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha and outfielder Tommy Pham before the deadline. After opening the week as a +10000 longshot to win the World Series at BetMGM, they've sunk all the way to +25000.
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