Morning Coffee: The case for the Phillies to win the World Series

The second half of the 2024 MLB season is set to get underway in Chicago this afternoon.

As we prepare for the final stretch of summer baseball, the universe has thrown all of us another curveball with a widespread global technology outage.

Airlines are grounded and TV broadcasts have gone dark, while countless other business and services will be forced to deal with disruptions.

IT professionals around the world have already cancelled their weekend plans.

Hopefully, peanuts and Cracker Jack at the ballpark wasn’t in their itineraries.

Fortunately for yours truly, the FanDuel app still works.

Plus, I’m still using an old-school Bialetti for the espresso.

A good morning coffee is the perfect start to any day.

As the rest of the world scrambles to reboot, there’s one specific baseball future that I want to take the opportunity to highlight as a FanDuel Best Bet entering the second half of the MLB season.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday, July 19, 2024.

The case for the Phillies to win the World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers remain the favourite to win the World Series at +320 at FanDuel entering the second half.

The Dodgers are one of just five teams with shorter than 10-to-1 odds to win it all this season. Three of those teams play in the National League. The other two hail from the American League East.

Led by the obvious favourite to win NL MVP in Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers own the fifth-best record in the majors at 56-41.

Only the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Guardians, Baltimore Orioles, and the New York Yankees have won more games this season.

I predict two of those teams meet in the World Series.

The Phillies are my FanDuel Best Bet to win the World Series at +420.

Philadelphia owns the best record in the majors at 62-34 – 3.5 games better than the Guardians. Their run differential is the best in baseball at +110.

The fact that they rank top-four in both runs scored and runs allowed is a testament to their depth and talent.

Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Ranger Suarez all rank among the top five in wins in the majors.

Christopher Sanchez has been excellent in his own right, and the Phillies’ rotation will get another bump once Spencer Turnbull returns.

Meanwhile, only Aaron Judge, Marcell Ozuna, and Jose Ramirez have more RBI than Alec Bohm, who is tied with Josh Naylor for the fourth-most in the majors with 70.

Bryce Harper is the only player other than Ohtani with shorter than 25-to-1 odds to win NL MVP at FanDuel.

Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Nick Castellanos round out one of the most impressive lineups in the majors.

With the MLB trade deadline around the corner, there is the potential for Philadelphia to add to one of the best rosters in all of baseball this month.

The Phillies just swept the Dodgers a couple of weeks ago.

The fact that Philadelphia is on track to finish with the best record in the majors and secure home-field advantage for the postseason makes them an even more legitimate threat to win it all.

I’ll lock in the Phillies to win the World Series at +420 as my FanDuel Best Bet entering the second half.

Philadelphia to win the National League is +210. I’ll also lock in the Phillies over the Orioles at +1700 at FanDuel as my pick for the exact World Series outcome.

With everything going on in the world right now, I’m hoping for a peaceful and stable end to the summer.

Hopefully, once October rolls around, I’ll still find these best bets in the pending section on my FanDuel app.

Have a great weekend, everyone!