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Morning Coffee: Ohtani Leads Dodgers As World Series Favourites In Postseason Debut
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The end of the summer isn’t the end of the world.
In fact, I happen to love the month of October.
We get that sweet spot between the summer heat and the winter freeze – fantasy hockey league drafts and just enough time – and warmth - for one more rooftop party.
As the rest of the world cools down, we’ll look to stay hot with the FanDuel Best Bets in this column.
In case you missed it, we bid farewell to the month of September with another FanDuel Best Bet winner for Monday Night Football.
I also published my first recommended play for Week 5 in the NFL in Monday morning’s column.
Hopefully, we can pick up from where we left off this month and deliver even better results in October.
And if we don’t, at least we get Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
Of course, we can’t talk October without talking baseball.
The MLB playoffs are set to begin this afternoon and just like the rest of you I can’t wait to see what happens next.
October baseball is where legends are born.
This time around, we get to watch the baseball’s biggest superstar perform on the game’s biggest stage for the first time in his career.
Shohei Ohtani has already delivered a historic season.
Now he’ll try to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series as the betting favourite to win it all.
Get your pecan pie ready, people.
This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday October 1st, 2024.
Ohtani Leads Dodgers As World Series Favourites In Postseason Debut
Just when we thought we had seen it all from Ohtani, he delivered a season that wasn’t just unprecedented – in many ways it was unimaginable.
Ohtani wasn’t even the favourite to win NL MVP at FanDuel at the start of the season.
In fact, two of his own teammates – Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman – had shorter odds to win the award.
Ohtani wouldn’t pitch in his first season for the Dodgers.
Plus, no designated hitter had ever won an MVP award in baseball.
It turns out Ohtani was underestimated once again.
Ohtani went on to become the first player in MLB history with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
His 16 games with at least one home run and one stolen base were the most in a single season all-time.
11 of those games came in August and September, setting the stage for a potentially epic postseason.
Ohtani set the franchise single-season records with 54 home runs and 99 extra-base hits.
He became the first primary designated hitter to lead the majors in WAR and was an obvious pick for NL MVP.
Ohtani is the only player in MLB history to win multiple MVP awards before making his first playoff appearance.
Now the stage is set for baseball’s biggest superstar to deliver again on the game’s biggest stage.
The Dodgers are the favourite to win the World Series at +350 at FanDuel.
The Philadelphia Phillies (+410) and New York Yankees (+410) are the only other teams at shorter than +750.
Ohtani will enter his first postseason as the favourite to win World Series MVP at +1300.
The AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge is +1900 as the second choice to win World Series MVP.
Bryce Harper (+2200), Freeman (+2500), Betts (+2500), and Juan Soto (+2500) round out the top six choices to win that award at FanDuel this morning.
Of course, the Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, and Cleveland Guardians won’t play until the Division Series.
First up, we get four Wild Card Series match-ups that will determine the elite eight for October.
The Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros will get the party started this afternoon in one of the most intriguing Wild Card match-ups.
The Tigers could be found as high as +3500 to make the playoffs at FanDuel as recently as August 22nd.
Detroit went an MLB-best 31-13 over its final 44 regular season games, becoming just the second team in MLB history to reach the postseason in a non-shortened season after being eight or more games below .500 in August or later.
Despite the remarkable finish, the Tigers are the biggest underdog to advance of the eight Wild Card teams.
Still, that hasn’t stopped bettors in Ontario from betting on Detroit’s futures at long odds at FanDuel.
Per the FanDuel traders, 29 per cent of the stakes in the American League winner market are on the Tigers at +1100 odds.
The Astros and Yankees are tied for the second-highest mark with 16 per cent of the stakes in the American League winner market each.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have been the most popular pick to win the World Series among Ontario bettors with 21 per cent of the stakes in that market at FanDuel.
With so much on the line, the significance of every game is what makes October baseball so different.
How important are the four Game 1’s on today’s schedule?
The Wild Card Series is a best-of-three format.
76 per cent of the teams that won Game 1 of a three-game series have gone on to win the series.
Of course, it wouldn’t be October without a FanDuel Best Bet to celebrate the arrival of the MLB postseason.
I’m going to take the San Diego Padres to beat the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of their NLDS.
The Padres should be well rested and they should be in good shape on the mound with Michael King expected to start tonight.
Meanwhile, the Braves had to travel to California after a pair of games with the New York Mets to book their playoff spot on Monday, so this will be their third game in a 48-hour window.
I locked in San Diego at -150, but as I look at the updated lines this morning they are already up to -166 at FanDuel.
I hesitate to go with Padres -1.5 at +132, so perhaps it makes sense to go with San Diego money line as an SGP option if you don’t feel comfortable with the juice at this point.
Have a great day, everyone!