Updated MLB Futures

The San Francisco Giants have made up a lot of ground on the baseball futures list.

The Detroit Tigers remain the favorites to win the 2014 World Series but the San Francisco Giants are making a push to take over top spot on the baseball futures list.

In its latest list of World Series odds, online sportsbook Bovada has the Tigers at 3/1 to win the American League pennant and 6/1 to win it all.

The Giants are considered 3/1 to take home the National League pennant and 7/1 to finish the year in possession of the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Considered the third-best team when the season opened, Detroit quickly climbed to the top of the futures list thanks to a solid season. A recent run of poor form – the club has gone just 4-10 in its last 14 games – has some questioning the Tigers’ chances this year. The bookmakers haven’t fallen into the naysayer bracket just yet, but that could change quickly if Brad Ausmus isn’t able to motivate his team to turn things around.

San Francisco on the other hand is a team very much trending upwards. After starting the year 11-10, the Giants have gone 26-10 since to equate what is easily the league’s best record. Bruce Bochy’s club was ranked No. 8 by the oddsmaker at the beginning of the season and now sits a very narrow second.

The Giants’ cross-bay rivals, the Oakland Athletics, are another team on the up. The A’s began the season ranked 11th, but now find themselves fourth on the baseball futures list. Bovada has the side listed at 9/2 to win the AL pennant and 9/1 to win a first World Series since 1989.

Squeezed firmly between the A’s and Giants is another Californian side looking to go far this season. The Los Angeles Dodgers, preseason favorites to win the World Series, are listed at 8-1 to win the championship despite having not been more than five game above .500 all season. It appears that the big money on show at Chavez Ravine is enough to keep the bookmakers a little on edge right now.

The St. Louis Cardinals round-out the top five. The Red Birds are listed at 9/1 alongside Oakland.

Like the Dodgers, Mike Matheny’s side has struggled to stay above .500 this season, a trend that hasn’t been helped by a string of six losses over the last nine games. But the Cardinals have continually proved they can be successful and continue to represent a solid bet.

After a run of 16 wins in the last 20 games, the Toronto Blue Jays sit just outside the top five at 10/1.

The Jays’ recent run of good form has seen the club build a four-game lead in the always tough AL East, something that hasn’t been easy to achieve this year. Bettors are likely to be wary of the Jays though; the club was a preseason favorite to win it all a season ago but managed to stink up the joint on the way to a 74-88 season.

The NL East duo of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals follow the Jays on the baseball futures list with 12/1 and 14/1 odds respectively.

The Nationals are having another disappointing season but have the talent to make a sustained run at any point. The Braves continue to defy expectations, winning despite losing both Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen to season-ending Tommy John Surgery.

The quartet of the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees all sit at 16/1, closing out an extended top 10.

The defending champions responded to a 10-game losing streak by winning seven before dropping Monday’s series opener to the Cleveland Indians. It’s this sort of spirit that will see the Sox contend through to the end of the season.

Milwaukee meanwhile is starting to come back down to Earth. After starting the year 20-7, the Brewers are just 15-16 since. Does the team have enough to contend? Bookmakers don’t think so; the Brewers were 14/1 a month ago and are now starting to slide down the ladder.

The Yankees and Angels have both suffered big time injuries which continue to make them unknown commodities. The Yankees were considered the third-best team in baseball in the eyes of the oddsmaker at the beginning of May. Can they climb back to that spot or better?

At the other end of the spectrum, the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks continue to plummet down the futures list.

Bovada considered the Rays to be the fifth-best team heading into the season, assigning the team 12/1 odds of winning the World Series. After a 23-35 start to the season has the side rooted to the bottom of the American League standings, Joe Maddon’s side is now listed at 50/1. All isn’t lost for the team from St. Pete though; the bookmakers haven’t given up entirely on the team just yet, something than can’t be said for the Diamondbacks.

Hopes weren’t spectacularly high for the team from the desert when the season started – the side was tied for 21st on Bovada’s original list – but the team’s terrible play has seen it plummet to the very bottom.

Right now, the D’backs share aerospace with the Houston Astros, with both considered 500/1 to win the World Series. Even the lowly Chicago Cubs, the only team with a worst record, are considered more likely to win a championship! It’s going to be a long four months in Phoenix.

You can find all of Bovada’s MLB future odds, including league and division odds, right here.

For a full list of today’s Major League Baseball odds, click here.

For team prop bets, click here.

For player prop bets, click here.