Vegas Isn’t Writing Off Yankees After Slow Start

• The Yankees still have the third shortest odds to win the World Series despite their slow start
• Can the Red Sox hold on to first place in the AL East?
• Are the Pirates for real?

We’re only ten games into the 2018 Major League season and the Yankees would already like a do-over. New York has stumbled out of the gates with a 5-5 record and has had to deal with a litany of injuries to some of its most indispensable players. Greg Bird, Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks, and Jacoby Ellsbury have all been on the DL since Opening Day, and CC Sabathia has now joined them after exiting his start on Friday night with a sore hip.

It’s not what Aaron Boone envisioned when he signed on to manage the club in December, but sportsbooks aren’t writing off the Yankees just yet. New York’s odds to win the World Series have barely dropped from 540 on March 28th to 600 on April 9th across a number of top online betting sites.

Oddsmakers don’t seem to be losing sleep over the fact the Baby Bombers are third in the AL East or that Giancarlo Stanton is making the wrong kind of history during his first season in pinstripes. The 28-year-old slugger is hitting just .167 and recently became the first player in the live ball era to go 0-5 with five strikeouts twice in the same season.

“Just got to look at it as a bad week.”

– Giancarlo Stanton on his struggles at the plate pic.twitter.com/hTpc97zkVL

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 8, 2018

New York’s slightly longer odds are a reflection of their own slow start as well as Boston’s early season dominance. The Red Sox are 8-1 and have seen their own World Series odds improve from 1100 to 950.

Chris Sale and Rick Porcello have been just as good as expected, but the club has also gotten a big lift from David Price.

The key to Boston’s stellar play has been its red-hot rotation. The Sox’s starters posted a 0.86 ERA over the first seven games and rank in the top three in the American League in ERA, BAA, and quality starts.

Chris Sale and Rick Porcello have been just as good as expected, but the club has also gotten a big lift from David Price, who looks like his old self after struggling with a lingering elbow injury in 2017. The 6’5” southpaw hasn’t allowed an earned run in 14 innings and is baffling batters with his wicked cutter.

Boston’s quest for a ninth title has also been boosted by Xander Bogaerts, who’s leading the team in batting average, home runs, and RBI, and Hanley Rairez, who’s hitting .324 with eight RBI in his fourth season in Beantown.

The Yankees and Red Sox aren’t the only teams whose odds have changed. The Pirates experienced the biggest jump of all from 12,000 to 6,800 after starting the season 7-2. Pittsburgh is presently first in the NL Central despite jettisoning Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole in an offseason fire sale.

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On the flipside, the Padres have experienced the most precipitous drop after seeing their odds go from 17,000 to 39,000. San Diego is 2-8 and has scored one run or less in four of its first ten games. Don’t expect a turnaround anytime soon as All-Star outfielder Wil Myers has been placed on the DL with nerve irritation in his right arm.

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