2015-16 May MLB Pennant Futures Update
Written by: sbnadmin This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2016
We’re now almost two months into the latest Major League Baseball campaign meaning it’s time to see who stands out above the rest. Now, the teams that we’re about to list, are in no way, shape or form going to be the best in late September. Hang on, let us rephrase, these clubs may be there, but there’s still quite a few games to go around. By that, we mean there’s still over 100 games to go. If you’ve ever watched baseball, you know that a lot can happen in 100 games.
2015-16 May MLB Pennant Futures Update
NL Favorite – Chicago Cubs (+150)
The Cubs are currently the NL Pennant and World Series favorite and it’s not a shocker why. Jake Arrieta has picked up exactly where he left off in 2015. Last year he put up a league-best 22-6 record, he’s now likely going to be the first ten-win pitcher in the bigs. He’s currently 9-0 with a sensational 1.72 ERA through ten games. The rest of the rotation is performing as well and their bats are switched on. The Cubs are at the top of the NL Central ahead of the Pirates by 4.5 wins and we’re not even through May. Watch out for the baby bears.
NL Sleeper – San Francisco Giants (+500)
The Giants are currently tied with New York Mets for the second-best odds in the National League. Should that qualify them as sleepers? Probably not. Nobody really saw this one coming though. The Giants are 4.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West and are outperforming the pace set for them by analysts and critics on Opening Day. We don’t see anybody taking down the Cubs this season, but if they can keep up this pace and can stay hot at home (16-11 – NL best), they’ve got a pretty good shot.
AL Favorite – Boston Red Sox (+450)
The Boston Red Sox are a good story. It’s hard to explain why, but the Red Sox went from a 97-win team to a 78 and then a 71-victory club last year. It’s quite the steep decline and it’s hard to place the blame on one certain thing. With the additions of David Price and Chris Young (and the deactivating of Pablo Sandoval) though, this team has turned their fortunes around 180 degrees. They are slated to win the American League and have the best home record in the bigs at 18-9. If they can stay fresh and toasty at Fenway, they could do some real damage this season.
AL Sleeper – Seattle Mariners (+700)
The Seattle Mariners are also a pretty nice comeback story. They fired their GM and Manager in the offseason and gave the keys to Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais. These two have done a fantastic job thus far of getting the team’s bats and bullpen back on track. Robinson Cano currently leads the MLB with 43 RBI’s and is en route for a career year across the board. Newcomers Ketel Marte, Chris Iannetta, Nathan Karns and Leonys Martin are also helping carry the load. The M’s are a fast and big hitting ball club. If their pitching can keep this pace up, we could be seeing their first playoff appearance since 2001 – not to mention a potential pennant.
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