Baseball is BACK – Taking a Look at the Red Sox Betting Odds Heading into Spring Training

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association finally struck a deal late last week, and baseball is officially back.

The players had been locked out since December 2nd 2021, but that all changed on Thursday. Two major rule changes – or rules that are actually being re-implemented, are nine-inning double headers and the removal of the “ghost runner” on second base in extra innings.

The designated hitter is also being adopted by the National League, meaning pitchers will no longer be required to hit.

When things looked gloomy for baseball just under two weeks ago, I wrote about BetOnline’s odds for when baseball will be played again,  and I touched on the Red Sox team odds heading into 2022:

From a Boston perspective, the Red Sox are looking to build off of a strong 2021 campaign where they played all the way through into the ALCS. Here are their odds to win the World Series, the American League, and the AL East from BetOnline:

Red Sox Odds

World Series Champions    +2000

AL Pennant                            +1000

AL East                                      +325

They are the fourth most likely team to win the East, behind the Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays. I think there is some value here in betting them at +325. The division is stacked, but the Red Sox are definitely in that mix.

From a team perspective, the Red Sox are in a good place. From an individual perspective – things are a little bit different.

Boston has “contenders” if you will, for the Cy Young, MVP, and Rookie of the Year – but they’re mostly long shots. Here are where three Sox stand for each award, according to BetOnline.ag:

American League MVP Winner

Shoehei Ohtani                   +350

Mike Trout                           +350

Vladamir Guererro Jr.       +400

Aaron Judge                       +1400

Wander Franco                  +1800

Rafael Devers                     +2000

Devers has the fifth highest odds to win AL MVP according to BetOnline. These are pretty good, considering who he is behind. I think he’ll make a giant leap in 2022 – but it remains to be seen if he can contend with the best of them.

American League Cy Young Winner

Gerrit Cole                          +450

Shane Bieber                     +750

Robbie Ray                        +900

Lucas Giolito                    +1200

Sean Manaea                    +1200

Dylan Cease                      +1400

Lance McCullers Jr.        +1600

Justin Verlander             +1600

Frankie Montas               +1600

Shane McClanahan         +1600

Chris Sale                          +1800

This is where the long shots start to come in. Chris Sale has the 11th shortest odds to win the American League Cy Young. This is quite the drop off for the 7-time All Star – who used to the the cream of the crop as far as pitchers go.

Sale is certainly someone who would take this personally, so hopefully he can use this as motivation to be lights out in 2022.

2022 American League Rookie of the Year

Bobby Witt Jr.                 +300

Spencer Torkelson          +400

Adley Rutschman            +450

Shane Baz                          +700

Julio Rodriquez              +1000

Jeremy Pena                   +1000

Riley Greene                    +1200

Joe Ryan                           +2000

Vidal Brujan                     +2200

Reid Detmers                   +2200

Triston Casas                    +2800

Rookie first baseman Triston Casas is 10th most likely rookie to win ROTY – which will be hard to do if he doesn’t make the opening day roster. It will be tough for him to crack the lineup early on, but if he can get in there and make a difference when they need it, he could make the leap to being a top rookie sooner rather than later.

Regardless of if the Sox win any of these awards – baseball is back, and although I’m usually a critic of America’s past time, this is something to be excited about.

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @RedSoxCLNS for the latest up-to-date Red Sox sports news!

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