Mark Taylor
The San Diego Padres aren’t messing around.
Despite being in the same division as the prohibitive National League favorite Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres are chasing a title. They were by far the most active team before the Major League Baseball trade deadline. Oddsmakers noticed.
The Padres’ odds have gone down to +1500 after adding multiple pieces in trades, most notably Cleveland Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger. The Los Angeles Dodgers (+350) and Atlanta Braves (+1200) are the only NL teams with lower odds.
The Padres’ opening number to win the World Series was +6000. That’s a pretty big change. The Padres were 25-to-1 before their trades at BetMGM, and dropped significantly again to 15-to-1 after their moves.
The Padres have never won a World Series, and perhaps this was the perfect year to go for it.
Padres saw an opportunity
In a normal year, the Padres might look at a 4.5-game deficit to the Dodgers in the division with less 25 games left and not go all-in at the trade deadline. Winning a one-game wild card playoff is no sure thing, and it would be disappointing to trade prospects and not even get into a Division Series.
But this is not a normal year. Each of the eight playoff teams will play a three-game series in the first round. The Padres, as a No. 4 or No. 5 seed, might have to take on the Dodgers in a five-game series in the second round, but they have reinforcements for that.
The Padres not only added Clevinger, who matches with Chris Paddack for a good 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but also relievers Trevor Rosenthal, Dan Altavilla and Austin Adams, first baseman/DH Mitch Moreland, catchers Austin Nola and Jason Castro and outfielder Greg Allen.
The Padres were already an exciting team, with MVP candidate Fernando Tatis Jr. and a resurgent Manny Machado having big years. Now they’re deep, too. If you got the Padres early on at 60-to-1 to win the World Series or anything near those odds, you should be pretty happy with their aggressiveness at the deadline.
The American League has more championship contenders than the National League this season. That is reflected in the World Series odds at BetMGM. Here are all the teams with odds lower than 20-to-1:
Los Angeles Dodgers +350
New York Yankees +500
Tampa Bay Rays +800
Oakland A’s +1000
Atlanta Braves +1200
Chicago White Sox +1200
Houston Astros +1400
Minnesota Twins +1400
San Diego Padres +1500
Chicago Cubs +1600
The Padres weren’t even close to that list of contenders before the season started, even with some exciting pieces on the roster. That changed in a big way over the past few days.
