Spring Training is underway and meaningful games are right around the corner after an interesting offseason for the Chicago Cubs.
Here are the World Series odds for the Cubs in 2020 at a few of the top online sportsbooks in the country.
DraftKings Sportsbook: +2500
FanDuel Sportsbook: +3000
Golden Nugget: +2400
888 Sport: +2500
Bet365: +2500
Do the Cubs have betting value?
It was a surprising fall from grace for the Cubs in 2019 and into the start of 2020. After winning the World Series in 2016, making the NLCS in 2017 and winning 95 games in 2018, it’d be hard to imagine 11 teams listed with better odds to win the World Series in 2020 than the Cubs. That’s the case despite keeping most of its promising young core in tact that many expected to keep Chicago competitive for many years. Cubs fans weren’t happy about the quiet offseason in which the key signings were Steven Souza Jr. and Jeremy Jeffress while losing Cole Hamels, Ben Zobrist, Nicholas Castellanos and Pedro Strop. There have also been rumblings about a potential Kris Bryant trade.
Still, the public may be overreacting to the lack of moves from the Cubs and dismissing the possibility of positive regression from their roster. PECOTA projections have the Cubs going 85-77 and grabbing a Wild Card spot in 2020. At a 51.5% chance to make the playoffs, PECOTA projections like Chicago much more than the Cardinals (24.4%). St. Louis also had a mostly quiet offseason, but DraftKings Sportsbook has them as the NL Central favorite and +2000 to win the World Series. The Reds had an eventful offseason and come in at +2800, while the Brewers lost a couple key pieces and fell back to +3300. The Pirates (+20000) aren’t expected to compete in an otherwise deep division.
MVP, Cy Young and Home Run Leader Odds
Chicago is deeper than anyone when it comes to players with low odds to win the National League MVP. The Cubs have three of the top 14 players listed on DraftKings to bring home the MVP. Javier Baez leads the group of Cubs at +2200 after his breakout campaign in 2018 saw him finish second in MVP voting. He regressed in 2019 but still finished with a respectable 4.4 fWAR and hit 29 home runs in 138 games. Bryant (+2500) won this award in 2016 and finished high in voting in both 2015 and 2017. But his level of production dropped in the past two seasons. Still, Bryant showed signs of his former self in 2019 and isn’t far removed an MVP trophy. Anthony Rizzo comes in at +3300. As a first baseman that lacks the extra tools many of the front runners in the NL have, he’d need a remarkable season at the plate to pull off an MVP year.
Kyle Schwarber (+4000) is the only Cub under +6000 for odds to win the MLB home run title. In a career-high 155 games played in 2019, he also set a career best in home runs with 38. He has the raw power to contend with the league’s best, and his contact rate has continued to rise each year.
The Cubs have just one starter listed under +10000 to win the NL Cy Young. Yu Darvish (+2200) is eighth in DraftKings odds after a resurgence in the second half of 2019. He finished second in Cy Young voting in 2013 with the Rangers.
