By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

As a gambling addict, the recent banning of online gaming within the states has taken a major toll on my personal life. My pocket book, ironically, is typically a little thicker, however. Still, a recent trip found me in Reno, Nevada and inevitably streaking to the sportsbook. With football season finished (sorry, I’m not quite at a degenerate level ready to bet on the Pro Bowl), I mostly browsed futures bets. With the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns a little too heavily favored (5/2), I moved along seeking more of a long-shot wager with a potential increased payout. I headed to baseball.

To my surprise, I didn’t agree with many of the posted odds to win this year’s World Series. The Blue Jays at 15-1? I wouldn’t take that bet even if it was for them to finish second in the AL East. Nine teams fell in the 10-1 or lower odds range, including the Cubs (9-1?!). I like what the Braves did to their bullpen over the offseason, so their 30-1 mark was interesting, but the Padres listed at the same 30-1 long shot really caught my eye. Listen, I’m a Giants fan and will be rooting for them this season, but they have no business being favored (10-1) by this much over San Diego. I walked into the casino thinking San Diego as the clear NL West favorites, but apparently, the bookmakers disagreed.

Really, 30-1? This is the same team that won their division back-to-back seasons right? Am I mistaken, or does the rotation not feature Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux, Clay Hensley and David Wells? The bullpen, by the way, consists of Trevor Hoffman, Scott Linebrink and Cla Meredith. They did lose Mike Piazza, Dave Roberts and Josh Barfield but countered with the additions of Kevin Kouzmanoff and Marcus Giles. Terrmel Sledge and Josh Bard arguably are upgrades anyway.

It’s true, San Diego is missing a premiere bat in the heart of the order, but still, Khalil Greene is a breakout candidate (like every year over the past few seasons), and Brian Giles, Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez round out a solid lineup without a glaring weakness. On the surface, Bud Black seems like a more than competent new manager, and let’s not forget, 85-88 wins are usually enough to win the pathetic NL West. The Padres aren’t my World Series favorites, but since they have one of the easiest paths to the playoffs, I would clump them in the top 5-8 range. At 30-1, there isn’t a better futures bet out there. Take the Fathers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 11th, 2007 at 1:30 pm and is filed under BASEBALL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.