What Vegas thinks of the White Sox

It's dangerous to go to the sports book in Vegas a couple of days before opening day. Especially when Jose Abreu is on the television and takes one deep right in front of your eyes as he did vs. the Reds on Wednesday. It makes you look at the odds and say "hmmm what the hell".

That is what I did on Wednesday. I strolled up and got the "futures" page for MLB. On it, you could find the odds for every team to win their respective league, the World Series and a list of players with odds on winning the home run crown for the 2014 season.

I had just hit a couple of numbers on the roulette wheel (thank you Harold #3 and Frank #35), so I decided to indulge on some bets.

First thing was first. What were the White Sox odds to win the whole f'ing thing? They opened and were currently in the same spot at 40/1. Sounded ok to me so I gave them a twenty. Just in case 2014 wasn't as magical as 2005, I looked for other teams that had pretty decent odds and I found the Cincinnati Reds at 25/1. I laid some cash down on them too. Other teams I liked were the Pirates at 25/1 and the Royals at 40/1. Now that I am typing this, I am kicking myself I didn't throw a 10 spot on Kansas City. Other teams of interest show the Tigers at 7/1, Indians at 28/1, Twins at 75/1 and the Cubs at 30/1. The Dodgers are favored at 5/1. The Astros are the dark horse, checking in at 200/1.

Then I took a look at the odds for the home run crown. The first guy listed was our very own Adam Dunn at 40/1. I passed. All of the big names were on the list. Miguel Cabrera was the favorite at 6/1 followed by Chris Davis and the field at 7/1. But I'm in Vegas, baby. I need some long shots. I was looking for guys that paid out over 100/1. Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Beltran, Jason Heyward and Matt Holliday all checked in at 100/1. Adrian Gonzalez, David Wright, Eric Hosmer and Ryan Zimmerman were 125/1 and Pablo Sandoval was the lowest at 200/1. I decided that Gonzalez was my favorite of the bunch and laid 10 bucks on him. Lets go Adrian!

Then, I was shocked to find our very own Jose Abreu on the list. I was even more shocked to find that he was sitting at 35/1. After just watching a homer against the Reds, I dared to dream and put 20 on him. That put me in a search for my Cuban homies, and I liked what I saw there with Yasiel Puig at 75/1 and Yoenis Cespedes at 60/1, so I put some money on each of them. Other guys that I passed on that are decent bets are Josh Hamilton at 40/1, Ryan Braun at 25/1 and Evan Longoria at 60/1.

I was also surprised to see they were taking bets on Spring Training games. I don't know why that surprises me, but it would be tough to bet on a game that may feature a number 87 coming in and throwing the 9th inning.