World Series Futures Odds Update: No Respect for Pirates, Indians

The Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks have been great bets early in the season, but oddsmakers still don't have much faith in them as World Series threats.

Pittsburgh went off this season getting upwards of 100-1 to win the World Series for the first time since Willie Stargell's 'family' did it in 1979. And rightly so, considering the Pirates still haven't even managed a winning season in 20 years. 

But through the first 50 games of this season Pittsburgh had played itself 12 games over .500, and had won almost $1,400, based on those theoretical $100 wagers on every game.

On the strength of that solid start, sportsbooks like Bovada had to drop their World Series futures odds on the Pirates down to 25-1.

Meanwhile, the brand power of teams like the Yankees and Red Sox continue to exert influence on baseball futures. And even regular-season battles command respect and baseball wagering interest, because heated rivalries never go out of fashion.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox, in interleague battles with the Mets and Phillies respectively today, are in the 14-1 range at many online sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com.

Cleveland hasn't made the playoffs since 2007, and went off this season getting upwards of 80-1 to win the Series for the first time since the days of Lemon, Feller and Boudreau. But so far this year the Tribe, under new management with Terry Francona, has played four games above .500.

The result is that bettors have made almost $800 on the daily baseball grind and stayed within a sniff in the American League playoff races.

As a result of Cleveland's promising start, not withstanding some recent troubles, Bovada has dropped its World Series offering on the Indians to that same 25-1.

Finally, the Diamondbacks, even though they won the NL West just a couple seasons ago, were supposed to finish somewhere behind the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West this year.

Instead, as June approached, Arizona led the West by a couple of games and had won over $700, according to wagering profit standings.

And yet, despite that early success, Bovada has actually bumped the odds on the D'backs on its World Series futures board to 25-1.