World Series Long Shots Battling for Wild Card Berths

As the regular season enters its final weeks, the Los Angeles Angels remain firmly atop the odds to win the 2014 World Series.

The Angels, who could clinch the AL West title as early as Wednesday, are pegged as 5-1 favorites to claim their first title since 2002.

However, Los Angeles will have its hands full this week as the team opens a four-game set at home against the Seattle Mariners. While the Mariners are well out of contention in the AL West, they enter the week just one game back of the Kansas City Royals for the second and final AL Wild Card spot.

Despite their recent strong play, the Mariners sit well back of the favorites in World Series betting, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, alongside the Royals with odds of 20-1.

Kansas City owned first place in the AL Central for several weeks until its current slide of just three wins in its last nine games allowed the Detroit Tigers to reclaim top spot in the division.

The Tigers, whose recent strong play has improved their World Series betting odds to 13-2, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, could all but lock up the AL Central title this week when they travel to Kansas City for a three-game weekend series against the Royals.

Detroit has dominated the Royals, winning 11 of their 16 meetings this season, including six of seven in Kansas City. However, prior to traveling to Kansas City, the Tigers must first get past the Minnesota Twins.

Max Scherzer is scheduled to take the mound in Monday night’s Tigers vs Twins series opener at Target Field, with Detroit pegged as 10-19 moneyline favorites.

In the National League, it remains a three-way race for the Wild Card between the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee starts the week outside the playoff picture, a game and a half back of Pittsburgh for the second NL Wild Card, with the two teams set to square off in a three-game series this weekend at PNC Park.

While the Brewers and Pirates have remained in the thick of the Wild Card and NL Central races for much of the season, both clubs enter the regular season homestretch as longshots in World Series betting, with Pittsburgh owning 22-1 odds, just ahead of Milwaukee at 25-1.