It’s hard to know what a sleeper even is in baseball anymore. Technically speaking, the defending champion Boston Red Sox would classify as a sleeper team right about now.
The best baseball betting sites online list them as the seventh best team in terms of World Series odds after all. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that doesn’t sound like some elite, “World Series lock” kind of standing.
One look at Boston’s +1200 World Series odds and you might agree, especially with their recent surge after a disastrous start to the 2019 MLB season.
Maybe the Red Sox are a World Series sleeper by price alone. But if you’re really digging for value, you may want to aim a little higher. I honestly doubt any true sleeper teams win it all this year, but there is no harm in hoping, especially if you like to bet on baseball.
With that, here are five MLB teams that could be a little better than Vegas thinks they are when the dust settles at the end of the year:
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brew Crew aren’t even in terrible shape right now. They are neck and neck with the Chicago Cubs in the race for first place in the NL Central, yet offer a better pricing when it comes to betting on the World Series.
They also happen to rank 4th in home runs and boast one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball. Milwaukee could be more efficient and may need to bring in another ace before the playoffs roll around, but to have the 10th best odds in the majors feels like a mild slap in the face.
The Brewers did make it to game seven of the NLCS after all and could be one big move away from forcing their way to the 2019 World Series.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cards look to be in a worse spot than both the Brewers and Cubs right about now, but they carry a nice +2800 price tag and aren’t at all out of it (4 games back) in the competitive NL Central.
St. Louis probably needs to win the division to make the playoffs this year, but there’s no denying they have the talent to do it. The Cardinals can play with anyone offensively, as Paul Goldschmidt heads an explosive lineup that ranks inside the top-15 in both runs scored and collective batting average.
The results haven’t been there at a consistent rate when it comes to their power, but I think that could come. The same goes for their pitching, which boasts some nice young talent like Jack Flaherty and Carlos Martinez, the latter of which is presently being used as a reliever.
The bats will need to sharpen up and the Cards may need Martinez back as an effective full-time starter to make a real run, but it’s far from impossible.
New York Mets
The Mets are another underrated team that are just hanging around right now (5.5 games out of first place in the NL East. Their pitching talent (namely Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard) gives them an edge come playoff time – assuming they can get there.
New York is actually loaded offensively. Rookie masher Pete Alonso brings the pop and surprising efficiency, while veterans like Robinson Cano, Wilson Ramos and Todd Frazier offer experience and plenty of power.
Throw in other young power bats like J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto, and the Mets could have the makings of a lethal offense. Cohesiveness and health are still a work in progress, while the aforementioned elite pitching has yet to, well, truly be elite.
It’s all there for the Mets to piece together, though. Considering they have enough talent and are within striking distance, they could be one big move from climbing the NL East ladder.
Cleveland Indians
The deeper down the World Series odds list you go, the less likely you are to hit on a sleeper that can actually win it all.
I’m not totally ready to nail it in on the Tribe just yet, however. Cleveland still has three legit aces in Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber, while Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber round out a truly special pitching rotation.
Add in the potential return of Danny Salazar, and the Indians could be positively deadly on the mound by the time postseason play rolls around.
The only question is if the Indians will be worthy of participating.
Cleveland did have their offense sapped this offseason with the departure of Michael Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion, but they’re still loaded in terms of sheer talent. Guys like Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana head a loaded offense that can still get hot and potentially carry this team to the playoffs again.
I do think the Indians have a tough path to the playoffs considering how good the Minnesota Twins have looked. If they can sneak in, though, they could be a tough out and one heck of a World Series flier bet.
Washington Nationals
Lastly, we come to the Nats, who may have as great of pitching as anyone thanks to nasty hurlers like Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg.
The problem, of course, is the Nats don’t have a ton of reliable arms beyond them and their constantly banged up offense has been inconsistent. That, and they lost Bryce Harper during free agency.
None of that sounds great, but the Nats offer immense upside when you note their high level pitching and the potential their offense exudes.
Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Trea Turner still head a very talented lineup that simply needs to get more consistent. Adding one more big bat could help that and if the pitching stays the course, a team presently free falling in the NL East could shock a lot of people before the year is up.
The odds are probably good that the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees or maybe even the Red Sox are winning the 2019 World Series. But there’s no always a ton of fun (or value) in betting on the favorites.
Whether you actually back any of these sleepers or not, they sure could be fun to root for at the end of the year based on narrative alone.
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