Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Against all odds


If I was a betting man, and I don't have any money, so I'm not, I would have to think about putting some money on the World Baseball Classic. These are the current odds:







Dominican Republic 7-5
USA 8-5
Japan 6-1
Cuba 8-1
Venezuela 10-1
Puerto Rico 12-1
Korea 15-1
Mexico 15-1
Canada 25-1
Panama 25-1
Chinese Taipei 40-1
Australia 100-1
China 100-1
Italy 100-1
Netherlands 100-1
South Africa 100-1

The Dominican Republic and the US are the favorites. Then Japan and Cuba. That would make a good final four. But you don't just bet straight up on this. You have to play the odds and hedge your bets.

There doesn't seem to be much love for Puerto Rico or Canada, who should have strong teams, but have a bad pool draw. And Italy and the Netherlands, both with a large group of former major leaguers, get no love at all. And the poor South Africans are as low as they can go, because it doesn't go worse than 100-1.

There are betting shops all over the United Kingdom. They're on every corner. Its the British version of Starbucks. So it might be a worthwhile investment to put £20 on the US and the Dominican Republic. And $5 on Italy and the Netherlands, because if they happen to get lucky, so do I.

3 comments:

Jason @ IIATMS said...

Ponson & Andruw Jones on the Netherlands? I'd put the odds longer than 100-1.

PS: the new header is SO much better!

Ron Rollins said...

I don't know. If Sir Sidney gets his act together (remember, he's auditioning), with the rest of the staff the Netherlands (bunch of minor leaguers), the could surprise.

Remember, Jones has got a lot to show also.

Nick said...

I don't know much about betting, but I would think that Japan and Cuba have pretty good value at those odds.