As the St. Louis Cardinals get set to head to Spring Training in Jupiter, Florida, oddsmakers have weighed in already on what sort of season they are expecting the team to have. As of this writing, Oddsshark.com has the team at +10000 to win the World Series. That makes them one of only eight teams to be at +10000 or higher.
The Cardinals only have better odds to win the World Series than the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A's, Washington Nationals, LA Angels, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins. The team is just behind the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants.
To no surprise the Los Angeles Dodgers sit at the top of the list at +250, followed by the New York Yankees at +800 and the Atlanta Braves at +1000. The Philadelphia Phillies at + 1100 and the New York Mets at +1200 round out the Top 5.
Taking a look at some of the prop bets from BettingPros, the current player with the best odds to take home the National League MVP award is Willson Contreras who is currently at +10000. The next highest Cardinals players on the list (of those expected to be on the opening day roster) are shortstop Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan who are in a group of players at +12500. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is the heavy favorite at +200, followed by Juan Soto of the New York Mets at +550 and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres at +800.
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On the pitching side, Sonny Gray is the highest ranked Cardinals pitcher in terms of favorites to win the NL Cy Young Award. Gray is currently at +3000 which is about the 15th best odds in the league. Pittsburgh Pirates hurler Paul Skenes is the odds on favorite at +300, followed by Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies at +750 and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves at +800. Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley checks in on the board at +20000.
The team does have a player fairly high up on the odds to win the NL Rookie of the Year. 22 year old Infielder Thomas Saggese currently has the sixth best odds at +2500. The favorite is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki.
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The Cardinals finished last season with an overall record of 83-79, 10 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The team will open this season at home against the Minnesota Twins on March 27 at 3:15 p.m. CT.