Cardinals Favored to Win the NL Central Division and Odds. Sportsbook odds favor the St. Louis Cardinals to win the National League Central this season. The Cardinals are a solid favorite of -170 at the Internet sportsbook. The only other team getting much attention is the Chicago Cubs who are +170.
Sportsbook lines list the Milwaukee Brewers at +780 while the Cincinnati Reds are +900. Houston is considered a longshot at 12-1 while Pittsburgh has no real chance at 30-1. St. Louis has won three National League Central titles in the last five years. They have one of the best pitching duos in all of baseball with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. They have the best player in the game in Albert Pujols and other solid-run producers like Matt Holliday. There are concerns for St. Louis though as they don’t have a lot of depth behind Carpenter and Wainwright. They need Brad Penny to bounce back with a big year.
The Cubs are the second choice at the sportsbook in this division and on paper that makes sense. The Cubs were really hurt by injuries a year ago. If they could get a full year from Aramis Ramirez it sure would help. They also need Alfonso Soriano to decide that he is an elite player. The Cubs are going to miss Rich Harden but they are expecting a big year from Ryan Dempster. Carlos Zambrano should also be much better. They do need Ted Lilly to get back from injury quickly.
The Brewers are a tough team to figure out. They have a good hitting combination of Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun and they have Yovani Gallardo to lead the pitching staff. They added Randy Wolf in the off-season and that move should be huge. The question is whether they can get enough out of Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan.
The Reds are also an interesting team vs. odds at the Internet sportsbook. They have some talent to make a run in this division. They need Aaron Harang to pitch better and lead the staff. Johnny Cueto looks good and Aroldis Chapman is the talk of the spring. The offense is led by Jay Bruce and Joey Votto.
Houston has a new manager and probably not enough talent to get to .500. They do have Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez though. Their offense is overrated. Pittsburgh is going to be bad again and that can be said every season about the Pirates.