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The SF Giants Had 9-to-1 Preseason Odds To Make The Playoffs

San Francisco, widely projected to be one of the NL's worst teams, became the first MLB team to clinch a postseason spot ⚾️ (3 minute read)

Welcome to new readers Sam, Peter and Alex. Thank you guys for joining!

San Francisco Clinches

On Monday night, the San Francisco Giants became the first MLB team to clinch a postseason spot 👏

Entering this season, the Giants were projected to win just 75 games, giving them a 1.2% chance of making the playoffs. The four teams below were expected to finish 21st-24th, but as you can see, SF is proving everyone wrong

  • Arizona Diamondbacks: projected 75.5 wins, currently at 47

  • San Francisco Giants: projected 73.5, currently at 94

  • Miami Marlins: projected 72.5, currently at 61

  • Kansas City Royals: projected 72, currently at 65

The craziest part? Both the Giants and the Diamondback’s projected win total translated to 9-to-1 odds to make the playoffs. Arizona currently sits 47 games behind San Francisco 🤯

NL West State Of Play

With 18 games left, the Giants (94-50) and Dodgers (92-53) have the two best records in baseball, and are only separated by 2.5 games

While home-field advantage is important in all sports, it’s HUGE in the MLB. One of the Giants and Dodgers will win the NL West, ensuring a five game Divisional Series at minimum. The other will play a single-elimination Wild Card playoff game — extremely different scenarios for the two best teams in baseball

Remaining schedule:

  • Giants: 12 games vs potential playoff teams

  • Dodgers: 9 games vs potential playoff teams

Odds to win the NL West

  • Giants: -132 (bet $132, win $100)

  • Dodgers: +107 (bet $100, win $107)

With 18 games remaining, the Giants are favored to lock up the division. A 2.5 game lead is tight, but LA and SF won’t see each other again in the regular season, so the Dodgers need some San Fran losses. Anything is possible though, as the Dodgers just got Clayton Kershaw back from injury 👀

2021 World Series Odds

Regardless of their win count, the Giants are not getting much respect when it comes to World Series futures. SF currently has the sixth-best title odds, behind four of the five division leaders, and the Dodgers

  • Dodgers: +290

  • Astros: +500

  • White Sox: +700

  • Brewers & Rays: +800

  • Giants: +1100

Since San Francisco won their last World Series title in 2014, four of the last six WS winners finished with the most wins in their conference

If the Giants can hold off the Dodgers in the remaining 18 games, they’ll finish with the best record in the NL and definitely deserving of a future given the skepticism surrounding their odds

Who would you put your money on to win the World Series? Let us know 👇