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World Baseball Classic Odds: USA Favored to Win

By Anthony Sosa

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Less than a month away from the start of the World Baseball Classic, and as Yahoo! Sports reporter Mike Oz mentions, the odds are out (by Bovada, an online sports betting website) and Team USA is the favorite.

Every four years, baseball fans watch their favorite MLB players battle it out against each other for their respective countries. Although Team USA has yet to win a WBC championship, this year looks like their best chance so far. Team USA has the highest odds to win and Team Israel has the least likely odds. Here is a short breakdown of top ten teams and their odds, respectively.

Team USA: +200 – 2/1

As mentioned above, if Team USA is ever going to win the WBC, this is the year. Team USA has a stacked roster, from their pitching to their offense.

Team USA has one of the best outfields in the tournament. Tasked with the outfield duties are Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen.

The pitching staff also stands out for the U.S. this year. The rotation led by Marcus Stroman, Chris Archer and Sonny Gray looks ready to take opposing offenses by storm.

However, winning the WBC won’t be simple for Team USA. Plenty of other teams aim to bring a WBC championship to their country, as well.

Team Dominican Republic: +250 – 5/2

Team D.R. is the second strongest team in this year’s WBC. One could easily argue that Team D.R. should have the highest odds to win this year.

The WBC defending champs are led by Manny Machado, Johnny Cueto and 2013 WBC MVP Robinson Cano. These are just three of the many All-Stars that make up the D.R. squad.

The D.R. also has young and rising MLB pitchers Luis Severino and Alex Reyes. And let’s not forget they have baseball’s favorite 43-year-old, Bartolo Colon.

Team Japan: +300 – 3/1

Team Japan won the first two WBC championships in 2006 and 2009. In 2013, the club finished in third place. So far, Japan been the most successful country in the WBC.

Nevertheless, the team won’t have one of the best Japanese players available for the tournament. Shohei Otani, who is consider by some “the Babe Ruth of Japan,” is both a powerful hitter and a dominant pitcher. Japan ruled him out due to an ankle injury.

The only current MLB player for the Japan team is Astros outfielder Nori Aoki.

Team Venezuela: +900 – 9/1

Another team loaded with MLB talent, Team Venezuela has the potential to win the WBC in 2017. The team’s highest finish was third place in 2009.

There’s no doubt that Team Venezuela possesses a good offense. Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Carlos Gonzalez and Victor Martinez lead the offensive charge. With plenty of veteran presence on the offensive side, the real question is their pitching.

Besides Felix Hernandez, Team Venezuela has a few question marks surrounding their rotation. It’ll be interesting to see if pitchers Martin Perez, Eduardo Rodriguez and Jhoulys Chacin help or hinder Team Venezuela.

Team Puerto Rico: +1000 – 10/1

The highlight of Team Puerto Rico is their young, talented infield. With Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez, it’ll be tough for opponents to get any ball through the infield.

Veterans Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran look to guide Team Puerto Rico to its first WBC title. But like Team Venezuela, Team P.R.’s pitching isn’t the strongest. Their best starter is probably Hector Santiago.

Team Korea: +1000 – 10/1

Team Korea finished runner-up to Japan in the 2009 WBC and finished third in the 2006 WBC, but struggled early on in 2013, which led to elimination.

A team with plenty of potential, South Korea will rely on their strong relievers to carry the team. One of those relievers is Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh. As a late addition to the team, Oh brings a great arm to the back of the bullpen.

Team Cuba: +1800 – 18/1

There are plenty of talented Cuban-born players in MLB, but none are part of the 2017 Cuban team. Cuba isn’t allowing any players that defected to the U.S. to play for the national team.

Star players like Jose Abreu, Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Yoenis Cepedes won’t be in the WBC. Although baseball fans can look forward to seeing Cespedes’ younger half-brother, Yoelkis Cespedes, in the WBC. The 19-year-old displays skills similar to his older half-brother in MLB.

Team Mexico: +2500 – 25/1

Led by Adrian Gonzalez, Team Mexico looks to reach the final four for its first time in WBC history. A mix of veterans and young guys make up Mexico’s squad.

A cool storyline for Team Mexico is its young stars from MLB. Guys like Roberto Osuna, Julio Urias, Marco Estrada and Khris Davis could play a huge role for Mexico in 2017.

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Team Netherlands: +2500 – 25/1

Team Netherlands shocked baseball fans when they battled all the way to fourth place in the 2013 WBC. That won’t come as a surprise if that happens in 2017.

Like Team P.R., Team Netherlands consists of a great, young infield. Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius, Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Schoop and Jurickson Profar make up the infield.

Outside of that strong infield are a lot of question marks, but that’s no different than the team in 2013 and look what happened.

Team Canada: +6600 – 66/1

Eric Gagne is pitching for Team Canada. Yes, that Eric Gagne. Although he hasn’t pitched since 2008, Gagne looks to show everybody that he still has something left in the tank.

Joining Gagne out of retirement is another former pitcher, Ryan Dempster. He retired after the 2013 baseball season. It’ll be interesting to see how these two fair against other talented stars.

Team Canada also has Braves stud first baseman Freddie Freeman and Mariners top prospect Tyler O’Neill.

Next: 4 Teams That Won't Live Up to Hype in 2017

The Bottom Six Teams with Very Low Odds to Win:

Chinese Taipei: +8000 – 80/1

Australia: +15000 – 150/1

China: +15000 – 150/1

Colombia: +15000 – 150/1

Italy: +15000 – 150/1

Israel: +20000 – 200/1

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