Morning Coffee: Dodgers clear World Series favourite after signing Yamamoto

The Los Angeles Dodgers made the biggest splash of the MLB offseason when they signed Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million contract.

Less than two weeks after they signed Ohtani to the largest contract in MLB history, they went right back to work and signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the largest contract in MLB history for a pitcher.

The 25-year-old right-hander signed a 12-year, $325-million deal on Thursday.

LA became the first team in MLB history to sign multiple players to $300+ million contracts in the same offseason.

Factor in the trade for Tyler Glasnow in between the Ohtani and Yamamoto signings, and a rotation that had some major question marks a couple of weeks ago suddenly looks very solid.

The Dodgers are the clear favourites to win the 2024 World Series at FanDuel at +400 odds.

The Atlanta Braves (+650), New York Yankees (+850) and Houston Astros (+900) are the only other teams with shorter than 10-to-1 odds to win it all this season.

While the baseball team continued an unprecedented off-season spending spree with the addition of Yamamoto, LA’s best chance at a Super Bowl moved one win closer to locking up a playoff spot.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday December 22^nd, 2023.

Rams Inch One Win Closer Towards Playoff Spot

The Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints entered Week 16 with the most on the line in terms of their odds to make the playoffs.

With a 30-22 victory to improve to 8-7, the Rams went from -132 to -265 to make the playoffs at FanDuel.

That movement represents a jump from 56.9 per cent to 72.6 per cent in implied probability that LA gets in.

Every season there is at least one team that comes on late and is talked about as the sleeper contender that none of the top seeds want to face in the playoffs.

I’m not convinced that they can make a deep run in the postseason, but at this point it’s clear that the Rams are better than anybody expected them to be.

Matthew Stafford has thrown multiple TD passes in five straight games – his longest streak since joining Los Angeles.

Rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua led the way with 164 receiving yards on Thursday night and is up to 1,327 receiving yards this season.

Nacua is 147 receiving yards away from breaking the all-time rookie record.

DeMarcus Robinson had six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown last night.

He’s scored in four straight games.

Cooper Kupp finished with six catches for 52 yards.

Meanwhile, second-year running back Kyren Williams became the first 1,000-yard rusher for the Rams since Todd Gurley back in 2018.

LA has averaged 397.4 yards per game and gone 7-4 when Williams plays this season.

The Rams are still a 70-to-1 long shot to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel.

They won’t win it all, but that doesn’t make what LA has done so far this season any less impressive.

As for the Saints, their odds to make the playoffs ballooned from +104 to +300 at FanDuel following a loss that left them at 7-8.

In terms of implied probability, that’s a drop from a 49 per cent chance to a 25 per cent chance that New Orleans qualifies for the postseason.

The Saints are still just a half-game back of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the best record in the NFC South.

At this point, anybody interested in a futures bet on New Orleans might consider taking them at +350 to win their division over +300 to make the playoffs.

I’m not interested in either of those numbers.

A FanDuel Best Bet For Week 16 In The NFL

Anybody who tailed the FanDuel Best Bet in Thursday’s Morning Coffee column was a winner as the Rams won easily after Chris Olave secured the 25 receiving yards we needed from him on the opening drive of the game.

Turning the page to the NFL weekend slate, I’ve got another FanDuel Best Bet to consider for Week 16.

I’ll lock in a traditional two-team parlay with the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos to win outright at -110.

The Packers are +410 to make the playoffs at FanDuel.

Jordan Love has struggled on the road this season.

However, Sunday’s game in Carolina will give him the perfect opportunity to show the world that he can lead Green Bay to victory in a must-win situation against an inferior opponent.

The Panthers have scored fewer than 20 points in eight straight games.

The Packers are 5-2 this season when they hold their opponents to 20 points or fewer.

I’ll lock in Green Bay money line in a must-win situation.

Sticking with the must-win theme, the Broncos are coming off an ugly 42-17 loss to the Detroit Lions that left them on the outside looking in on an AFC Wild Card spot with a 7-7 record.

Denver is currently +270 to make the playoffs at FanDuel.

As is the case with Green Bay, I’ll take the better team in a must-win spot against an inferior opponent.

I’ll lock in a two-team parlay with the Packers and Broncos to win outright at -110 as my FanDuel Best Bet. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!

Hopefully, we can celebrate the holidays with another winner!