Morning Coffee: Dodgers, Orioles the biggest MLB deadline day winners

The MLB trade deadline will be remembered for an absence of elite talent and blockbuster deals.

Instead, the highlight was the volume of activity.

Tarik Skubal remains the favourite to win the AL Cy Young award at FanDuel.

He also remains the ace of the Detroit Tigers rotation after staying put at the deadline.

From a betting perspective, the biggest winners might just be anybody with a Skubal to win the AL Cy Young award ticket in pocket.

Apparently, the price tag for acquiring a player of that caliber was too high.

The same is true for another starting pitcher that garnered some interest in Blake Snell, who the San Francisco Giants opted to keep as they continue their push to get back in the NL Wild Card race.

The ultimate goal for every contending team is to win the World Series.

In that regard, it’s easy to handicap the biggest winners and losers from the MLB trade deadline day.

This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday July 31st, 2024.

Dodgers, Orioles The Biggest MLB Deadline Day Winners

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the favourite to win the World Series at FanDuel at +300.

On Tuesday, they made arguably the biggest move of any contender.

LA acquired Jack Flaherty from the Tigers to boost their starting rotation.

The Dodgers have had 16 different starting pitchers this season – tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the most in the majors.

Flaherty is considered the top prize among the rental pitchers available at the deadline.

LA also added Kevin Kiermaier, Amed Rosario, Tommy Edman, and Michael Kopech prior to the deadline.

The Dodgers are down to +150 to win the NL pennant.

With Shohei Ohtani in contention for the NL triple crown, and a deep and talented roster behind him, nobody should be surprised that LA is the World Series favourite.

In terms of sheer volume, the Baltimore Orioles were extremely busy on Tuesday.

The Orioles added another good bullpen arm in Gregory Soto.

They also acquired Austin Slater, Eloy Jimenez and Trevor Rogers, after adding Zach Eflin last week.  

Baltimore’s odds to win the World Series ticked down from +700 to +600 at FanDuel.

Only the Dodgers (+300), Philadelphia Phillies (+500), and the New York Yankees (+550) have shorter odds.

In terms of other notable moves in the World Series winner market, the San Diego Padres’ odds to win it all dropped from +3000 to +2500 at FanDuel after they added some much-needed bullpen depth.

San Diego is down to +1400 as the fifth choice to win the National League.

In case you missed it, the Padres from a 5-0 deficit to beat LA 6-5 last night.

They did it in front of the largest crowd in Petco history.

On the flip side, the odds for each of the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, and the Minnesota Twins to win it all ticked up after they were quiet on Tuesday.

If you’re a regular reader, then you know that I’ve already recommended a play on the Phillies to win the World Series in this column.

While I am disappointed that they didn’t do more at the trade deadline, I’m sticking with Philadelphia as my pick to win it all.

Every team will go through hot and cold stretches over the course of a long season, and the Phillies have cooled off big time since the All-Star break.

The good news is that you could find Philly at +500 to win the World Series at FanDuel this morning.

Meanwhile, we cashed another FanDuel Best Bet with the New York Mets beating the Minnesota Twins 2-0 last night.

It’s good to finish another winning month with a winner.

Now we’re just one sleep away from the start of the NFL pre-season right here on TSN.

We’ll turn the page to August with the highly anticipated return of the NFL on Thursday.

Until then, have a great Wednesday, everyone!