Betting on which team will win the NL and AL pennants always produces interest and surprises. But not to start the year as the Tigers and Dodgers top the lists.
A 162-game season can make or break plenty of teams with only the cream of the crop rising to the top.
The team favored to rise to the top in the American League is the Detroit Tigers at 4/1 to win the AL pennant, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are a 3/1 favorite to win the NL pennant.
Detroit has advanced to the AL Championship Series in each of the last three seasons, going on to win the pennant in a sweep over the Yankees in 2012.
Led by Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and newly acquired second baseman Ian Kinsler on offense and Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer on the pitching staff, the Tigers are a tough team to beat.
Whichever team survives out of the AL East will be a serious contender in odds to win the AL pennant with the Boston Red Sox (6/1), Tampa Bay Rays (6/1) and New York Yankees (13/2) going off as the next three teams on the betting board behind Detroit.
Ten of the last 16 AL pennant winners have come out of the AL East, including the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
Other contenders in the AL include Texas (8/1), Oakland (9/1), the Los Angeles Angels (11/1) and Toronto (14/1).
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are stacked with great bats including Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez and an elite pitching staff led by Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu. At 3/1 to win the NL Pennant, the Dodgers are the clear team to beat in the National League.
Going off at 9/2 to win the NL, the St. Louis Cardinals were the team to topple the Dodgers last season and will try to do so again this year. The Cardinals won the NLCS last season by stymieing the Dodgers with great pitching led by Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha.
Keeping up with the outstanding pitching trends, the Washington Nationals (5/1) have one of the best staffs in baseball with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez at the top. Other NL pennant contenders include San Francisco (15/2), Atlanta (8/1) and Cincinnati (10/1).