Baltimore Orioles 2012 World Series Betting Odds
May 10th, 2012 | Author: John
The Baltimore Orioles have become the buzziest team in baseball, coming out of nowhere to jump into second place in the American League East. After winning five of their last seven, the Orioles are in 19-11, just one game off pace for best record in the AL. And they’re not just doing it with a soft serve schedule. Baltimore is 10-5 against AL East opponents, including two really good series against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees last week.
But oddsmakers seem to be sceptical that all this momentum might be short lived. The Orioles are near the bottom on Bovada’s 2012 World Series Futures page with 50/1 odds, jammed behind the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox.
The Yankees (9/1) and Red Sox (18/1), who are 11-19 at the moment, have better World Series Odds than the Orioles.
Winners of five-straight dating back to the start of this week, Baltimore has dropped two-straight to the Texas Rangers after Josh Hamilton’s monstrous four-homer night on Tuesday. But the Orioles are ranked fourth in the AL in team ERA (3.21) and saves (11) and third in home runs (45).
One reason to be skeptical of the Orioles is players like J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynoldds, who can go on an 0 for 30 slump as quickly as a 20 for 30. Hardy is only hitting .244 for the year, but has come on lately with 10 hits in his last 16 at-bats with three homers in that span. Reynolds started the year in another horrific funk, barely hitting over .100 before last week. In Boston, he was 6 for 11 in three games, including a 2 for 3 day in Sunday’s finale with a career-high four walks.
“Just imagine if we can get Reynolds and Hardy going,” outfielder Adam 
Jones told the Baltimore Sun.
Their pitching staff is loaded with journeymen like Jason Hammel, who leads the team with four wins an a 2.09 ERA. Loads of guys who have posted career-bests so far to provide unexpected depth.
A lot of question marks for Baltimore. But if Buck Showalter can continue to squeeze everything out of these misfits, a wild card spot isn’t all that unbelievable.