Sports betting odds favor the Philadelphia Phillies to win the National League East this season. The Phillies are -180 in sports betting online numbers to defend their NL East title.Sports betting numbers list the Atlanta Braves as the second choice at +260 to win the National League East. The New York Mets and Florida Marlins are co-third choices at +600 while the Washington Nationals are 50-1.
The Phillies are the favorites in sports betting to win the National League East and for good reason. They have the best lineup in the division and now they have Roy Halladay. They will miss Cliff Lee though and there are serious questions about Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. The lineup is loaded though with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jason Werth, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino.
Atlanta is a very intriguing second choice in sports betting online in this division. This will be manager Bobby Cox’s last season and the Braves have the talent to make it a good season for him. The pitching staff is excellent led by Jair Jurrjens and Tim Hudson. The lineup is going to include future superstar Jason Heyward and other talented players like catcher Brian McCann. The key for Atlanta will be whether or not they get Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus to return to form. If they can coax a good year out of those two veterans they may have enough to challenge the Phillies.
Florida has a lot of talent but probably not enough depth to win the division. They are led by Josh Johnson who they signed to a four-year, $39 million dollar deal. They need some pitchers to step up behind him though including Anibal Sanchez. The lineup looks good with Hanley Ramirez leading the way.
The Mets are overvalued and probably will be a disappointment. They have a team full of injured players. Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes have been hurt. It is unclear what they will get out of any of them this year.
The pitching staff is very questionable and the lineup is suspect until Reyes and Beltran get healthy.
The Nationals have Stephen Strasburg but he is starting the season in the minor leagues. That is too bad since he would have been worth watching. Not many of the other players are other than third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.