By Sam Bush
It won’t surprise anyone to know that the Phillies’ splash this offseason has impressed everyone in Vegas.
The sharpies have made them the fave to win the NL East for the first time since 2011:
PHILLIES +175
The team that made the biggest offseason splash by landing superstar Bryce Harper, the Phillies look to be all-in on going for it this season and beyond.
Outside of Harper, the Phillies were able to sign OF Andrew McCutchen and trade for SS Jean Segura and the best catcher on the market in J.T. Realmuto (above) from the Marlins.
Last season, the Phillies ranked 30th in hits and 29th in doubles and were in the bottom half of MLB in homers and RBIs so those additions should surely move the needle to put more runs on the board, addressing what was Philadelphia’s biggest weakness last year.
On paper, this team should destroy most divisional teams with offense and the 1-2 punch of Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta will give teams fits but they need to take care of their divisional games. Last season, they were right there in the hunt to make the playoffs but they finished the year with a 36-40 SU record in 76 games against NL East teams. I don’t expect a repeat of that record but this division is more competitive than some of the others in MLB and there’s a smaller margin for error as I don’t expect a wild-card team to come out of this division.
Here’s the rest of the division:
WASHINGTON NATIONALS +275
ATLANTA BRAVES +300
NEW YORK METS +350
MIAMI MARLINS +10000
