Chicago Cubs: Playoff odds continue to fall for World Champions

Dominant Astros running away with AL West

Last year, the Houston Astros appeared poised to emerge from rebuilder to contender. They fell just short of that mark and question marks arose. Hot out of the gates in 2017, Houston enters June 12 games above .500 on the road and 10 over at Minute Maid Park.

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Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve have combined for 61 runs batted in this year. The middle infield duo boasts a combined average north of .300, leading the Houston offense. Dallas Kuechel headlines a starting rotation that ranks near the top of the American League, thanks to the outburst of Lance McCullers.

That’s not to say this team is destined to win it all.

Fangraphs pegs the Astros at a virtual lock, though, to make the postseason at 99.6 percent postseason odds. In fact, Houston has a 98.8 percent chance to win the AL West. Needless to say, those are pretty solid chances.

Injuries always hold the potential to derail a team. Losing a major piece like Correa or Kuechel could put a damper on the team’s World Series hopes, but, either way, October baseball seems like a sure thing.

Rockies, Diamondbacks look to dethrone Los Angeles

The last time the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to win the National League West, the world was a very different place:

• The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London
• Jerry Sandusky was sentenced for the Penn State scandal
• Mitt Romney lost the presidential election to Barack Obama

Just for starters.

Chicago Cubs

Colorado and Arizona enter June more than 10 games above .500. Still, after the Dodgers steamrolled the Cubs in L.A. and continued their hot play in St. Louis, they’re back atop the division.

But, if you ask Fangraphs, two months of good baseball does not a division contender make. The site pegs both the Rockies and the Diamondbacks’ division odds at less than five percent.  However, they do acknowledge that both clubs have better than coin-flip odds at factoring into the playoff picture.

On paper, Los Angeles appears to be the logical choice for a fifth-straight NL West title. Clayton Kershaw headlines the rotation and Alex Wood has backed him up for the first two months.

The offense is firing on all cylinders, too, thanks to a mix of young talent and experienced veterans. The Rockies and Diamondbacks hope to play spoiler, but face an uphill battle if they want to get the job done.

Bronx Bombers making their comeback

Last year, the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs hooked up on a blockbuster midseason deal. The Cubs, of course, landed coveted closer Aroldis Chapman. This filled one of the team’s only weaknesses for the stretch run – but it came at a steep cost.

New York acquired top prospect Gleyber Torres, outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford and Adam Warren in the deal. The four-for-one trade worked well for both sides. The Yankees reloaded a farm system and the Cubs eventually broke a 108-year title drought thanks, in-part, to Chapman.

Yanks Go Yard

Widely viewed as being at least one year away from returning to dominance, the Yanks tore out of the gates this season.

Rookie slugger Aaron Judge leads the bigs in home runs and former Cubs infielder Starlin Castro is enjoying one of the best offensive seasons of his career.

BoSox-Yankees back at it

With the most of the American League East struggling, New York has a great opportunity at-hand. Although Boston is still favored to win the division (56.7 percent odds) – the Yankees’ chances are creeping higher and higher.

As it does with most clubs, Brian Cashman’s team will have to pitch well – and that’s been a question mark for some time. Masahiro Tanaka has been spotty, but the young arms seem to be stepping into the spotlight for the first time.

Holes abound for reigning champs

If you ask Fangraphs, the National League Central is a two-horse race. That hardly comes as a surprise to anyone who’s watched this division in the last few years.

The Cubs and the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals boast the best postseason and division odds. Chicago still has a 70 percent chance to win the Central. That seems solid, given how the team has played this year. But keep in mind that on May 1, those odds stood at 86.4 percent.

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Kyle Schwarber has failed in almost every regard. His time in the leadoff spot ended with disappointment and he enters the month of June with a .165/.286/.341 slash-line. We’re past the point of slump and it’s now inexcusable for Joe Maddon to keep the young slugger anywhere near the top of the lineup.

Apart from Kris Bryant, the entire offense has been ‘down’. Anthony Rizzo showed signs of heating up, but went ice-cold along with the rest of the team during the losing streak. Simply put, the team isn’t scoring runs – and the pitching has took a major step backward from last year.

Jake Arrieta looks like an entirely different pitcher, no matter what Scott Boras says. His earned run average hangs in the high-4.00 range and velocity has been down. Outside of Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester, the rest of the rotation has been a roller coaster. The Brett Anderson experiment went up in smoke and Eddie Butler is a placeholder on a quality big-league staff.

Things clearly have to change. The Cubs’ playoff odds fell nearly 15 percent in the month of May and a six-game skid entering June isn’t exactly encouraging. Needless to say, this team has been the disappointment of the year in baseball.