Back the Braves to do it again

Bet the Braves (+240) to go back to the World Series 

 William Contreras. (Photo: AFP)

They say it's not cool to bet your teams. Winning money is cool, predicting the outcome correctly is cool, and rubbing it in Mets fans is also cool. We are going back to the well this year with the defending World Series Champions, Atlanta Braves. 

After winning the NL East Wednesday night, (they trailed the Mets by 10.5 games at one point in the summer) the Braves get to skip the wild card altogether and will play the winner of the Phillies/Cardinals series. Meanwhile, the Mets will battle the Padres and potentially the Dodgers in the next round. 

This is huge for the Braves and Dodgers as they can relax, rest up, and watch the other teams go to war with each other and tax their bullpens. Veteran Charlie Morton and rookie Spencer Strider could surely use the rest for their arms and the rest of the team could use it after chasing the Mets all season. 

The celebration was warranted after some hard fought victories down the stretch including a 3 game sweep of the Mets in the last week of the regular season. This drive to not give up and finish the job is exactly why I am taking the Braves to come out on top of the NL. The Mets have to feel deflated and embarrassed after choking the division away like that. We saw their best pitcher Jacob DeGrom get shelled by the Athletics before letting the Braves get the best of him in Atlanta. The events that took place during that sweeping of the Mets is going to have the opposite effect for Atlanta; fireball pitching and soul crushing power hitting the rest of the way for a team that already plays with such high confidence.

Meanwhile, the LA Dodgers are a scary team that nobody is talking about. Part of this is due to fan fatigue or the fact the East coast is asleep when they play, but they are the favorites for a reason. My main handicap in picking the Braves over them is simple; the managers. Last year we saw LA manager, Dave Roberts make questionable decisions when changing pitchers that ended up biting them. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker pressed all of the right buttons and used their great depth perfectly when setting the lineup and pinch hitting. 

I would argue this years' version of the Braves is better than last year when you consider Acuna is back from injury, the two favorites for NL rookie of the year (Strider and Harris) are contributing, the world series swagger and confidence glows on the players faces, there are two lock down closers to go to, and Snitker can trust multiple guys to be the ace. (Wright won the most games in the NL with 20) Strider has been on the shelf for a few weeks in preparation for these playoffs after suffering a minor oblique injury. Turns out throwing 100 mph and being in the top ranks for strikeouts leaves a toll on your arm. He is questionable to be ready to go in the NLDS. 

The bottom line is yes I'm a homer, yes I'm bitter Freddy Freeman didn't re-sign, yes I am amazed the Braves stole the division, yes I hate the Dodgers, yes betting baseball can be sweaty and cruel but there is no denying we are getting great value here with the defending champions at over 2-1 odds.