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Sports Betting Futures Odds: Cubs Clinch Division as Baseball Enters Home Stretch

by - 9/16/2016

Christian McCaffrey Stanford Cardinal

These next two months are a positively wonderful time of the year. Football is in full swing, baseball is nearing the home stretch, and proverbial playoffs are taking center stage on the golf course and on the NASCAR track. Is this finally the Chicago Cubs' year? Is Tiger Woods actually coming back? Will the college football season be owned by Christian McCaffrey or Deshaun Watson? Answers are coming.

Odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook unless otherwise indicated .

Heisman Trophy (MyBookie.ag)

Christian McCaffrey, Stanford (+400) -Stanford's star running back finished runner-up to Derrick Henry in 2015. Henry is now in the NFL, but Watson and plenty of others will provide competition. McCaffrey rushed 22 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns in an opening win over Kansas State.

Deshaun Watson, Clemson (+450) -McCaffrey was solid but unspectacular in his first game of 2016, and that is what Watson has been through two weeks on Clemson's schedule. The dual-threat quarterback passed for a total of 540 yards with four TDs and three INTs in less than impressive defeats of Auburn and Troy.

Lamar Jackson, Louisville (+500) -Jackson's Cardinals are contesting the biggest game of this weekend's slate, a home date with second-ranked Florida State at noon. The sophomore signal-caller has seven TD passes to just one INT to go along with 318 yards and six TDs on 32 keepers through two outings.

J.T. Barrett, Ohio State (+600) -It's the J.T. Barrett show in Columbus now, and so far in 2016 things are going well. Barrett has accounted for nine total touchdowns (six passing, three rushing), after two games-both big Ohio State wins. Georgia running back Nick Chubb is a +650 sixth choice.

National League Pennant

Chicago Cubs (+130) -The Cubs are a ridiculous 40 games over .500, and the result is their first NL Central title since 2008. That's right; they have already clinched. The Sept. 15 clinching marked the earliest Chicago has wrapped up a division or league title since 1880. Home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs is on the way as well.

Washington Nationals (+260) - Washington is six games behind the Cubs, so it can say goodbye to home-field advantage if that is the NLCS matchup. But the Nationals lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by five games in a home-field battle for that likely divisional-round showdown.

Los Angeles Dodgers (+375) - Neither the Dodgers nor the San Francisco Giants are making any real move at the moment, leaving L.A. with a four-game cushion in the NL West. Clayton Kershaw sports a 1.72 ERA, Kenta Maeda has 14 wins, and shortstop Corey Seager is playing like an MVP candidate.

San Francisco Giants (+1100) -Even years have been kind to San Francisco in recent times. 2010? Check. 2012? Check. 2014? Check. Is a fourth World Series title in the span of seven seasons in the cards? Making the playoffs would be a start. The Giants lead the wild-card race but are just two games into safety.

Tiger Woods at the Safeway Open

To win (+4000) - Woods announced last week that he is returning to golf-or at least planning to return. His schedule includes the Safeway Open starting Oct. 13, followed by events in Turkey and the Bahamas. Woods has not played a competitive round on the PGA Tour since the August 2015 Wyndham Championship.

To place in the top 10 (+350) - The 14-time major champion tied for 10th at the aforementioned Wyndham Championship. Will he able to turn in a similar performance at his first tournament in 14 months? The Wyndham marked Woods' only event of 2015 in which he finished better than 17th.

To make the cut (-165) -The former world No. 1 missed all kinds of cuts in 2016: the Waste Management Phoenix Open and all three of his major appearances (he didn't play the Masters) in addition to a withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open.

To shoot a hole in one (+8000) -Hmmmm…. This does not seem likely, and that's an understatement. Woods has recorded 18 hole in ones throughout his golfing career, including in junior competition. Only three have come on the PGA Tour, and those came in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400

Kevin Harvick (+500) -The first playoff race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup takes place this weekend at Chicagoland. Harvick had no trouble qualifying, with two wins, 13 top-5s and 21 top-10s this season. He has turned in four consecutive top-5 performances dating back to win at Bristol on Aug. 20.

Martin Truex Jr. (+700) - Whereas Harvick won this race in 2001 and 2002, Truex is looking for his first victory at Chicagoland. If the last two weeks are anything to go by, he is a very good bet. Truex picked up a win at Darlington on Sept. 4 and had the best car one week later in Richmond, where he led 193 laps before finishing third.

Kyle Busch (+700) - Busch's stellar 2016 campaign is highlighted by four wins (tied with Brad Keselowski for the most among all drivers), 11 top-5s, and 16 top-10s. He has cooled off of late, with no top-5s in his last six starts since taking the checkered flag at the Brickyard on July 24. Busch last won in Chicagoland eight years ago.

Carl Edwards (+800) - Edwards finished runner-up to Denny Hamlin at this race in 2015. That should give him some confidence necessary to dig out of a recent two-week slump. Edwards placed 19th at Darlington and is coming off 32nd-place showing in Richmond. Hamlin and Matt Kenseth are also +800 fourth choices.

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