A's Being Disrespected by Odds to Win World Series

In an MLB season unlike any other before, the Oakland Athletics cruised to a 36-24 record and secured the No. 2 seed in the American League. They beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 to move on to the ALDS and take on the Houston Astros.

Oakland A's Word Series Odds

Despite their regular-season and postseason success, the Athletics rank sixth out of the eight teams left with just +1000 odds to win the World Series, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. This is a team that simply gets the job done, yet continues to be underrated.

The Athletics are a team filled with quietly productive players that don't go out of their way to draw attention to the team. The Athletics didn't play many nationally televised games in the regular season, but just kept winning series.

Entering this ALDS matchup with the Astros, the Athletics should be carried by their stellar pitching staff. In the regular season, Oakland ranked No. 5 in the league with a 3.77 overall ERA. If you dig deeper, it's even more impressive. The Athletics ranked No. 1 in bullpen ERA with a 2.72 mark, highlighted by closer Liam Hendriks finishing second in the league with 14 saves.

On the other hand, the Athletics have some power hitting that becomes very important in close low-scoring postseason games. Slugging first baseman Matt Olson finished the regular season with 14 home runs. Oakland finished No. 7 in the league with 238 walks and knows how to get on base when it matters the most.

The Athletics just do all the little things right. Drawing walks and making defensive plays may not be super entertaining, but it wins games. In fact, Oakland only had 26 errors on the season (No. 4 in the MLB).

The Athletics may not be as flashy or bold as some other MLB teams in the postseason, but their experience and results speak for themselves. This is a team that could easily win the World Series and shouldn;t be overlooked as a top tier opponent.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.