The Cleveland Indians had erased a double-digit deficit in the American League Central entering Monday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox, but the Minnesota Twins remain a slight favorite to win the division by many sportsbooks.
The Twins held an 11 1/2-game lead on June 2 and still led by 6 1/2 games when they took two of three games in Cleveland in mid-June. That had been completely washed away by Sunday night, with the Indians taking three of four games in Minnesota.
Despite losing nearly a dozen games in the standings to Cleveland in less than six weeks — and Nelson Cruz to the Injured List — the Twins are listed as -120 favorites to win the division by FanDuel compared to -110 for the Indians. DraftKings is offering similar odds, with the Twins -125 and the Indians -110.
Both teams are being offered at +1000 by FanDuel to win the American League pennant, making them co-third favorites behind the Houston Astros (-130) and New York Yankees (+240). DraftKings is offering the same bets at +800 for the Twins and +900 for the Indians.
With both teams holding a four-game lead over the third wild card hopeful with seven weeks remaining in the regular season, FanDuel is offering the Twins at -3000 (-335 by DraftKings) to make the playoffs and the Indians at -1250 (-670 by DraftKings).
FanDuel also had the Twins with significantly better odds to win the World Series (+1700) than the Indians (+2300), while DraftKings has the Twins at +1800 and the Indians at +2100.