If You Still Believe In The Jays, You Can Cash In On Futures

Whether it’s because of a 3-2 start to a 7-game road trip or Chris Coghlan’s ‘slide’ over Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina in a gutsy extra-inning victory in St. Louis Tuesday night, things are finally starting to look up in Blue Jays land.

After a horrid 1-9 start to the year, the Jays have stabilized things a bit, going 5-5 in their last 10 games. That’s still with them not catching many breaks, blowing several save opportunities, and playing without key guys like Josh Donaldson, Aaron Sanchez and JA Happ.

Dirk Hayhurst wrote an article today for TSN spelling out how the Jays’ season may not, in fact, be over. Hayhurst pointed out a few reasons for optimism, including how the Jays’ bad luck and cold hitting to start the year isn’t sustainable over 162 games, and also how their opponents may be playing a bit over their heads so far as well.

As bad as it’s been in Toronto, they’re still just 7.5 games out of first place in the American League East, with tons of games left against teams in front of them to close the gap.

Or maybe, with the Raptors still going in the NBA postseason and the Leafs having just been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, we’re just looking for reasons to make sure baseball season in Toronto isn’t over before we get a chance to really pay attention to it.

What do the oddsmakers think about it all?

Updated 2017 Blue Jays playoff odds at Sports Interaction

Blue Jays playoff odds

The guys at Sports Interaction (who are the biggest Jays fans of any sportsbook we know, since they’re located in Canada and cater to similarly-optimistic Jays fans) list the Blue Jays’ playoff odds at +350, suggesting they have about a 22% chance of qualifying for the postseason. That’s a much more generous offering than Fangraphs, which lists the Jays at 17% probability to make the playoffs.

Updated 2017 Blue Jays playoff odds

  • Red Sox: -150
  • Orioles: +310
  • Yankees: +375
  • Rays: +2000
  • Blue Jays: +2200

Pinnacle, a much more unbiased sportsbook when it comes to the Blue Jays, doesn’t give Toronto much of a shot at the American League East. Toronto pays 22:1 to win the division.

Of course, Toronto can still get into the playoffs by earning one of two wild card spots. But Pinnacle doesn’t seem to give them much of a chance of doing that either, posting the Jays at +1500 to win the American League and +3000 to win the World Series. To put that in perspective, the Jays’ 2017 World Series odds currently rank behind the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Ouch.

The point is, if you still believe in the Blue Jays, the opportunity is there to really cash in on some fat futures odds. Futures are like a stock – it’s always best to buy low before the stock takes off. Toronto still has one of the best rotations in baseball (when it’s healthy), a pretty deep lineup (though it’d be nice to have Encarnacion back) and experience of competing in back-to-back American League Championship Series.