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As the gamblers among you know, Las Vegas has odds on everything sports related. The current odds as released by Bovada for the A.L. MVP race are pretty intriguing for an Orioles fan because they list slugger Chris Davis with 5:1 odds to win the award. The only current player with better odds than Davis is Miguel Cabrera at 2:1.
What does this mean? Admittedly, not much. Las Vegas sets odds to make money, not because they are actually interested in making correct picks. So the odds can go up and down based on public perception and where the public is putting its money. What makes the cool for Orioles fans is that it means that the perception of Chris Davis is that he's awesome. Most Orioles fans have known that since sometime last season (it took me a little longer than some people), but collectively we're not used to having nice things or gaining recognition for what we think are nice things.
I know that you know that Chris Davis is good, but did you know that his batting average and slugging percentage are tops among A.L. first basemen? And his OBP of .425 is technically second, but it's only .004 less than the leader, Prince Fielder. His WAR of 1.5 is 5th in the A.L. (and not even tops on the O's, helloooo Manny Machado!) and to top it off, he's just a cool dude.
It's not all that related, but I can't help but wonder what this means for Chris Davis and the All Star Game. I'm not talking about him being chosen for the game, if he keeps it up (or even close to keeps it up) he'll be selected for sure. But could the Orioles finally get a player voted in? He'd be my vote for HR Derby champ.
At any rate, Davis is getting some love. And he's not the only Oriole. Adam Jones is sixth on the list at 12:1 odds. Here is the full top 15:
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 2/1
Chris Davis (BAL) 5/1
Robinson Cano (NYY) 11/2
Ian Kinsler (TEX) 15/2
Prince Fielder (DET) 10/1
Adam Jones (BAL) 12/1
Carlos Santana (CLE) 12/1
Mike Trout (LAA) 12/1
Albert Pujols (LAA) 15/1
Clay Buchholz (BOS) 20/1
Mike Napoli (BOS) 20/1
Yu Darvish (TEX) 20/1
Evan Longoria (TB) 25/1
Josh Hamilton (LAA) 25/1
Adrian Beltre (TEX) 33/1