It has not been a great start to the week for Major League Baseball. Two games are being cancelled today (Monday) after an outbreak of Covid-19 cases on the Miami Marlins.
The Marlins and Orioles game will not be played in Miami today and the same for the Yankees and Phillies games in Philadelphia. The latter was cancelled because of concerns after the Phillies and Marlins series this past weekend.
Also today is the fallout from the forearm injury to Houston Astros starter, Justin Verlander. There were some newspapers reports saying that Verlander would be out for the year, but manager Dusty Baker made a statement saying he would be shut down two weeks and then reevaluated.
Here’s what the 37-year-old Verlander added directly on his Twitter.
“The report that I’m currently missing the rest of the season is not accurate. There is a forearm strain… I’m hopeful that with some rest it will heal and I’ll be able to return soon. Thank you for all the well wishes.”
Astros’ World Series odds plummet
Houston’s World Series odds have changed from around +950 down to +1600 at Winning Poker Network Sportsbooks. That suggests that many bettors believe the reports that Verlander will be out the rest of the season.
Houston is also now +770 to win the American League. That ranks fifth behind the NY Yankees (+165), Minnesota Twins (+525), Tampa Bay Rays (+635), Oakland Athletics (+665). They were previously second.
The Astros are very thin in starting pitching now. Zack Greinke and Lance McCullers, Jr. are the top two guys. However, the former is 36-years-old and the latter didn’t pitch at all last season due to injury. This make the free agent loss of Gerrit Cole to the Yankees even more painful.
