St. Louis Cardinals Boost World Series Odds with Paul Goldschmidt Trade

For the second straight day, a major transaction in the MLB has shifted World Series odds. The stove has gone from lukewarm to hot just in time for the Winter Meetings.

The St. Louis Cardinals, who finished the 2018 campaign with a 88-74 record, bolstered their lineup by acquiring six-time All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for a handful of players.

With the acquisition of Goldschmidt, St. Louis moved from 14-1 to 12-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook to win the 2019 World Series. This change represents a 1% increase in implied probability.

The Chicago Cubs remain the top dog in the NL Central at +1000, while the Milwaukee Brewers fell from +1400 to +1600.

Meanwhile, the D-Backs — who are clearly tearing things down — fell from 300-1 to 500-1.

Goldschmidt is coming off a season in which he hit .290 with 33 home runs en route to 5.1 fWAR. Since 2013, he has the third highest fWAR in all of baseball behind only Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson.

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Goldschmidt will join Matt Carpenter, Marcell Ozuna, Jose Martinez and Paul de Jong in a talented Cardinals lineup.

St. Louis did have to give up Luke Weaver, a 25-year-old pitcher who logged 136 innings for them last year, in addition to Carson Kelly, a former top catching prospect who has gotten a couple of cups of coffee in the bigs.

Like the NL East, the NL Central could be quite a tough division if Milwaukee can live up to expectations. It's possible all three teams have win total over/unders around 90 games.

Can we go a day without any more major baseball news? We will see.