Favorites Continue to Win It All, and the Chiefs Are Next
William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Patrick Mahomes (center) and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“A year of the unexpected.” There was no shortage of that phrase in 2020.
The world has witnessed so many unprecedented events since the start of last year, including sports being ripped away from us. Bettors and fans were gearing up for March Madness when the world hit pause on it’s universal remote for 4 months.
When sports finally came back, it was in a way no one had ever seen before. Entire leagues were isolated in bubbles, games were played without fans, and to top it all off, playoff formats were expanded to give more teams an opportunity to make title runs.
What most people expected from these fanless games and funky formats was chaos. Did we get that? To some degree, but what postseason doesn’t have a little bit of drama to it?
When the dust settled and the trophies were lifted we saw the betting favorites from each respective league become champs.
Tampa Bay Lightning
- Preseason Odds: +700
- Postseason Odds: +650
Los Angeles Lakers
- Preseason Odds: +450
- Postseason Odds: +280
Los Angeles Dodgers
- Preseason Odds: +450
- Postseason Odds: +350
Alabama Crimson Tide
- Preseasonodds: +300
- Postseason odds: -200
It wasn’t an accident that these four favorites won it all. Each of these teams were the product of superior coaching, veteran leadership, and had the discipline to thrive in a season where there was so much variance due to sickness, injury, isolation, etc.
Let’s take a brief look under the hood and see how each favorite was able to get it done.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have one of the best coaches in the NHL, a plethora of riches when it comes to veteran leadership and skill, and have made the playoffs in six of their last eight seasons. It’s no shock that they were the favorites to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup, even when they sat behind the Bruins in the standings prior to the postseason.
What makes the NHL playoffs so entertaining is that, perhaps more than any other North American sport, it’s truly anyone’s Cup to win. In any given year a lower-seeded team can make a serious run for glory, but this was not like any other year.
The Lightning lost their captain and best player for most of the regular season and the entire postseason (besides one magnificent shift) and were still able to win it all. Most teams in a shortened season with no fans or family around would have buckled under that kind of pressure. The Lightning did the exact opposite.
They were the overwhelming favorite for a reason and at the end of the day, the most talented team lifted the Cup.
Los Angeles Lakers
When you hear LeBron James what comes to mind? For me it’s leadership, power, skill and discipline. The exact characteristics needed when trying to make a run at the NBA title, especially in a COVID year.
This NBA season was certainly unlike any we’ve seen before, and it takes a significant amount of energy and focus to make a championship run when there is so much noise around you.
We witnessed Kobe’s tragic death, the league being shut down, civil unrest, and the NBA isolating in a bubble without family/friends. It’s no surprise that one of the greatest players of all time along with a superstar in Anthony Davis were able to persevere under such immense pressure.
It definitely didn’t surprise oddsmakers.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Walker Buehler, Corey Seager. The list goes on and on. These superstars were hungry for a World Series ring and were dominant enough to back it up.
Not only did oddsmakers make the Dodgers the odds on favorite to win the World Series from the beginning of the season, they were also favored in all 78 games they played leading up to their title.
It’s quite obvious that the guys in Vegas had a serious belief the Dodgers were superior to every other team.
The World Series and playoffs were no cake walk for Los Angeles but when watching the Dodgers take the field each night you knew they were the most deserving winner of this year’s World Series.
Alabama Crimson Tide
If you could choose one man to lead a group of young adults through a season filled with as much risk and uncertainty as this past college football season held, who would it be?
There is only one correct answer. The greatest college football coach of all time: Nick Saban.
Do I even need to explain my argument here or do the seven national championship trophies speak for themselves?
While college programs experienced COVID-19 outbreaks and missed several games in a row, Saban and the Crimson Tide went about their business and quietly put together one of the greatest seasons in NCAA history.
Oddsmakers reflected what everyone knew all along, Alabama was the best and most disciplined team in the nation and no one could come close to touching them. They are a powerhouse of excellence and in a season like this, excellence always prevails.
What Now?
Hindsight is always 20/20. It’s so easy to look back on the last year and say “oh, it was so obvious that those four teams were going to win the championship.” But now it’s time to use these past results to help predict the future.
Four favorites in four leagues have been crowned champion. Now it’s time to make it five.
I’m a sucker for a good storyline, and what league is better at making fans grab the jumbo popcorn and not leave the couch for 10 straight hours? The National Football League.
So what’s the matchup the league, the fans, the commissioner and everyone in the world wants to see in the biggest sporting event of the year?
Patrick Mahomes (new face of the NFL) vs. one of the all-time great quarterbacks that represent the NFC.
- Tom Brady
- Drew Brees
- Aaron Rodgers
Take your pick here. Mahomes going up against any of these historically great Super Bowl champions will make for unbelievable television and will garner as much hype as Bitcoin when it hits the $40k mark.
The writing is on the wall. During the regular season, the Chiefs were hands down the best team in the NFL. Andy Reid’s offense is too potent and their defense is strong enough to keep them within striking distance in any playoff game. I dare any team to try and match up with Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Mecole Hardman, Sammy Watkins and now Le'Veon Bell in Arrowhead.
To further hammer home my point, the Chiefs are coming into the divisional round with a week of rest under their belt. In fact, Mahomes and a few others are coming in with two weeks of rest because they took Week 17 off. Everyone always talks about how much of a grind the NFL season is and how worn down players get once the postseason rolls around. The best team in the NFL has a superior rest advantage, home field for the entire playoffs and extra time to prepare in a season where preparation is arguably the biggest key to success. Seems pretty convincing to me.
It may be chalky and seem a little obvious to take the team with the best odds to win the Super Bowl, but it shouldn’t matter. We’ve seen the favorites (best teams) sweep the board in all other postseasons, so why not one more time? Get your money down on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl now because these are the best odds you’ll get them at for the rest of the postseason. It’s boring to tell someone to go out and buy 100 shares of Tesla, but it’s a winner that pays.
The Bet: Chiefs to win the Super Bowl: +205 | Mahomes to win SB MVP +300 (Odds via DraftKings)
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