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About a quarter of the way through the MLB season, the theme so far has been parity.
The teams expected to be among the worst (the Rockies, the Nationals, the Cardinals) are all scrappy and quite competitive.
The American League only has four teams entering play Tuesday night with a record over .500, and the current division leaders are the Rays, Guardians and Athletics.
Those are all surprises to some extent.
If the playoffs started today, the White Sox would be a wild card team, despite having a losing record. Even the vaunted Dodgers have yet to assert their dominance, as they currently look to the first-place Padres in the National League West standings.
While the American League currently has only four teams with a winning record, the National League Central has five. And within that league, I think, there is a bet that offers some value.
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Pirates manager Don Kelly is currently +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total) to win the National League Manager of the Year award.
These awards, especially when it comes to coaches or managers, often revolve around which is the best story, with expectations largely taken into account.
The Pirates were a wild card team from 2013 to 2015 and haven’t been to the postseason since. Surprisingly, they haven’t won a postseason series since winning the 1979 World Series.
The Pirates are currently 22-19 and look like a serious playoff contender, with NL Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes at the top of the rotation.
Braves manager Walt Weiss and Cubs manager Craig Counsell currently have lower odds than Kelly, but both have more talented teams with considerably higher expectations than the Pirates.
The Cubs were division favorites entering the year, and the Braves had a down year in 2025. Before that, Atlanta had been a perennial playoff team and World Series contender for nearly a decade. The Pirates currently have +140 odds to make the playoffs, and if they were to make it, Kelly would be the favorite, in my opinion, to win this award in the fall.
Ultimately, the Pirates are in the conversation for having the least success of almost any major sports franchise in recent decades. A return to the postseason would not go unnoticed by voters.
PICK: Don Kelly (+600) to win NL Manager of the Year
