Give the Los Angeles Dodgers this much. At least they are going for the gold right now. Now that there is new ownership and new financial backing behind them, they are out to spend all of the money that they can to try to beat the World Series odds in Tinseltown. Join us at Bankroll Sports, as our expert baseball handicappers make their case for why this team should be favored on the odds to win the World Series a day after pulling off the massive trade to bring Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez to Dodgertown.

Manager Don Mattingly has always been looked at as one of the best potential managers in baseball, and now, he has a team at his disposal that could ultimately prove him to be a star. General Manager Ned Colletti has pushed all of the buttons that he has needed to push this year to get his team to the top, and he has done so by amassing just a slew of payroll. Shane Victorino first came from the Philadelphia Phillies, and then Joe Blanton was right behind him in a post-July 31st trade with the boys from the City of Brotherly Love. Hanley Ramirez was a disgruntled member of the Miami Marlins before he was dealt out to the West Coast to be with the Dodgers. But now, in the coup of coups, Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez are in Los Angeles after being sent here in an August 25th trade with the Boston Red Sox, who clearly needed to hit the self-destruct button. Carl Crawford is on his way as well, and that means that next year, someone that is in this crowded outfield is going to be pushed out.

Star power doesn’t always translate into wins, especially in the playoffs, but in this case, we think that there is a real chance for the Dodgers to shine and to beat the World Series betting lines. When you think of the teams in the National League, you see a lot of squads that can pitch. However, what you don’t see a lot of are teams that truly are dangerous from 1 to 8 in their batting order. The Dodgers, when they are totally healthy, are now arguably baseball’s most dangerous team.

When Dee Gordon returns from his wrist injury, he figures to return to the leadoff role and playing shortstop, while Ramirez will likely shift over to third base on more of a full-time basis. Luis Cruz will be pushed out, but the middle of the order will feature the likes of Ramirez, Gonzalez, Kemp, and Ethier in some sort of order. Victorino is likely going to be shoved down towards the bottom of the lineup as well, and that leaves just Mark Ellis and AJ Ellis as the other two batters in the fold. Mark Ellis has done a nice job this year at second base, and he has done a yeoman’s job leading off for this team while Gordon has been out of the lineup. AJ Ellis has very quietly batted .284 this year with 10 homers and an OPS of .815, numbers that most teams would kill for out of their catcher.

It’s not like the cupboard is bare in the rotation either. Clayton Kershaw has a Cy Young under his belt, and though he isn’t going to win the honor this year, he is still going to be amongst the best pitchers in the league in terms of ERA. This will be another season where his ERA ends with a two in front of it, and behind him, there are three other starting pitchers in Chris Capuano, Chad Billingsley, and Aaron Harang that all that winning records and sub-3.70 ERAs. Ted Lilly might be able to make a comeback for the playoffs, and Beckett and Blanton will prove to be the wild cards.

Blanton hasn’t pitched all that well this year, going a combined just 8-12 with a 5.02 ERA, while Beckett has been a disaster and a half in Beantown. Still, both have playoff success and tons of it, and both are going to bring that experience into this staff in one form or another.

It’s not like the bullpen is slacking either. Kenley Jansen has gone 25-of-31 in save chances this year, and he has a 1.93 ERA. Scott Elbert, Randy Choate, and Ronald Belisario are the go-to men out of the pen, and that’s a great combination to parlay with guys like Blanton and potentially Harang from the starting staff for the second season.

In the end, the only question that is left in our eyes is whether the squad is going to gel quick enough to get the job done. There are still two games separating the Dodgers from the San Francisco Giants for the top spot in the NL West, and if the playoffs started today, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals would be in, while the Dodgers would be a half-game out.

The schedule though, is relatively easy. These next 11 games are against Miami (finishing this weekend series), Colorado, Arizona, and San Diego, and there should be at least seven wins in the bunch. From there, the Dodgers embark upon their toughest stretch of schedule. They take on the Giants on the road for three, the D’Backs on the road for two, then get the Cardinals at home for four before going east one last time for six games with the Nationals and Reds. The season finishes with three in San Diego, three at home against the Rockies, and three at home against the Giants, the last three games of the season that could prove to be the difference in the season for both teams.

In the end, if the Dodgers are one of the five teams in the National League that get into the playoffs, watch out! They are going to be a force to be reckoned with, and we think that they have the best team in baseball. The oddsmakers, as you can see, have adjusted their World Series lines (all Los Angeles Dodgers World Series odds listed above), but we don’t think that any of them have adjusted far enough. The Dodgers are here to stay, and they could be the team that goes all the way to win the Fall Classic.

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline came and went on Saturday at 4:00 PM, and though there was a flurry of action right before the wire, several teams were left out in the cold in their quest to better themselves for the rest of this season. Check out how we graded the teams in the hunt for October at Bankroll Sports!

Atlanta Braves: The only move the Braves made during this trade season was picking up SS Alex Gonzalez from the Toronto Blue Jays. How has that move worked out so far? Gonzalez is batting .259 with six extra base hits, one homers, and three RBIs in 15 games with Atlanta. The man he was traded for, SS Yunel Escobar is batting .323 with three dingers and nine RBIs. We won’t mention the two prospects that the Braves gave up in this deal as well. Oops. Look out from behind Atlanta, as the pack is coming to get you in the NL East. Final Grade: D-

Philadelphia Phillies: Give some props to the Phils for going out and getting their man in RHP Roy Oswalt. This is clearly a sign that the boys from the City of Brotherly Love are going for gold once again in the National League. However, this could be a case of too little, too late. The Phils are 3.5 games out of the Wild Card in the race in the NL and are 2.5 back of the Braves. Giving up LHP JA Happ and some prospects to take on all that payroll is risky, but the move worked last year with LHP Cliff Lee. It could work again this year. We love the guts, but aren’t so sure it will be worth the glory. Final Grade: B-

New York Mets: The Mets badly needed to add at least 1-2 starting pitchers at the trade deadline and missed out on everyone. At 6.5 games out from the NL East race and 7.5 back with a trillion teams to hop in the NL Wild Card, the season appears to be over in the Big Apple. GM Omar Minaya badly needed to make a move and failed miserably. Final Grade: F

St. Louis Cardinals: The brass of the Cardinals made a bold move by giving up OF Ryan Ludwick and some minor league prospect talent to get RHP Jake Westbrook from the Cleveland Indians. We aren’t so sure about bringing in a guy who didn’t pitch at all last season and is only 6-7 with a 4.65 ERA this year, but Westbrook does bring some valuable experience. He could be a great fourth pitcher in the postseason behind Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and Jamie Wright. Final Grade: B

Cincinnati Reds: The Reds really didn’t do much at the trade deadline, and they really didn’t seem all that active on the phones either. There’s a reason for that. Though Cincinnati is in position to make the playoffs now, it is also in a spot to be able to make a run at a number of NL Central titles in the future and everyone knows it. There was no reason to tinker with what was going on. Final Grade: A

San Diego Padres: Hats off to the Padres for getting this trade deadline exactly right. The pitching staff as a whole needed no tweaking whatsoever, as this has been arguably the most consistent unit 1-12 in the majors all season long. A bat would come in handy though in the NL West race, and that’s exactly what San Diego got with OF Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick has all sorts of pop in his bat and has already blasted 11 homers in 77 games this season. Look for him to help boost an offense that struggles at times. Picking up SS/3B Miguel Tejada brings a veteran leader into a very young clubhouse. The Padres are clearly going for glory this year and we love it. Final Grade: A

Los Angeles Dodgers : Someone was going to be trading for Chicago’s LHP Ted Lilly, but at least the Dodgers didn’t give up the farm to get him. Giving up on Blake Dewitt might come back to bit LA in the butt, but at least it acquired handy utility man Ryan Theriot in this deal as well. The Dodgers are 6.5 games behind the playoff chase, but this should at least help a bit in the quest to get back in it. Adding OF Scott Podsednik and RHP Octavio Dotel might help as well. This might not be enough to get the job done, though. Final Grade: B+

Colorado Rockies: Shame on you, Colorado. The Rockies badly needed to go out and find a bat for the middle of the lineup and they failed to do so. Is this a sign on giving up on the season? Didn’t we learn anything last year from the hunt for Rocktober??? Final Grade: F

San Francisco Giants: San Fran had plenty of chances to go out and get a bat in the outfield to improve the team, but the Giants felt the need to stand pat instead. We can’t blame them. This is probably the best chance the team has had to win in years, and the squad has a nice chemistry. 61 wins is tied for the NL lead. Final Grade: B

New York Yankees: The Bronx Bombers added three key pieces to the puzzle on the final hours before the trade deadline, picking up OFs Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns as well as reliever Kerry Wood. Leave it up to GM Brian Cashman to make the moves to make the Yankees win now, but the future seemed to be mortgaged just a bit by giving up a slew of prospects. Final Grade: B-

Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays badly needed a bat, but instead, GM Andrew Freidman elected to go with a bullpen arm instead. He clearly bought RHP Chad Qualls at a cheap price, as his ERA was over 8.00 with Arizona this year. Two seasons ago, the team made a similar move by picking up RHP Chad Bradford at the deadline, and he helped pitch Tampa Bay to the World Series. Could this be the same sort of situation? We’re not ones to doubt the cash strapped Rays. Final Grade: B

Boston Red Sox: If the Red Sox thought they were buyers at the trade deadline, why didn’t they take a chance at giving up some of their pitching in the minors for a quality bat? If they thought they were sellers, why not try to move some of these older pieces to the puzzle that aren’t going to be used in the future? We’re certainly puzzled at the fact that there was no activity in Beantown at the gun. Final Grade: D

Chicago White Sox: They needed a bat, but the White Sox grabbed a great arm instead in the form of RHP Edwin Jackson. Jackson will step into the rotation in the place of RHP Jake Peavy, who has been shut down for the year. With postseason experience, Jackson might be just the man to help pitch the Pale Hose into the second season in spite of the fact that he has had a miserable year. Being back in the AL should help where he thrived with Detroit and Tampa Bay the last two seasons. Final Grade: B+

Minnesota Twins: Yikes. Giving up on the best catching prospect in baseball for Matt Capps? We understand that Capps has had a good season as the Nationals closer, but do the Twinkies really need him? This is a troubling and puzzling move for Minnesota, which didn’t help out its situations in the outfield or in the starting rotation either. Final Grade: F

Detroit Tigers: GM Dave Dombrowski must have thought his Tigers were out of it, as they are currently seven games back in the AL Central. He’s probably right. Final Grade: C

Texas Rangers: The AL West race was probably all but over the day that LHP Cliff Lee was inked by the Rangers. As a team in bankruptcy, Texas certainly did a heck of a job making moves at the trade deadline, bolstering an offense as well that was already potent. With an eight game pad in the AL West, we have to give this team the best grade of any team at the deadline. Final Grade: A+

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Ok, so the Halos are probably out of the playoff race, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a great trade deadline. Picking up RHP Dan Haren from the dismal Diamondbacks was a great move to make, not just for this season, but for the future. Haren is young and is still a great arm at the front end of any rotation. Giving up on a Sabermetric nightmare in LHP Joe Saunders was a very small price to pay. Final Grade: A

The MLB betting season is back and will start on Easter night! BetUS Sportsbook will have all of the action covered for you all season long, and we’ll get started with some of the props offered at BetUS that could prove to be real moneymaking efforts.

Prop Bet #1: Kansas City Royals +3 wins vs. Cleveland Indians: Any combination of team season wins totals is available for you to bet on at BetUS Sportsbook, but the one that we’re going to focus in on is the duel between AL Central rivals, the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals. We already discussed our opinions on the Royals in our MLB season win totals predictions, but a look at the Indians shows that this team isn’t all that great either. Aside from the fact that this was the worst bullpen in the majors last year and made absolutely no improvements there, the lineup card is going to struggle this year as well unless someone like a OF Grady Sizemore or DH Travis Hafner steps up. Even if that is the case, the Tribe just don’t have a winning mentality about them at all right now, and it’d be shocking to us to not see the Royals finish in front of Cleveland in the AL Central.

Selection: Kansas City Royals +3 wins at BetUS. 100% Deposit Bonus by clicking This Link.)

Prop Bet #2: Zack Greinke Over/Under 13.5 Wins: Here we go again with the Royals. Last season, the AL Cy Young Award winner had a breakout season, winning 16 games on an awful Kansas City team. He had a 2.16 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. Remember this as well. He had a whopping nine starts on the season in which he allowed no more than two earned runs in which he either got a no-decision or a loss. If Kansas City really does have an improved team, at least a few of those NDs should become wins. Don’t be surprised to see Greinke contending for the Cy Young once again this season, as he may approach that coveted 20 win barrier for the first time in his already illustrious career.

Selection: Zack Greinke over 13.5 wins at BetUS. 100% Deposit Bonus by clicking This Link.)

Prop Bet #3: Adam Dunn vs. Jason Bay Total Regular Season Home Runs: Washington Nationals’ 1B/OF Adam Dunn is laying 8.5 homers to the newly acquired New York Mets OF Jason Bay in spite of the fact that Dunn only hit two more bombs than Bay did a year ago. But let’s remember one crucial difference this year for Bay. Last year, he was taking potshots at the Green Monster. Now, he goes to a ballpark that ate fly balls for lunch at Citi Field. Granted, Bay will still have half of his games on the road, and Dunn also plays in a huge pitchers park. The Nats’ slugger has popped at least that 38 bombs in each of the L/3 seasons. We fully expect that Bay is going to struggle to reach 30 in that ballpark.

Selection: Adam Dunn -8.5 home runs at BetUS. 100% Deposit Bonus by clicking This Link.)

Prop Bet #4: Manny Ramirez vs. David Ortiz Total Regular Season Hits: What a fun little prop this is! The guys who used to bat #3 and #4 in Boston’s lineup for years are pitted against each other for hits in the season, and Manny is spotting Big Papi 30.5 hits to start. Over the L/2 years, Ortiz has only managed to averaged 120 hits per season, and it feels like Ramirez, future Hall of Famer, would be able to clear 150 hits with ease, right? Not so fast. We’ll start with Papi. For a year in which Boston’s cleanup hitter only hit .238, Ortiz still managed 129 hits. Even if he bats just .250 and gets the same number of plate appearances, he’ll have 135 hits. Now we’re talking about Manny having to get to 166 to beat us. Ramirez batted .290 last season, and if we safely assume that he doesn’t get busted for steroids again in this year, he’ll be on a clip for about 150 hits. It’s clear that this isn’t the same Manny Ramirez that was lighting it up in Boston, as he’s already talking about retirement after this season. If that’s the case and Manny starts to become disinterested, you may be stealing that 30 hit head start with Boston’s slugger.

Selection: David Ortiz +30.5 hits at BetUS. 100% Deposit Bonus by clicking This Link.)

The National League West could be the toughest of the six divisions to predict. Is it parity or is it mediocrity? It appears the division is up for grabs in 2009, but with the Dodgers recently re-signing Manny Ramirez, it appears it is the Dodgers division to lose. Last season the Dodgers won just 84 games, but came up with the title, and also a first round playoff sweep of the Chicago Cubs. Los Angeles, Arizona and San Francisco appear to have solid pitching, while the Dodgers and Diamondbacks have the offense that has proved the most. San Francisco looks to have made the best improvements over the off-season, so it should be very interesting out West.

As the Arizona Diamondbacks workout in their home state – Tucson Arizona, they look to figure out what went wrong in the final month, falling just two games short of winning the division. Arizona finished with an 82-80 record in 2008. Despite losing Randy Johnson to the Giants, the addition of Jon Garland to join Brandon Webb and Dan Haren should make the rotation even more lethal. Max Scherzer should get a shot in the rotation this season at #5. Scherzer has been noted to have electric stuff, but his 0-4 2008 season, along with a shoulder injury, left Arizona with some question marks regarding their youngster. Arizona also picked up second basemen Felipe Lopez to replace Orlando Hudson. The Diamondbacks lost Brandon Lyon and Juan Cruz out of the bullpen, but hope to get productive pitching from veterans Tom Gordon and Scott Schoeneweis. Offensively, it looks like a logjam in the outfield with four guys vying for three positions. Eric Byrnes may be the odd man out with guys like Connor Jackson, Chris Young and Justin Upton getting the nod. Byrnes has put up productive numbers in an Arizona uniform, but was hampered in 2008 by injuries, just playing in 52 games. Mark Reynolds and Stephen Drew should take care of the offense from the infield positions as guys like Tony Clark and Chad Tracy wait in the wings.

The Colorado Rockies come into the 2009 season losing their top hitter and their best reliever out of the bullpen. As the Rockies start the season in their training facility in Tucson Arizona, they look for ways to improve upon their 74-88 2008 record. Jeff Francis is likely to miss the entire 2009 season, as he will have shoulder surgery. Jason Marquis was signed by Colorado to shore up the back end of the rotation, and Huston Street was added to replace former closer Brian Fuentes. Who is going to replace Matt Holliday’s numbers is still a major concern. The Rockies rotation appears to be relatively deep despite losing Francis. Aaron Cook, and Ubaldo Jimenez will anchor the rotation in a division that sees Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jake Peavy. Jorge De La Rosa will also vie for a position in the rotation. Offensively, youngsters Carols Gonzalez, Seth Smith, and Jeff Baker will look to replace Holliday Smith hit .323 in Colorado Springs last season, and played in centerfield late in the season for Colorado. Gonzalez played last season in Oakland, hitting just .242 in 85 games. He was traded over in part in the Matt Holliday trade. The Rockies hope Coors Field helps boost Gonzalez’ offensive numbers. Garrett Atkins, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki will need to put up superior numbers for the young Colorado lineup. Chris Iannetta and Yorvit Torrealba should split time behind the plate for Colorado.

The defending National League West Champion, Los Angeles Dodgers made their move just recently finally reaching an agreement with outfielder Manny Ramirez. With Ramirez last season the Dodgers won the NL West and also won a first round playoff series. Ramirez shows up to Glendale Arizona seeing several of his 2008 teammates gone. Gone are veterans Jeff Kent, Andruw Jones, Derek Low and Brad Penny. The Dodgers helped Ramirez in the lineup with the re-signing Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal. Russell Martin continues to improve and may be the best catcher in baseball both offensively and defensively. Los Angeles added protection for Martin, but signing Brad Ausmus to be his back up. On the mound Randy Wolf was signed to eat up innings from the left-handed side. A prospect that may make a huge impact for the Dodgers this season is James McDonald. At 6’5, McDonald played first base in high school, and in the outfield in minor leagues, he throws mid 90’s, and could be thrown into the rotation, or used out of the bullpen. The starting rotation appears to be Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Clayton Kershaw and Jason Schmidt 1-4. Schmidt has not pitched in the major leagues since 2007, but after having shoulder surgery Schmidt may finally be able to produce again. The fifth starter looks to be a toss-up between Randy Wolf, Claudio Vargas, Shawn Estes, Eric Stults and James McDonald. Johnathan Broxton should lead the bullpen, which appears to have some unknowns under manager Joe Torre. Guys like Hong-Chih Kuo, Cory Wade and Ramon Troncoso will take their turns looking to throw in the middle innings.

As the San Diego Padres continue to work in Peoria Arizona, they will look to find any way they can to forget their dismal 2008 season. The Padres finished with a league worst 63-99 record, for last place in the NL West. The Padres are now under new ownership led by Jeff Moorad, replacing former owner John Moores. While Moores was leading the organization, their payroll lowered to nearly $40 million. During the off-season, San Diego traded Khalil Green to St. Louis and elected to not re-sign Trevor Hoffman. The Padres added a spark plug at the top of their offense in shortstop David Eckstein. Despite all the off-season talk about Jake Peavy moving to a new location, he still remains in San Diego. Will Peavy finish the season in San Diego? That is a question that will be asked throughout the entire season. With Peavy and Chris Young in the rotation, should be unknowns such as Cha Seug Baek, Kevin Correla and Josh Geer. Youngsters such as Chad Reineke, Wade LeBlanc and Will Inman will wait in the wings for when needed. Heath Bell and Cla Meredith should anchor a bullpen with some ability to be solid. Mike Adams, Mark Worrell and Chris Britton will look to put up quality numbers as well. San Diego may be looking to youngster Mark Antonelli to fill in at second base. Antonelli was the Padres first round draft choice in 2006, but hit just .215 in AAA last season. Jody Gerut, Brian Giles and Chase Headley should fill the outfield with Cliff Floyd and Scott Hairston coming off the bench. Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff should fill the corner infield positions and bat in the middle of the lineup.

The fifth and final team in the National League West is the San Francisco Giants. The Giants finished 72-90 last season, placing 4th place in the division. The Giants had the best off-season adding Edgar Renteria to play shortstop and veteran Randy Johnson to help Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain out in the rotation. Johnson should benefit from a pitcher friendly AT+T Par. If Barry Zito could regain any of his former production, the Giants rotation has the potential to match anyone in the National League. At the bottom of the rotation is Johnathan Sanchez, who is just 26 years old. San Francisco also added Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry to help set up closer Brian Wilson. Wilson saved 41 of 47 games for the Giants in 2008. The weakness for the Giants will be their offense. Can the Giants find an offense that can keep them competitive in the National League? Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina and Fred Lewis appear to be the meat of the order, with veterans like Randy Winn, Edgar Renteria and Aaron Roward sandwiched in between. To be successful, it appears the Giants will need to win a lot of 2-1, 3-2 ball games.