With this year's World Baseball Classic right around the corner, it's a great time to lock in futures plays for the bi-annual competition. This year should be an interesting one for group play – three of the four groups have a heavily-favored team, with the fourth group being wide open.'
The WBC format is similar to Soccer's World Cup – within a pool, each team plays every other team in Pool Play. At the end of the Pool Play round, the two teams with the best records will advance, with the best team “winning” their pool. Below are my best bets for the winner of each WBC pool this year.
Pool A: Netherlands (+250)
Pool A is the most wide-open of any pool heading into the tournament. While all five teams in are priced at +1600 or shorter to win Pool A, Cuba (+115) and the Netherlands stand as the two most likely winners based on current odds.