After becoming only the 11^th AL Cy Young Award winner to sweep every first-place vote in MLB history, the Yankees Gerrit Cole finally took home the hardware as one of the favorites at Caesars Sportsbook after finishing second place in voting a number of different times. The Twins Sonny Gray placed second with 20 second place votes, while the Blue Jays Kevin Gausman placed third with 15 votes. Entering the MLB betting season, New York’s staff ace is the odds-on favorite to repeat followed by Gausman and new AL entrant Corbin Burnes who is now entrenched as the Orioles SP1 after throwing for the Brewers the last six seasons. The AL has seen some big dog tickets cash on the AL Cy Young Award futures odds in recent seasons! With that in mind, here are my favorite, underdog, and longshot selections to be the best pitcher in the American League over the course of the 2024 baseball betting season.

Bet AL Cy Young Award Odds at Caesars Sportsbook

*Remaining Players all 10-1 or greater

Favorite to Bet: Framber Valdez +1000

Coming off successive campaigns in which the south paw was voted to the All-Star game and made 31 starts, Framber Valdez is situated amongst the favorites to win the AL Cy Young at Caesars tied with Burnes at 10-1 and just ahead of the Twins Pablo Lopez (+1200). Consistency has been the name of his game for a number of seasons now. So much so that he allowed the exact same amount of hits (166) in the last two seasons and nearly threw just as many innings in each. He enters 2024 coming off a campaign in which he registered a career-high 200 strikeouts and career-best 57 walks with at least 198 innings pitched.

His sinker/curve/change combo routinely had opposing batters off-kilter, while his control was on point evidenced by his 3.51 K/BB ratio the best of his career since logging 130+ inning seasons. Bothersome however were the 19 home runs allowed which had much to do with his GB/FB ratio cratering from 2.04 to 1.21. If he can get it back up into the 2.0s, Valdez will eat more innings and put himself in a position to win more games on an Astros team that currently has the fourth-shortest odds (+900) to win the World Series.

Underdog to Bet: Triston McKenzie +12500

MLB bettors were robbed of the opportunity to take in a full season of strikeout artist Triston McKenzie who only got four starts under his belt due to the injury bug taking two substantial bites out of him right before the season started and right before he was set to return from the initial injury. Offseason reports speculate a return to form with no issues cropping up to this point of Spring Training. With the AL Central wide open for any team to kick in the door and secure bragging rights, the Guardians starting pitching staff should have the club in the thick of the race all the way through.

“Sticks” will play a predominant role in Cleveland’s success under first-year manager Stephen Vogt with the strength of the team coming with the arms. The Guardians lanky right-hander was my underdog selection at +3500 a season ago, but now the rate of return is an eye-opening +12500! If truly healthy, the kid has the stuff to turn some heads and put forth a huge season that finds him dead set on landing a new multi-year deal after settling for a one-year contract in the offseason.

Longshot to Bet: Michael Kopech +30000

The beer money dart throw resides on the Southside of Chicago where Michael Kopech enters his third full season as a member of the White Sox starting staff. While the Southsiders don’t figure to be in the mix for any postseason accolades with it expected to bring up the rear of the AL Central (+3500) and only the Rockies and A’s possessing longer odds to win the World Series (+25000) at Caesars Sportsbook, it’s the right-handers repertoire that has me taking a shot on this lotto ticket.

Fastball/slider combos bring about excellence when executed well, and that’s exactly what this righty brings to the table every passing start. Ranked in the 69^th percentile in SwStr% with his fastball, Kopech could take it to the next level should he better grasp his slide piece. Should the switch flip, I truly think his stuff will be taken to the next level considering he owned a 9.3 K/9 with his fastball doing most of the work. This kid came highly touted out of Texas, and he’s got the body build to become an absolute stud. Here’s to hoping Pedro Grifol and the new White Sox staff pushes the right buttons to put this kid on a path towards success!

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