World Series odds update: Giants, Twins trending in opposite directions

We're roughly 50 games into the 2021 MLB season, which means we've finally gathered enough data to learn which teams are the real deal or truly in trouble. It's also enough for oddsmakers to make some major adjustments to the World Series oddsboard - including pricing at least one preseason contender as a distant long shot and vice versa.

Here are the updated World Series odds from theScore Bet, along with the biggest risers and fallers from our most recent update in late April:

Trending up

San Francisco Giants (+4200)

No team has seen a more dramatic price adjustment than the Giants, who were 125-1 long shots in late April but have carried their winning ways into May. Their .604 win percentage is third-best in baseball behind the rival Padres (.633) and Dodgers (.625), who have handed San Francisco seven of its 19 losses thus far.

Will it continue for another five months? Probably not. The Giants haven't posted a winning record since 2016, and they're relying on resurgent stretches from the same veterans who floundered in those four seasons since. If you didn't buy them at much better odds a month ago, it's hard to justify paying this price on a team ripe for regression.

St. Louis Cardinals (+1700)

The Cardinals opened as 18-1 contenders to win it all before seeing a dip in their odds amid a slow start. Oddsmakers are back in after an 18-12 run fueled by strong pitching and infield defense.

St. Louis' starters rank fifth in ERA (2.86) since April 22 and have allowed the fourth-lowest batting average against (.204), while its position players have contributed the seventh-most defensive WAR (8.2). Those numbers likely won't last. The Cardinals have allowed the lowest BABIP (.253) over that stretch, with the second-lowest strikeout rate (20.4%) and lowest HR/FB rate (6.9%).

In simple terms: St. Louis has allowed a ton of contact but survived it thanks to MLB's lowest success rate on balls in play; that isn't a sustainable way to prevent runs. The Cardinals could certainly win it all, but this price feels like an overreaction to basic luck.

Trending down

Minnesota Twins (+5000)

The Twins had the eighth-shortest odds (+1800) to win the World Series ahead of the season, and they were holding steady at that price as recently as late April. But the wins just haven't come. Minnesota's 19-29 record is sixth-worst in MLB; the five teams below the Twins all feature odds longer than 200-1, which is where Minnesota might find itself if it can't turn its season around.

It's probably too early to completely bail on this group, which still has three All-Star caliber pitchers (Jose Berrios, Kenta Maeda, Michael Pineda) and one of the hardest-hitting lineups in baseball. But things haven't looked good so far, and the Twins may have dug themselves a hole too deep to slug their way out of.

Los Angeles Angels (+4500)

When you lose the best player in baseball for six-to-eight weeks, it tends to affect your title chances. Truth be told, the Angels were already on the way down, losing 10 of 15 games before Mike Trout's calf injury and five of eight since then to slide to last place in the AL West.

The higher this price climbs, though, the more irresistible this team becomes as an upside play. A lineup anchored by a healthy Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Anthony Rendon paired with a rotation of former Cy Young finalists and top prospects is certainly alluring. L.A. was an easy fade at 25-1; at these odds, it might be worth a look.

C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.