Being the oddsmakers’ darlings doesn’t guarantee anything but Toronto manager John Gibbons isn’t running away from the Blue Jays being installed as the favorite to win the AL East and the World Series by Bovada after acquiring R.A. Dickey from the Mets.
“I feel good about it,” Gibbons told The Post via phone. He starts his second tour with the Blue Jays with a much better club than John Farrell left to manage the Red Sox.
“It means nothing but it’s nice that people recognize we have a good team.”
Gibbons was named the Blue Jays manager after GM Alex Anthopoulos acquired Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from the Marlins on Nov. 19. Free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera was added the same day and this week Dickey, who won 20 games and the NL Cy Young Award as a Met last year, joined the Jays.
Prior to the Reyes trade the Blue Jays were 35/1 to win the World Series and went to 14/1 following the deal. Before Dickey joined Toronto the Blue Jays were 12/1 to win the World Series.
Suddenly, expectations for a team that hasn’t been to the postseason since 1993 have soared.
“If you let it, it can,” Gibbons said of expectations smothering a manager. “You have to treat it like any other year and you try to prepare for the season the same way. If you are tight or panic when things don’t go good everybody feels that.”
The Blue Jays, who finished last season 73-89, are 3/2 to win the AL East and 15/2 to win the franchise’s first World Series title since Joe Carter’s Game 6 home run beat the Phillies in 1993.
The Angels and Dodgers are next at 17/2 with the Nationals at 9/1. Reigning AL champion Detroit is 10/1 with the Reds and Rangers at 12/1. The Yankees are 14 /1.
The Mets, Mariners, Twins and Indians are 75/1 to win the World Series.
The Yankees are Bovada’s second choice in the AL East at 19/10.Tampa Bay is third at 5/1 followed by Boston at 11/2 and the Orioles at 10/1.
GM Brian Cashman declined comment on the Jays being the favorite.
Rays owner Stuart Sternberg wrote in an e-mail, “Each year an AL East team other than us ought to be the favorite to win the division given the dramatic disparities in resources.”