The start of Major League Baseball\u2019s spring training is right around the corner making it the perfect time to take a look at which teams have the best chance to win this season\u2019s National League Pennant and earn a trip to the 2012 World Series. <\/p>\n
All odds quoted are provided by Cappers Picks top sportsbooks<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Philadelphia Phillies pitched their way to a MLB-best 102-60 record last season behind Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hammels, but came up short against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series with an early exit from the playoffs.<\/p>\n Given that the team has remained pretty much intact from last season, except for the loss of pitcher Roy Oswalt, it is little wonder that it is once again the odds-on-favorite to win the NL at +150<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Phillies will start the season with a huge hole in the lineup as Ryan Howard recovers from an Achilles tendon injury, but hopes to be back by mid-May.<\/p>\n This team should once again win the NL East, but will need some consistent production from its bats to get all the way back to the World Series.<\/p>\n Last season, the Atlanta Braves could not keep pace down the stretch with the Phillies, but their 89 wins kept them in the wildcard race until the bitter end despite suffering some key injuries along the way. With no major losses in the lineup and the addition of a few young faces, especially rookie shortstop Tyler Pastornicky, the Braves appear ready to once again challenge for a spot in the postseason.<\/p>\n The Braves are currently one of the second-favorites at +700<\/strong> to win the NL based primarily on their pitching. If they are going to have any chance at winning it all, they will need much better offensive production from players such as Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n The other second-favorite to win the NL at +700<\/strong> is the San Francisco Giants, who won it all in 2010. The Giants took a major hit last season when All-Star catcher Buster Posey was lost for the year with a broken ankle.<\/p>\n They went on to win 86 games but ended-up eight games back in the NL West and four games back in the wildcard race.<\/p>\n The roster has been switched around a bit with the addition of Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan, and Ryan Theriot, while parting ways with Carlos Beltran, Andres Torres, and Pat Burrell. Both Posey and Freddie Sanchez, who also missed a substantial amount of time due to injury, should be back for opening day.<\/p>\n The main plus for this team is that it still has one of the best pitching staffs in the Majors and should be back in the postseason this year as long as it can stay healthy.<\/p>\n The next three favorites at +900<\/strong> are the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals, the NL West Division champion Arizona Diamondbacks, and the 2010 NL Central champion Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n Last season\u2019s NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers are included in a group of six teams at +1400<\/strong>. A couple of other moderate longshots in this group are the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Miami Marlins, but a team with the most value at these odds could be the Washington Nationals.<\/p>\n The Nationals finished a respectable third in the NL East last season at 80-81 with a solid mix of a couple of talented players and some young raw talent.<\/p>\n The return of pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who missed the bulk of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, immediately makes the Nationals\u2019 pitching staff better as does the addition of starter Gio Gonzalez from Oakland and closer Brad Lidge, if he can return to his past form.<\/p>\n *** Updated Odds at Presstime ***<\/p>\n ODDS TO WIN 2012 NATIONAL LEAGUE PENNANT<\/strong><\/p>\n Philadelphia Phillies\t17\/10 National League \u2018Futures\u2019 Odds The start of Major League Baseball\u2019s spring training is right around the corner making it the perfect time to take a look at which teams have the best chance to win this season\u2019s National League Pennant and earn a trip to the 2012 World Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":33783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[39626,53615,53616,53617,17252,4651,108,22260,3261,111,112,227,11787,24724,683,22722,24729,24686,26569,24726,53618],"class_list":["post-47987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-39626","tag-2012-mlb-national-league-pennant-odds","tag-2012-national-league-championship-lines","tag-2012-national-league-odds","tag-baseball-future-odds","tag-baseball-futures","tag-baseball-handicapping","tag-baseball-news","tag-baseball-odds","tag-baseball-picks","tag-baseball-predictions","tag-bookmakercom","tag-mlb-baseball-lines","tag-mlb-future-picks","tag-mlb-handicapping","tag-mlb-headlines","tag-mlb-nl-pennant-futures","tag-mlb-team-news","tag-national-league-pennant-betting","tag-nl-pennant-lines","tag-odds-to-win-2012-nl-pennant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47987"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48009,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47987\/revisions\/48009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Favorite<\/h3>\n
The Contenders<\/h3>\n
The Longshot<\/h3>\n
\nAtlanta Braves\t7\/1
\nSan Francisco Giants\t7\/1
\nSt Louis Cardinals\t9\/1
\nCincinnati Reds\t9\/1
\nArizona Diamondbacks\t9\/1
\nMilwaukee Brewers\t14\/1
\nMiami Marlins\t14\/1
\nLos Angeles Dodgers\t14\/1
\nChicago Cubs\t14\/1
\nWashington Nationals\t14\/1
\nColorado Rockies\t18\/1
\nPittsburgh Pirates\t40\/1
\nNew York Mets\t40\/1
\nHouston Astros\t60\/1
\nSan Diego Padres\t125\/1<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR TOP BASEBALL CAPPERS FROM 2011 —–><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"