Cubs Enter Spring Training as Favorites, MLB News

The Chicago Cubs enter spring training as the consensus favorite to win the World Series, as short as 4-1 at some Las Vegas sportsbooks.

The Cubs are 4-1 to win the World Series at the Westgate SuperBook. No other team has odds in the single digits. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros are next at 10-1, followed by the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox at 12-1.

The Cubs opened at 10-1 at the SuperBook and attracted steady action to trim their odds down to 4-1. That's the shortest preseason odds any World Series favorite has had in the last four years at the SuperBook. But it hasn't stopped anyone from betting them.

More bets and more money have been placed on the Cubs than any other team at multiple sportsbooks. It's not really close.

Twice as much money has been bet on the Cubs than any other team at the SuperBook. The San Francisco Giants have attracted the second-most money, followed by the Dodgers.

The MGM has already written more than 2,500 tickets on the Cubs to win the World Series. That's four times as many bets as the next-closest team, the Mets, have attracted and 25 times more than six teams with the fewest bets: The Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves.

Blue Jays' Bautista Has Given a Number

Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista said Monday that he has given the team "a number" on what it would take to sign him to an extension and he isn't willing to negotiate further.

"I did not go to them. They asked me a question, 'What would it take to get it done?' and I gave them an answer. It's not an adamant, drawn lines in the sand or anything. Simply questions were asked, I felt like for this process to go down smoothly there didn't need to be any time wasted and efforts wasted for either party. If this is going to happen, they should know what it takes, and I told them the number because they asked me," he told ESPN's Britt McHenry.

In comments to reporters Monday, Bautista said the Blue Jays came to him with their question two weeks ago. He said he is "not willing to negotiate."

MVP Harper Doesn't Think He's a Leader

Despite coming off a historic season and being named the youngest unanimous MVP in the history of major league baseball, Bryce Harper still doesn't see himself as one of the leaders of the Washington Nationals.

"I don't think I'm a leader," said Harper, who addressed media in the Space Coast Stadium dugout on Monday morning. "I think I'm more just a guy playing the game. I think J-Dub [Jayson Werth] and Zimm [Ryan Zimmerman] and all those guys are the leaders, those guys that are going to go about it every single day and do the things that they think is right for this team."

Manager Dusty Baker echoed Harper's sentiments.

"He has leadership potential, but he's not a leader yet," the Nats' new skipper said of his 23-year old star outfielder. "How many people are going to follow the youngest kid in the room? And just because you're the most talented doesn't mean that you're the leader. I don't think it's really fair to even put that on him. I think he has some good examples for the day when he does take over a leadership role because he's learned how from J-Dub and from [Max] Scherzer, from Zimmerman, and I think he's learned some things from [Jonathan] Papelbon. I've always said that leaders are anointed, they're not appointed."