Go Diamondbacks… or Braves…

…or Phillies or maybe even Reds.

My family loves sports and we especially love our local Seattle sports teams. As anyone who follows sports in our area knows, 2008 was a disaster of cataclysmic proportions. Everyone sucked. SUCKED!

With the bitter taste of 2008 in our mouths it has been a little difficult to get amped up for the 2009 Mariners season even though they do appear to be somewhat on the mend.

Thankfully, my older brother Ady had a great idea to make the 2009 season a bit more interesting for all of us. There are 30 teams in Major League baseball so we decided to have a baseball pool of sorts.

We found 30 people in the family to each pull one Major League team randomly out of a hat. The team you picked is now your team for the 2009 season. If that team goes on to win the World Series this year, the entire family throws a large party in your honor. A party with like balloons, cake, banners, the works. The 29 “losers” in the family are required to buy you an actual gift of at least $20 in value.

Sadly Ady, whose idea all this was promptly drew the Kansas City Royals (2009 odds 100/1) from the hat. He can begin shopping for gifts immediately.

I drew the Arizona Diamondbacks, Valerie drew the Atlanta Braves. We also let Sarah and Josh play so they could learn how to gamble at a young age and learn important math skills as they relate to betting lines etc. They drew the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds respectively.

We have a minor chance of pulling a winner out of our family and a major chance of spending $80 on gifts. Sarah has our family’s best shot at glory with the Phillies. If one of our children wins, we have asked that gifts be wrapped festively in Christmas colors and signed “From: Santa”.

Here are the complete odds for the season…

Boston Red Sox 3/1
Chicago Cubs 5/1
LA Angels 5/1
Philadelphia Phillies 6/1
New York Yankees 6/1
Tampa Bay Rays 10/1
Chicago White Sox 10/1
New York Mets 12/1
Milwaukee Brewers 15/1
Minnesota Twins 15/1
LA Dodgers 15/1
Toronto Blue Jays 20/1
Detroit Tigers 25/1
Florida Marlins 30/1
Houston Astros 30/1
St. Louis Cardinals 30/1
Cleveland Indians 30/1
Atlanta Braves 30/1
Arizona Diamondbacks 40/1
Colorado Rockies 40/1
Texas Rangers 50/1
Cincinnati Reds 50/1
Oakland Athletics 50/1
San Francisco Giants 80/1
KC Royals 100/1
Baltimore Orioles 100/1
Seattle Mariners 100/1
San Diego Padres 100/1
Pittsburgh Pirates 200/1
Washington Nationals 300/1