With Verlander, Cabrera, and now Prince Fielder, will the Tigers win the World Series this year?  Bookmakers give them a pretty good shot:

The favorites to win the World Series this year for the second straight season are the Philadelphia Phillies (2012 Favorites On The Odds To Win The World Series – 4.85 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). They have had a heck of an offseason, adding Jonathan Papelbon to solidify the back end of a bullpen that has historically been shoddy. The prognosis for Ryan Howard’s Achilles tendon injury are good at this point, and he might not miss all that much of the season. Sure, there are some other issues, but this starting pitching rotation is still remarkable even though Roy Oswalt is no longer a part of it. The NL East is going to be tough this year, as the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves are both going to be solid teams as well. However, this team is clearly the class of the division and the National League as a whole, and once the team gets into the playoffs, it will once again be a remarkable choice to win it all.

The team that has jumped to the front of the class in the American League is the Detroit Tigers (2012 World Series Odds – 6 to 1 at BetOnline Sportsbook). The Tigers started off this offseason in terrible shape, losing Victor Martinez for the season to an ACL injury. However, give Detroit some credit. It went out and stole Prince Fielder in free agency from some of the other teams that might have been a heck of a lot more conducive to give him the big bucks. Now, having Miguel Cabrera and Fielder in the same lineup is tremendous, and a pitching staff anchored by Justin Verlander is going to be great as well. To make matters even better, the rest of the AL Central really has gone backwards this year, and unless the likes of the Minnesota Twins end up with a huge turnaround this season, there shouldn’t be a team that is going to challenge the Tigers this year.