Daily Distractions: Accept it, Dodger fans: Your team is the big favorite.

Dodger fans

Fans take in a recent Dodgers game. (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)

This non-native Southern Californian is about to make a broad observation about Dodger fans. Try to hang with me for two minutes before returning the favor in the comments section.

The updated 2013 World Series odds were released today by online oddsmaker Bovada. The Dodgers are the strong favorites at 13:4. The Detroit Tigers are second at 19:4. This represents a shift since the last time Bovada released its odds on Aug. 16, when the Dodgers were the cautious 9:2 favorites, edging the Tigers (5:1) for the first time all season.

In the National League, the Atlanta Braves (11:4) are given the best chance of knocking off the Dodgers (3:2) for the pennant.

Rather than liking those odds, fans offered feedback in step with the I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it pessimism that’s prevailed since … well … you tell me.

Quick psychological litmus test: When the Dodgers fell short of the playoffs last season, did you accept your inevitable fate or feel genuinely disappointed? When the Dodgers became the first team since 1942 to go on a 42-8 streak over 50 games in July and August, did you start looking forward to October or wonder how your team would manage to blow it? Would you have fired Don Mattingly by now?

If you’ve worn off the paint on the PANIC button to the point it’s become PC, today’s odds probably come as little comfort. Maybe a little skepticism is healthy. It’s not unearned. But if the Dodgers’ bandwagon were a Walmart, some crusty old guy would be standing front and center, restraining a smile and greeting new visitors with a reminder about no World Series appearances since the 1988 championship. Or so I imagine.

In the early days of sports blogs, DodgerBlues.com was among my favorites. Maybe it’s a sign of newfound optimism that the site hasn’t been updated in a year and a half (and that the last blog entry portended hope — a symbolic death of “Dodger blues”?). It’s also telling that the site exists at all, and that the Kirk Gibson fist-pump clock is still rolling.

Accept it, Dodger fans: Your team is the big favorite now. Whatever that means.

Some bullet points for a Newspaper Carrier Day:

• Yahoo! Sports reviews Yasiel Puig’s new walkup song. Just wondering: If Puig can prolong Mr. Criminal’s relevance, should Delinquent Habits feature Andre Ethier in their next video?

• What they’re wondering in Giants country: Will Brian Wilson get booed in San Francisco?

• Happy 45th birthday, Mike Piazza.

• Frank McCourt is taking a small chunk of his Dodgers money to Manhattan.

• The Dodgers’ and Angels’ California League affiliates are meeting in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.

John Kruk, who was hospitalized with dehydration the last time the Dodgers played a Sunday Night Baseball game, will not be in the ESPN booth this Sunday for the Reds-Dodgers game from Cincinnati. Appropriately, it’ll be a former Red (Barry Larkin) and a former Dodger (Orel Hershiser) calling the game with play-by-play man Dan Shulman.

• After watching Roy Oswalt pitch against the Ogden Raptors, the Dodgers’ Rookie-level affiliate, how about stopping by Grand Junction Subaru for a great deal on a new Subaru?

Eric Byrnes adds his voice to the growing number of Steroid-Era-players-turned-bloggers. Amid each player’s philosophical ramblings, we tend to learn something the Mitchell Report only dreamed of teaching us. Byrnes’ revelation: That the list of steroid users in baseball includes “a prominent Hall of Famer that played the majority of his career in the 70′s and 80′s.”

• The Pittsburgh Pirates have a pair of important cover stories this week. Sports Illustrated’s cover headline romanticizes the present, while today’s story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a humbling, honest celebration of mediocrity.

• If I owned the Angels, I would be tempted to call them the “Los Angeles Angels Of Montreal,” knowing that 1, Montreal doesn’t have a baseball team that would throw a fit and 2, Of Montreal could be the house band at every home game:

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.