The Odds Are Out for the 2016 MLS Cup Winners

Despite playing in the 2015 MLS Cup Final in December, Columbus Crew SC and the Portland Timbers aren't even the favorites to take home the title next season.

Recently the odds for the upcoming season's Major League Soccer champion were recently by Los Vegas gambling site Bovada and it is last year's Supporters' Shield winners, the New York Red Bulls who on top in the preseason.

According to Bovada, the Red Bulls have the best odds to take home the 2016 MLS Cup at 4/1 followed by the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Timbers, the defending champions, tied at 5/1.

The Black & Gold have the third best odds to take home next year's championship. The oddmakers put them at 7/1, meaning if you were to be $100 on Crew SC now and the club takes home the MLS Cup, you win $700.

The rest of the top contenders are FC Dallas, 10/1, and the Vancouver Whitecaps, 12/1.

If Bovada's odds are signs of anything to come in the 2016 MLS season, it demonstrated a belief that the Western Conference will be stronger than the East. The odds have six of the top nine teams coming from out west, while only New York, Columbus, and Toronto FC finish that high.

There is a four-way tie on the teams with the worst odds between the Chicago Fire, the Houston Dynamo, the Colorado Rapids, and the Philadelphia Union. If you believe in any of those teams, get your money in now because betting $100 would earn you $5,000 if any of those clubs raises the trophy at the year's end.

Future odds should not be taken too seriously, especially in a league like MLS where plenty could change before the start of the season and so much will certainly be different by mid-summer.

Although it is likely more a reflection of where teams finished last season, it is interesting to see where the oddmakers believe certain teams will finish.

What do you think of these odds? Are there any teams you believe should be higher? Lower?