Las Vegas sportsbooks have picked the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals as the two favorite teams to meet in the 2009 World Series, and have listed the Yankees as favorite to win the MLB title.

The Yankees are 3-2 favorites to win the championship despite having to beat three teams to do it, oddsmaker Tony Sinisi of Las Vegas Sports Consultants said Wednesday. The Yankees ended the regular season with the best record in the league, beating the wild card-winning Boston Red Sox by eight games in the AL East. Their 103 wins earned them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, which started Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees are followed by the Boston Red Sox at 9-2 and the Angels at 11-2.

On the other hand, the Minnesota Twins, who only a few days ago bested the Detroit Tigers to win the AL Central title, are a bigger underdog in the American League with 25-1 odds to win this year's title.

St. Louis Cardinals is the favorite team in the National League to win the World Series at 9-2 , followed by the Philadelphia Phillies (11-2) and Los Angeles Dodgers (6-1). Finally, the Colorado Rockies are listed at 14/1 to win the World Series.

For Jay Kornegay, executive director of the race and sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, the majority of Las Vegas casinos and sports books would prefer a Yankees-Dodgers final than a Yankees-Cardinals World Series because of the amount of betting both teams are capable to generate.

But even if Las Vegas oddmakers get their dream matchup, Las Vegas sportsbooks are not expecting a high amount of bets on the World Series and say that regardless who get to the finals, most sportsbetting fans will remain focused on the NFL Season.

"A World Series game with those two teams in it would be very comparable to an average to just above-average college football game," said Kornegay in an interview given to Associated Press.

Pinnacle Sports