The World Baseball Classic odds are official now as final rosters have been announced. One thing that’s missing, and it’s not all that important – really, it’s not – is superstars. The World Baseball Classic has a roster full of fairly good players, but not necessarily the stars that everyone wants to see.

For example, the American team’s starting rotation is highlighted by Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy, which is good, but it’s not C.C. Sabathia and Cole Hamels. After those two starters for the US, they are followed up by Ted Lilly and Jeremy Guthrie.

For the fans who want to back Canada on the WBC odds, they might want to reconsider now the Erik Bedard, Jeff Francis, Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden are not playing. Canada, who had a puncher’s chance before hand, now will be very shorthanded.

When doing your baseball classic betting, just keep in mind that many stars won’t be there. There is more research to do. The U.S. team looks particularly thin not because of the roster they have fielded but because of the roster they could have fielded. Without Sabathia, Hamels, Roy Halladay, Mark Teixeira, Jonathan Papelbon, Chase Utley, Joe Mauer, Matt Holliday or Josh Hamilton, the U.S. lineup just simply isn’t as star-studded. It’s still good, but not great.

The U.S. team isn’t the only squad that was hit hard by star pullouts. The Dominican Republic has had its fair share as well. There will be no Vladimir Guerrero, or Albert Pujols, or Johan Santan for the Dominican Republic, which takes some bite out of their bark.

Those who bet sports can’t be too excited about the World Baseball Classic with so many stars skipping the event. There isn’t a really important trophy handed out and there isn’t a ton of nationalistic pride worth playing for, so what is the real motivation?

In many cases, money is the motivation, like it will be for those who bet on the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but for the players, they aren’t paid any extra to play in this. What that generally means is that they aren’t willing to put their body in harm’s way for the event and they aren’t willing to jeopardize their Major League Baseball career for some tournament where they have much to gain.

That being said, with the U.S. team being the sports betting favorite, bettors might want to take a look at some of the other teams and invest in them since they offer more value. There are plenty of other nations that are underdogs who want the national attention and who want to perform well on a national scale. For the Americans, they are just going through the motions and most of their best players didn’t even feel like doing that. Take a shot with a team with longer odds because they have a realistic chance to win.