Notes on instructional league, playoff odds and free agents

A group of around 60 young Orioles minor league players will go their separate ways after Tuesday. That is the final day of the Orioles' fall instructional league, which has been taking place since Sept. 19 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida.

Instructional league is usually comprised of players early in their minor league careers and the roster for this year included plenty of players drafted just this past summer. The program focuses on specific individual development while providing additional playing time to accelerate a player's progress through the minor league system.

Brian Graham, the Orioles' director of player development, said this year's group took part in one of the best instructional leagues he can remember.

What made it so?

"I think just the kids and the emotional investment by our players," Graham said. "Every player here wanted to get better and has gotten better. You could just see the look on their face(s) every day. They came to the ballpark and wanted to work. When the game started, they wanted to win the game. They played the game the right way. It's really been a good instructional league."

Here is the list of the players that took part:

Pitchers: Keegan Akin, Brandon Bonilla, Xavier Borde, Jacob Bray, Garrett Cleavinger, Matt De La Rosa, Jose Diaz, Matthias Dietz, Cody Dube, Tyler Erwin, Ruben Garcia, Hector Guance, David Hess, Nick Jobst, Steven Klimek, Max Knutson, Jesus Liranzo, Ryan Meisinger, Ryan Moseley, Zack Muckenhirn, Tobias Myers, Jhon Peluffo, Ofelky Peralta, Luis Perez, Willie Rios, Yelin Rodriguez, Cody Sedlock, James Teague, Alexander Wells, Gillian Wernet.

Catchers: Daniel Fajardo, Alfredo Gonzalez, Stuart Levy, Alex Murphy, Chris Shaw.

Infielders: Carlos Baez, Chris Clare, Seamus Curran, Jaime Estrada, Alejandro Juvier, Kirvin Moesquit, Ryan Mountcastle, Irving Ortega, Preston Palmeiro, Jomar Reyes, Alexis Torres, Steve Wilkerson, Guiyuan (Itchy) Xu.

Outfielders: Cole Billingsley, Natanael Delgado, Jaylen Ferguson, Tristan Graham, Gerrion Grim, Austin Hays, Ryan McKenna, Cedric Mullins.

Rehab: Brenan Hanifee, Hunter Harvey, Branden Kline, Chris Lee, Lazaro Leyva.

Graham singled out a few players for how well they did in Florida.

"You know what, Jomar Reyes has been really good," Graham said. "It's a great thing given that his year was fair. (Ryan) Mountcastle offensively was really good. (Irving) Ortega, the young shortstop has been really good. Cedric Mullins has done a nice job. (Matthias) Dietz, (Keegan) Akin and (Cody) Sedlock have all been good. Our staff did a nice job and our players got better."

It had to be a boost to the 19-year-old Reyes. Ranked as the Orioles' No. 4 prospect at the end of 2015, he struggled at times in the Carolina League with Single-A Frederick. In 126 games, he hit .228 with 10 homers, 51 RBIs and an OPS of .607.

"It was a difficult season for him," Graham said. "He did not play at the level that we expected him to or that he expected to. He got off track a bit but (hitting instructor) Jeff Manto has gotten him back on track a bit here. And I'm very pleased with his defense which has been excellent. (Double-A Bowie manager) Gary Kendall has been our infield guy down here and worked really hard with working with his legs and how he moves sideways in reacting to the ball off the bat."

Playoff odds: Before the American League and National League Division Series began on Thursday, these were the odds listed by online sportsbook Bovada.

Odds to win the 2016 World Series:
Chicago Cubs 5/2
Boston Red Sox 5/1
Texas Rangers 6/1
Toronto Blue Jays 25/4
Los Angeles Dodgers 15/2
San Francisco Giants 15/2
Washington Nationals 8/1
Cleveland Indians 9/1

Odds to win the 2016 AL Pennant:
Boston Red Sox 2/1
Texas Rangers 2/1
Toronto Blue Jays 11/4
Cleveland Indians 15/4

Odds to win the 2016 NL Pennant:
Chicago Cubs 6/5
San Francisco Giants 3/1
Los Angeles Dodgers 7/2
Washington Nationals 15/4

Who is coming back?: The Orioles have nine players that are free agents. Which among this group do you think will be back in 2017?

Pedro Alvarez
Michael Bourn
Brian Duensing
Tommy Hunter
Steve Pearce
Nolan Reimold
Drew Stubbs
Mark Trumbo
Matt Wieters