World Series odds: With top teams like Braves and Dodgers out, who is favored to win?
There has been plenty of complaining about how the best teams in Major League Baseball had a disadvantage with a long bye, but all that matters is we're down to four teams.
An eclectic, unexpected final four teams.
When the Atlanta Braves, a 104-win team in the regular season, lost Thursday night in the NLDS to the Philadelphia Phillies, their season was done. They joined the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, fellow 100-win teams, the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays and the 92-win Milwaukee Brewers in starting their offseason early.
That leaves us with an ALCS of the Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers and an NLCS of the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies. None of those teams, other than the Astros, was even the better seed in its division series matchup. None of them won more than 90 games in the regular season. So which team is now favored to win the World Series?
What are the World Series odds?
It's not too surprising that at BetMGM on Friday morning the Astros are the favorites to win the World Series:
• Astros +190
• Phillies +200
• Rangers +275
• Diamondbacks +450
The odds for all four teams were obviously going to shift as they advanced, but there were some huge shifts for each team over the past few weeks. Here were the odds for each team at the start of the postseason:
• Astros +500
• Phillies +1200
• Rangers +1800
• Diamondbacks +5000
If you took the Diamondbacks at the start of the postseason, you're feeling pretty good about how those odds have changed for you.
Diamondbacks had longest odds
The Diamondbacks epitomize the 2023 postseason.
They went just 84-78 during the regular season. So did the Miami Marlins, but the Marlins were the higher seeded team in the postseason. The Diamondbacks ranked 12th of all 12 postseason teams, which is why they had 50-to-1 odds to win the championship as the playoffs began. And now they're in the NLCS. The Diamondbacks opened the regular season with 66-to-1 odds to win the World Series.
The main reason the Astros are favored is their recent history. Houston has been in the last two World Series, losing in 2021 and winning last year. They also won in 2017, a title that will be remembered forever for a sign-stealing scandal. The Astros have top-end players, many of whom have had plenty of postseason success. In a strange postseason, they're the one team that feels comfortable (even if most neutral fans aren't necessarily rooting for them).
We figured on an NLCS with the Braves vs. the Dodgers, and perhaps Orioles vs. Astros in the AL. The Astros are the only team that was somewhat expected to still be standing, and they won just 90 games this season. There are probably more surprises ahead.
