After the fate of the 2022 Major League Baseball season was in an unknown state for much of the winter and early spring, we’re thankful that the start of the season was delayed by just one week once both the players and owners agreed on a collective bargaining agreement to end the lockout.
As we mentioned in an article during the winter, an abbreviated spring training doesn’t favor pitchers, and we’ve already seen it affect the New York Mets, as their two aces–Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer–are already contending with some injury concerns that have dropped them out of the top five of 2022 MLB World Series favorites. Other pitchers and position players are slow to come along too, but since it’s such a long season, it may not be as big of a deal come this summer.
With the long, 162-game season, these odds most certainly will shift, but as of opening day, here are the top-five World Series favorites when it comes to betting MLB future odds.
The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves are where they were to start the season, but things looked a bit bleak last summer after losing Marcell Ozuna to a domestic violence issue, then another offensive star, Ronald Acuna Jr., went down with a torn ACL in July while trying to make a leaping catch at the wall.
With the National League adopting the designated hitter position this year, that should allow for Acuna Jr. to return to the lineup in April, and it’s expected that he won’t play in the outfield until sometime in May.
While the Braves lost Freddie Freeman, who was one of the leaders of the team over the past several years, to free agency to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta is bringing back several of the pieces that brought the city its first World Series title since 1995–along with some new additions as well.
Atlanta has also dominated the NL East in recent years, winning the division in four-straight seasons and was also just a win away from the World Series in 2020 before letting a 3-1 series lead to the Dodgers slip away.
The team has been careful to say all spring that they’ve put the 2021 success behind them, taking the confidence of being World Series champs with them but being grounded enough to know that they have a bullseye on their back.
In addition to offensive returns of Acuna Jr., Ozuna, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Adam Duvall, and Austin Riley, the Braves also traded for A’s slugger Matt Olson to replace Freeman at first base. The rotation of Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Huascar Ynoa return, and the team hopes to get Mike Soroka back from an Achilles injury midseason. The team also beefed up its bullpen by trading for Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen during spring training.
Despite changes in the roster and the front office (after the sign-stealing scandal of 2017-19), the Houston Astros still haven’t missed a beat, coming a game away from reaching the 2020 World Series and then making the Fall Classic last year before losing in six games to Atlanta.
Star shortstop Carlos Correa left to join Minnesota (and also lost George Springer after the 2020 season), but the team returns plenty of offensive firepower and will have improved pitching this year with the return of ace Justin Verlander.
Veterans Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, and Yordan Alvarez will likely be the top four bats in the order, and Kyle Tucker, Yuli Gurriel, and Martin Maldonado are also solid pieces in the lineup.
Verlander’s health will be a big key for Houston, as he’s coming off Tommy John surgery in 2020. Lance McCullers is also returning from injury while Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy return along with veteran Jake Odorizzi. Ryan Pressly, Hector Neris, and Ryne Stanek anchor the bullpen, and while Dusty Baker still hasn’t won a World Series title as a manager, he’s still one of the best in the game.
The Astros are actually co-favorites in terms of odds to win the American League pennant.
While Seattle and the Los Angeles Angels are expected to improve, Oakland isn’t projected to have a good season, and they’ve been one of the biggest threats in the AL West in recent years, so that will help Houston’s chances to win the division for the second-straight year.
The Chicago White Sox ran away with the American League Central division last year but fell in four games to more experienced Houston in the first round of the playoffs. While Detroit and Minnesota have improved, Chicago is the clear favorite in the AL Central again, and the experience of last year’s playoff disappointment could fuel them further this postseason, similar to what happened with Atlanta last year.
The White Sox has the third-best on-base percentage in the majors last year and return essentially the same mostly young lineup for 2022. That includes slugger Jose Abreu, Joan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, catcher Yasmani Grandal, and table-setters Tim Anderson and Luis Robert. They are joined by newcomer Josh Harrison.
Ace Lance Lynn is expected to miss the first month of the season due to injury and Carlos Rodon left for San Francisco, but Michael Kopech returns to the rotation this year after Tommy John surgery a few years back, and Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, and Dallas Keuchel all return.
The White Sox traded closer Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers for A.J. Pollock, but they’re left with a good closer in Liam Hendricks and setup men Aaron Bummer and Joe Kelly.
With the AL East and West expected to be more competitive, the White Sox have a good chance to win either of the top-two seeds in the American League, which would give them a bye into the Division Series under the new 12-team format. That gives them a leg up, which is why they are in the conversation among the World Series favorites.
The American League East sent three teams to the playoffs last year, and the Toronto Blue Jays finished just one game behind Boston and the New York Yankees for the two Wild Card spots. And the Blue Jays won 91 games despite not playing a game in Toronto until June due to COVID-19 restrictions. With a full year at home, a powerful offense, solid pitching, and a chip on their shoulder after missing the playoffs a year ago, many are expecting the Blue Jays to take the next step.
George Springer is healthy this year and will lead-off a powerful lineup, essentially taking the spot of Marcus Siemien in the order. Following Springer will be Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Cavan Biggio, and newcomer Matt Chapman from Oakland. That’s a daunting lineup!
Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray departed for Seattle, but Hyun-Jin Ryu will be hoping for a bounce-back season, and Kevin Gausman comes over from San Francisco to join Jose Berrios, Alek Manoah, and Yusei Kikuchi, and star closer Jordan Romano also returns for the Jays.
The Jays also may benefit from a COVID-19 restriction this year. The Canadian government isn’t allowing unvaccinated players to join their teammates in crossing the border, so the Blue Jays will not have to face any players on opposing teams who are unvaccinated in half of their games.
After winning it all in 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked ready to do so again after acquiring Max Scherzer at the trade deadline. After falling just short in the NL West race to San Francisco–despite winning 106 games–the Dodgers topped St. Louis in the Wild Card game and then defeated the Giants in five games in a spirited Division series matchup. But an injury to Scherzer left the pitching staff shorthanded, and LA lost the NLCS to Atlanta in six games.
Now, even after losing Scherzer, the Dodgers are back in the position of World Series favorites for the third-straight season. LA is looking for its fourth World Series appearance since 2017 and sixth NLCS berth in the last seven seasons.
In addition to losing Scherzer, shortstop Corey Seager and closer Kenley Jansen also vacated, but LA did add free-agent first baseman Freddie Freeman from the Braves to its powerful lineup. He joins Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Max Muncy, Will Smith, Cody Bellinger and others in a deep batting order. Bellinger won the MVP in 2019 but had a miserable 2021 campaign, so the team is counting on a bounce-back year from him.
The Dodgers figure to get Trevor Bauer back sometime this season even if he is suspended over sexual assualt allegations from a year ago, and they also re-signed veteran Clayton Kershaw. Walker Buehler is the Opening Day starter, and Julio Arias turned into a dependable starter last year as well.
After Jansen’s departure, the Dodgers made a late trade to acquire active saves leader Craig Kimbrel from the White Sox, and they also have Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson, and more available in a deep bullpen.
The division is deep with San Francisco and San Diego poised for solid seasons, but there is almost no way to imagine the Dodgers not making the playoffs and thriving in the new extended format even if they don’t win the division.
If you were paying attention, the Texas Rangers made some big moves during last offseason with the hopes of winning the 2023 World Series. While going on a spending spree doesn’t work for many teams (looking at you, New York Mets and...
Read more Current Playoff Format Making MLB Odds More Unpredictable
MLB’s new playoff format, implemented in 2022, has been a boon for the underdogs in World Series futures odds. Last year, a wild card team (Texas Rangers) won the World Series with preseason odds of +5000. The year before, the...
Read more 2024 World Series Futures Odds: Will an Underdog Win It All Again?
The road to the World Series has been filled with landmines for many odds-on favorites in recent years. Just ask the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers–two teams who have each won over 200 games the past two years but have no...
Read more 2024 World Series Futures Odds: Will a Favorite Cash In?
With the conclusion of the 2023 MLB World Series, we’ve had a first-time champion in the four major U.S. sports for the third time since June. The Texas Rangers joined the Denver Nuggets and Vegas Golden Knights at the top of their...
Read more Look Ahead to 2024 MLB World Series Futures Odds
