Braves open postseason as World Series favorites

After finishing the regular season with the best record in the majors, the Atlanta Braves are the favorite to win their second title in three years with the playoffs set to begin on Tuesday.

Atlanta went 104-58 to capture its sixth consecutive National League East crown. The Braves currently sit at +250 to win the World Series on BetMGM, while FanDuel has them at +260 and DraftKings has them at +330.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who went 100-62 to finish with the second-best record in the National League, have the second-best odds to go all the way. BetMGM and DraftKings both have the Dodgers at +425, while FanDuel puts them at +410. Los Angeles will be heading to the postseason for the 11th consecutive season. It was eliminated by the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series in 2022, just two years removed from a championship. The Dodgers made it to the NL Championship Series in 2021 but fell to Atlanta in six games.

BetMGM (+500), FanDuel (+480) and DraftKings (+450) all have the defending World Series champion Houston Astros with the third-best odds to win the title. It would mark Houston’s third championship in the past seven years. The Astros also won in 2017. Two years after a brutal 52-110 season, the Baltimore Orioles turned heads by winning 101 games to clinch the American League East, and oddsmakers rewarded them for their efforts. Baltimore has the fourth-best odds to snag its first championship since 1983, sitting at +600 on BetMGM, +650 on DraftKings and +700 on FanDuel. The Philadelphia Phillies, who fell to Houston in the 2022 World Series, enter the postseason as an NL wild card and are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the fifth-best odds (+1200) on BetMGM and FanDuel to get the job done this time around.

Philadelphia is +1300 on DraftKings, though, while the Rays see their line at +950.

The Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks, the NL’s two other wild cards, are the biggest underdogs at +3000 apiece on DraftKings and +5000 apiece on BetMGM. FanDuel has Arizona (+4000) with slightly better odds than Miami (+5000). Over at DraftKings, the Astros are at +190 odds to come out of the AL, while Atlanta is at +150 to prevail in the NL. FanDuel believes an NL team will prevail in the World Series, putting the line at -138. An AL team winning is at +112.

Four wild-card series are set to begin on Tuesday. DraftKings has the Phillies as -180 favorites over the Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers taking their series against the Diamondbacks at -160, the Rays ousting the Texas Rangers at -155 and the Minnesota Twins eliminating the Toronto Blue Jays (-125). FanDuel also has Philadelphia (-200), Milwaukee (-192), Tampa Bay (-164) and Minnesota (-144) as the favorites in their respective wild-card series.

–Field Level Media