As the 2026 Major League Baseball season approaches, punters and bettors alike agree Los Angeles Dodgers This will be the team to beat so far in their attempt to win their third consecutive World Series title.
According to DraftKings lines, the Dodgers have +230 odds to win the MLB championship this season. This is the lowest odds for a preseason World Series favorite since 2003. New York Yankees (+200) and beat out the 2025 Dodgers (+240) for that honor.
Los Angeles opened the market at +375 and went short from there after clinching the two biggest awards of the offseason. Edwin Diaz and outfielder kyle tucker. The Dodgers attracted immense interest from bookmakers even with relatively low odds, with bettors viewing their starting lines as bargains.
“The speculators were [taking the Dodgers] When we had those 350s and 330s and 300s,” DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. “I think we closed the door there at +230.”
DraftKings has LA as its top handle attractor to win both the World Series and National League, as does BetMGM, which reports that the Dodgers are favored by 31.9% of the money compared to the next closest team, last season’s runner-up. toronto blue jays (8.2%).
Anyone not staying in Los Angeles is mostly looking toward the American League, assuming one of those teams could be just four wins away from stealing a championship in the World Series, as Toronto almost did last October. After the Dodgers, four of the next six teams on the odds board are from the AL, with only New York Mets (13-1) and philadelphia phillies (16-1) Joining talks with NL.
The Yankees are 10-1, but that’s actually a lot more than their opener at +700. The defending AL champion Blue Jays check in at 15-1, an improvement from 20-1 from their opener, when they made some significant offseason moves and attracted some modest attention from bettors.
But this is largely what the betting public prefers seattle marinersWhich came just short of the first World Series appearance in club history last season. They started 14–1 for the title and gradually dropped to 12–1, trailing only the Dodgers and Yankees on the odds board.
“With American League teams you definitely get a little more bang for your buck,” said Eric Biggio, head of Caesars Sportsbook baseball. “A lot of love, a lot of money behind the Mariners to win the World Series, to win the American League pennant.” He noted that they are the biggest realistic championship liability in the book.
Seattle has the third-highest prize money for winning the World Series at BetMGM and DraftKings, as well as the most money for winning the AL at both books. BetMGM also reports a $450,000 bet on the Mariners to win by over 89.5 at -110 odds, as well as a $300,000 bet on them to win the AL West at +100 odds.
BetMGM senior trader Hal Egeland specifically says that the sportsbook’s AL winner market has almost twice as many tickets as the NL winner market.
While many baseball fans may hate the idea of the Dodgers once again dominating the league, Biggio says that MLB’s handle of the Dodgers has generally been better with the big-market team being competitive, especially when they faced other big markets like New York and Toronto in the World Series: “As much as people love to hate them, I think it’s good for business.”
