Dodgers Still Lead the Way on BetMGM’s Updated World Series Odds

With a little over a quarter of the season played, baseball is starting to see who will be contenders in this year’s World Series chase. There have been massive surprises like the Red Sox and Giants, who have both led their divisions for extended periods of time. This has sent shockwaves through the odds for all teams, especially considering the Yankees, Dodgers, and Padres were favorites to win the World Series. All three of those teams reside in either the Red Sox or Giants’ divisions.

With all the craziness, BetMGM has sent us an update and some insight about the World Series. Not only are they telling us how the lines have moved, but they are also telling us where the money has gone when it comes to World Series future bets. Some of the results were quite surprising.

World Series Line Movement

The National League West has been one of the most exciting divisions in baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Deigo Padres are both two of the top-3 favorites to win the World Series. However, neither of these teams were leading the division until yesterday. The San Francisco Giants have been on fire with their rag-tag team of nobodies and washed-up stars. However, despite the lack of name value, the team has simply been one of the best in every area of the game.

Due to this fantastic start, the Giants’ World Series odds on BetMGM have moved from +8,000 to +4,000. However, the Padres and Dodgers odds have also gone down from +900 to +800 and +350 to +325, respectively. I would argue this has created a valueless landscape in the NL West, where no team is really giving you a good return for how competitive that division is.

Another interesting line movement can be attributed to the AL East, where the Red Sox currently sit atop the division. Due to this incredible start, the Red Sox have moved +5000 to +2000. Then, with the Yankees struggling pretty mightly, their odds have dropped from +550 to +700. While the Yankees are still clear favorites, I do think this bad start has made their World Series odds pricing a lot fairer.

Where is the Money Going?

When we look at who has the most handle, there are three teams clearly in the lead. The first is the Dodgers, with nearly 21% of the total handle, or total money wagered. This shows that the short odds are not scaring bettors off from placing money down on Los Angeles. The next highest handle is the Mets, with 12.3% of the total handle for World Series wagers. The Mets have been up and down, but the strong New York betting market has been persistent in placing wagers on the teams’ World Series chances. The third highest handle is the Yankees at 10%, once again the New York betting market is showing its strength.

This MLB season has been one of the most interesting and entertaining ones in recent memory. It will be very intriguing to see if these highly-rated teams finally start the comeback to dominance, or if the underdogs like the Red Sox and Giants end up coming out on top.