After a month of action, we have a feeling of some teams that have a chance to be a part of the upper echelon in Major League Baseball. Today, we are going to discuss some of the current favorites to win the World Series and if we should be placing our bets on them or not. We are going off the consensus odds so depending on which sportsbook that you use, the odds can alter a bit.
A big way to figure this stuff out is finding teams that can win. Figuring that out means having some score predictions to figure out how to win some bigger games. The stats and odds are current to May 9 as a frame of reference.
Los Angeles Dodgers (+475)
The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently the heavy favorite to win the World Series and are sitting at 16-7 this season and have a major league best +57 run differential. They have been incredibly dominant at home with a 10-2 record inside of Dodger Stadium.
A huge reason for their success has been because of their pitching. They have the MLB best 2.21 team ERA as well as being one of two teams (other being the Washington Nationals) with a shutout. They have allowed 30 less hits, 13 less runs, tied for the least amount of homers, 11 less walks, 0.13 difference in WHIP, and 15 points on a batting average against them, so the pitching has been dominant.
They also have a dominating offense with guys like Mookie Betts, Trae Turner, Freddie Freeman, and Cody Bellinger all being Most Valuable Player candidates so the offense will pick up. Los Angeles should win the National League West and should dominate here so they are a worthy pick and I doubt the odds get any better than this.
Toronto Blue Jays (+787)
The Toronto Blue Jays really tried to take this team to the next level after just missing the 2021 playoffs by a game. They added third baseman Matt Chapman and replaced some pitching options with guys like Yusei Kikuchi and Kevin Gausman. The American League East is going to be a tough division as the Blue Jays are currently third wit a 16-11 record and a -8 run differential. Their expected record is 13-14, which is not going to cut it in a tough division to be in a good position after a slower start.
The bright side is they had a tough stretch in their schedule as they played at New York, vs Oakland, at Boston, at Houston, vs Boston, vs Houston, and vs New York to open the year. They have a soft landing to end the regular season so they need to be in contention and they will be in a great spot. They have a solid lineup with guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr, George Springer, and Matt Chapman that should be able to do well for the team. But the talk should be around their starting pitching.
Starting pitching is the biggest factor to win in the postseason and the Jays have a lot of good depth as their current starting pitchers are Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, Alek Manoah, Ross Stripling, and Hyun Jin Ryu. They have some solid pitching and hitting options and also have an advantage as players must be vaccinated in order to travel to Canada so if a team has a player who is unvaccinated, they are not allowed to play in those games in the Roger Centre. Despite all that, these Blue Jays are not ready to be competing for the American League pennant, let alone win the World Series this season.
Other Teams Worth Mentioning
The two New York teams are worth mentioning as both are doing incredibly well behind their pitching. The Mets have incredible starter depth, even without Jacob deGrom throwing a pitch while the Yankees have great starters while having the deepest bullpens in baseball. The Mets are sitting at +819 to win and the Yankees are +1100 so throw some money on both of them as well.