With pitchers and catchers reporting to camps in Florida and Arizona this week and major league baseball rosters beginning to take shape, oddsmakers are finally beginning to release their season wins totals odds. The delay has been due to the predicted length of the baseball season due to the pandemic.
Last year due to COVID-19, the league was limited to a 60-game season that began on July 23. The year also saw an expanded postseason, with a field widened of 16 teams vs the normal 10. This season, both the MLB and MLBPA have agreed on health and safety protocols paving the way for a full 162 game season. Currently, the league is sticking to its previously released schedule, a season that runs from opening day on April 1 through October 3.
National League and World Series Odds
Currently, the sportsbooks have defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers odds at +170, the clear favorites to win the National League and +400 favorites to repeat as World Series winners. The Dodgers have won more than 100 games in two of the last three full seasons and were on a 117-win pace (43-17) in last year’s COVID-19-shortened 60-game season. Bookmakers have the over/under at 102.5 wins for Los Angeles, the highest season wins total in baseball in 22-years, and a full 7-games better than the second-place New York Yankees at 95.5.
Top Five MLB Wins Totals Predictions
Los Angeles Dodgers: 102.5
New York Yankees: 95.5
San Diego Padres: 94.5
Atlanta Braves: 91.5
Chicago White Sox: 91.5
The Dodgers Are Stacked
The Dodgers have made the World Series three out of the last four seasons and anything short of another appearance would be disappointing. After finally winning a championship last season, Los Angeles didn’t sit on their thumbs during the offseason.
General Manager Andrew Friedman signed National League Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer to a three-year, $102 million front-loaded deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players per-year in all of sports. The 30-year-old Bauer had an MLB best ERA (1.73) and WHIP (0.795) last season and threw two shutouts in the shortened season.
The Dodgers also managed to re-sign fan favorite Justin Turner and pitcher Blake Treinen. Turner’s two-year $34-million deal represents a happy middle between the player and the team. There is also a club option for 2023. Treinen’s new deal is for two years and $17.5 million guaranteed with a club option would bring the deal to $24 million over three years.
Additionally, Los Angeles gets former Cy Young winner David Price back after he opted to sit out the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.
