MLB Preseason Odds

March 26, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

MLB Preseason Odds

With opening day on tap for tomorrow in the MLB (See -- MLB: Opening Day 2025) here's a look at various odds, from division winners to World Series, from Cy Young favorites to league MVP's.

First, let's do a brief recap on last season which saw the LA Dodgers overwhelm the New York Yankees as they took the World Series in just 4 games as Freddie Freeman captured MVP honors.

The playoffs began with Detroit, which tied for second with Kansas City in the AL Central, knocking out Houston in a two-game sweep in one junior circuit wild card playoff, while Kansas City did the same to AL East runner-up Baltimore.

Cleveland, the AL Central champs, then needed all five games in the ALDS to eliminate Detroit, while the AL East champion Yankees took care of the Royals in four.

The ALCS saw the Yankees lay quick waste to the Guardians as the AL East winners took the series four games to one.

In the senior circuit, the New York Mets tied with Atlanta for second in the AL East and advanced from the Wild Card round by taking down AL Central division winner Milwaukee in three games. Meanwhile, NL West runner-up San Diego had a two-game sweep of the Braves.

The Mets moved on as NLDS champions one side of the bracket by taking Philadelphia in four games, while the Dodgers needed all five to shake off the Padres.

The Dodgers then captured the NLCS in six games over the Mets. As it turned out, the World Series was the easiest of the playoffs for Shohei Ohtani and Company. The Dodgers took the first three games by scores of 6-3, 4-2, 4-2 before dropping their only game of the set by an 11-4 count in the Bronx. Freeman homered in each of the first four games.

Game five, also in The Bronx, swung back to the Dodgers with a 7-6 victory. Freeman would wind up with 12 RBI for the series out of the 25 total runs scored by his team. Despite the near sweep, and largely due to the 11-run outburst in game four, the Yankees only trailed in total runs by one, 25-24.

In the decisive World Series games, the Yankees coughed up a 5-0 advantage in the fifth inning with three fielding miscues. New York took the back the lead in the sixth inning, but two sacrifice flies by Los Angeles in the top of the eighth put the visitors ahead for good. (Source: NBCnews.com).

To prepare for 2025, the Dodgers certainly didn't rest on their laurels and worked toward improving in key areas. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell was brought in to add depth to the starting rotation. They also picked up Roki Sasaki of the Nippon Professional Baseball league's Chiba Lotte Marines. He played with Ohtani in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In his four seasons playing pro ball in Japan, Sasaki has a 2.02 ERA and a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 11.4 to 2.0 per nine innings pitched. He also only allowed an average of 6 hits per 9 innings.

Ohtani and Sasaki already combined for the 6-3 Dodgers victory over the Chicago Cubs to complete the sweep in Tokyo last week. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who also signed out of the Nippon League before the 2024 season, got the 4-1 win in game one by scattering three hits.

It's no reason the Dodgers (+240) are runaway favorites to win the 2025 World Series with the Braves (+850) and Yankees (+900) trailing. No team has repeated as World Series champs since the Yankees won three-in-a-row from 1998-2000 and the odds say the Dodgers will have to go through the Yankees to make it two straight. The Yankees (+400) are favorites to win the ALCS, ahead of the Orioles (+650)

The odds leaders to win each division are as follows:
AL East - Yankees (+150), Red Sox (+260)
AL Central - Twins (+210), Tigers (+220)
AL West - Astros (+170), Rangers (+190)
NL East - Braves (+125), Phillies (+195)
NL Central - Cubs (+115), Brewers (+260)
NL West - Dodgers (-750), Padres (+1100)

Ohtani (+145) tops all National League MVP Candidates with the Mets' Juan Soto (+550) and the Padres' Fernando Tatis, Jr. (+850) just ahead of the Dodgers' Mookie Betts (+1000).

Kansas City's Bobby Witt, Jr. (+280) is the AL MVP favorite, barely topping over Aaron Judge (+300).

Favorites to win the Cy Young are Tarik Skubal (+350) of the Tigers in the AL over Garrett Crochet (+360) of the Red Sox, while Paul Skenes (+200) of the Pirates checks in well ahead of Zack Wheeler (+600) of the Phillies in the NL.

In the AL rookie of the year chase, Jasson Dominguez (+450) of the Yankees leads Kristian Campbell (+500) of the Red Sox, while the NL odds leader is Dylan Crews (+310) of the Nationals with Sasaki (+320) a close second and Matt Shaw (+410) of the Cubbies sitting at a not-too-distant third.