As the 2026 Major League Baseball season gets underway, bettors and bookmakers alike agree that the Los Angeles Dodgers will be by far the team to beat as they pursue a third consecutive World Series title.
The Dodgers have +230 odds to win MLB’s championship this season, according to DraftKings lines. It’s the shortest odds for a preseason World Series favorite since the 2003 New York Yankees (+200) and beats out the 2025 Dodgers (+240) for that honor.
Los Angeles opened the market at +375 and only shortened from there after acquiring two of the offseason’s biggest prizes in closer Edwin Diaz and outfielder Kyle Tucker. The Dodgers also attracted immense bettor interest despite their relatively short odds, with bettors seeing their initial lines as a bargain.
“The bettors were [taking the Dodgers] when we had them 350 and 330 and 300,” DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. “I think we’ve kind of shut the door there at +230.”
DraftKings has L.A. as its top handle attractor to win the World Series and to win the National League, as does BetMGM, which reports a whopping 31.9% of the money backing the Dodgers compared with the next closest team, last season’s runners-up, the Toronto Blue Jays (8.2%).
Anyone not locking in on Los Angeles is mostly looking toward the American League, recognizing that one of those teams could be just four wins from stealing a championship away 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 the New York Mets (13-1) and Philadelphia Phillies (16-1) joining the conversation from the NL.
The Yankees lead the charge at 10-1, but that’s actually a significant lengthening from their opener at +700. The reigning AL champion Blue Jays check in at 15-1, an improvement from their opener at 20-1 after they made some significant offseason moves and received some marginal attention from bettors.
But the betting public’s preference is largely the Seattle Mariners, who came up just short of the first World Series appearance in club history last season. They opened at 14-1 for the title and have gradually made their way down to 12-1 to be behind only the Dodgers and Yankees on the odds board.
“You definitely get a little more bang for your buck with the American League teams,” Caesars Sportsbook baseball lead Eric Biggio said. “A lot of love, a lot of money behind the Mariners to win the World Series, to win the American League pennant.” He notes that they are the book’s largest realistic championship liability.
Seattle has received the third-most handle to win the World Series at BetMGM and DraftKings, as well as the most money to win the AL at both books. BetMGM also reports a $450,000 wager on the Mariners to exceed 89.5 wins 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 notably says that the sportsbook’s AL winner market has nearly two times as many tickets as its NL winner market.
While many baseball fans might loathe the idea of the Dodgers dominating the league once again, Biggio notes that Caesars’ MLB handle has generally been better with the big-market team being competitive, especially when it faced other large 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.”
