Legality comes in two flavors with MLB World Series betting. In the 20 or so US states that now offer domestic sports betting, you can use a local brick-and-mortar or online sportsbook service to legally wager on MLB action and find the latest World Series betting odds. World Series Betting Options One way to bet on the MLB World Series is to make a futures bet on which team will win the World Series this year. This type of bet can be placed at anytime throughout the entire year. The odds will change as the opinions on each specific teams chances of.

What is that sound you hear off in the distance? The crack of a batted ball, the sound a fastball makes when it hits the catcher’s mitt, could it really be baseball again? Today marks the opening day of spring training as pitchers and catchers will report and ease into the marathon that is a Major League Baseball season.

Last season was the strangest season ever for Major League Baseball as we had an abbreviated regular season followed up by expanded playoffs and many other quirky rules thrown in along the way, like starting with a runner on second base in extra innings and seven-inning doubleheaders. As a baseball purist, I was skeptical of all of the change, but at the end of the day, some baseball was better than no baseball, and surprisingly enough, I actually enjoyed some of the changes.

.@fangraphs has announced their projected postseason odds. 👀

Let us know what you think ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/1itTsNyf3B

— MLB (@MLB) February 16, 2021

As we head into this season, Major League Baseball is doing their best to run a “normal” season despite the fact that the nation is still mired in the Coronavirus pandemic. There were options proposed to start the season late and again reduce the regular season, but as we inch towards opening day, it’s looking like we will get an on-time season with a full 162 game schedule.

Now that we know what the season will look like, the books have started posting all sorts of betting lines for 2021 Major League Baseball. We have lines posted for World Series winner, pennant winners, MVP and Cy Young Award winners, and a host of other betting options. In the coming days and weeks, we here at TheSportsGeek are going to dive right into all things MLB and get you up to speed on all of the offseason movement and get you in on the betting action. We will kick that off today as we take a look at the betting odds to win the 2021 MLB World Series by highlighting the favorites, the middle of the pack, and the longshots and giving you one team to bet from each tier. Let’s get started!

The Favorites

• Los Angeles Dodgers (+350)
• New York Yankees (+550)
• San Diego Padres (+800)
• Chicago White Sox (+850)
• Atlanta Braves (+1000)
• New York Mets (+1000)

The majority of this list of favorites isn’t remotely shocking as just like last season, the Dodgers and the Yankees start out this season as the favorites in their respective leagues. The upstart Padres and White Sox come next as both teams are loaded up and ready to make that move from contender to champion. Really, the only team that feels like they don’t belong up here, is the New York Mets, as they haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 and despite a bunch of aggressive offseason moves, I am not sure they are quite ready for primetime.

Los Angles Dodgers (+350)

After winning their first World Series title in a generation, what did the Los Angeles Dodgers do in the offseason for an encore? Oh, all they did was go out and get even better! The Dodgers won at a historic pace last season, and while history will decide whether or not their .717 winning percentage will be remembered as an all-time great season or not, they were by far the best team in the game last year, and it’s hard not to feel like they are even better this year.

LA went out and nabbed the top free-agent pitcher on the market in Trevor Bauer and gave him an enormous contract to be likely the 3rd starter for the Boys in Blue, behind Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler. They also resigned World Series hero and fan-favorite free agent Justin Turner and return basically all of their high-impact players from last year’s team. David Price also rejoins the team after opting out of last season due to the COVID-19, and the former Cy Young Award winner likely slots in as their 5th starter in what is the best rotation in the game.

The Dodgers rotation is LOADED 🤯 pic.twitter.com/GIKNR2IGhL

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 5, 2021

If the Dodgers stay healthy, there just isn’t any way that they aren’t really good. With young superstars like Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, and Cody Bellinger all still in their primes and a pitching staff that has no weakness, the only thing that can derail the Dodgers this year is injuries. The price on the Dodgers isn’t great, but it’s only going to drop as we get deeper into the season and the Dodgers start to rack up another gaudy win total. The Dodgers aren’t my favorite play of the favorites based on the price, but I can’t argue against a play on the most talented team in baseball.

New York Yankees (+550)

On paper, the only team in the game that can match the Dodgers in terms of sheer talent is the New York Yankees. The Yankees have a lineup that is capable of hitting for more power than any lineup we have ever seen in the history of Major League Baseball. I know that likely sounds a bit dramatic, but if this team stays healthy all season long, something they just haven’t been able to do the last couple of years, they will shatter the all-time single-season home run mark.

The Yankees addressed their offseason needs in a major way as they resigned DJ LeMahieu and they overhauled their weak starting rotation. The Yankees said goodbye to Masahiro Tanaka and James Paxton and added Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon. They are also expected to get Domingo German and Luis Severino back after both players missed all of last season with injuries. If this rotation is healthy, they are going to be really good with Gerrit Cole getting his first full season in pinstripes to lead the way. But that is a mighty big if, as all four of the guys surrounding Cole were hurt last season and didn’t pitch much.

Corey in the House. pic.twitter.com/yP1JbaUpfN

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) January 28, 2021

Those same injury questions are true with the lineup as well, as many of the Yankees best hitters missed significant chunks of last season. But when you look at this lineup, if they stay healthy, they are going to be absolutely absurd. DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, and a full season from Clint Frazier, has the Yankees loaded. If there were no injury risk, the Yankees would be laying a much lower price right now, and while it is a bit of a gamble, the Yankees show outrageous value at +550.

San Diego Padres (+800)

The Padres went all-in on a World Series run last year at the trade deadline, but couldn’t knock off the Dodgers in the NL. They lost recently acquired ace Mike Clevinger for the season, and it looked like San Diego was again going to be outmanned in the NL West. But the Padres aren’t going to let the loss of Clevinger slow them down, as they went out and grabbed two of the best pitchers in the game when they added Blake Snell and Yu Darvish.

Hey, @tatis_jr. How many days until pitchers and catchers report?

✌️ #PadresSTpic.twitter.com/GKoLjZv5nf

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) February 15, 2021

The lineup remains young and hungry, with budding superstars like Fernando Tatis Jr, Trent Grisham, and Jake Cronenworth all still getting better each season. The Padres also have veterans Manny Machado, Tommy Pham, and Eric Hosmer to give them a nice balance of talent and experience.

It still feels like the Padres are a year away, and playing in the NL West with the Dodgers is a huge disadvantage, as they just aren’t going to be able to win their division, which makes it tough in the playoffs. The Pads will again be one of the most exciting teams to watch this season, but I can’t back them priced as a favorite.

Chicago White Sox (+850)

2020 was the year that White Sox fans had been waiting for as they finally got to see studs like Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, and Dane Dunning all hit the Major League level. All of those guys look like potential All-Stars at this point, and the White Sox know they have a roster that is capable of winning a bunch of baseball games. After years of collecting prospects, the White Sox shifted to win now mode in 2020. We saw even more of that in the offseason for Chicago as they flipped former first-rounder Dane Dunning for Lance Lynn to bolster their starting rotation.

Bring on baseball! pic.twitter.com/MoXZSuSRiL

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 8, 2021

That move was a big one for the White Sox as Lynn has been nasty pitching in the American League the last two seasons for the Texas Rangers. Besides the addition of Lynn, the White Sox mostly stood pat and are hoping that the added year of experience for their young guys will turn this into a world champion level team. My gut says this team is still a year out from getting to the top of their potential, but if we see big improvements from these young guys, the White Sox could get there this year slightly ahead of schedule.

Atlanta Braves (+1000)

When Baseball Prospectus’ released their annual PECOTA projections for team win totals last week, the most shocking projections came on the Atlanta Braves. BP had Atlanta winning just 84 games and finishing in 4th place in the NL East Division! As you can see, Vegas doesn’t see it that way, as they have the Braves priced as a favorite in the National League, and to be honest, that projection is absolute nonsense. The Braves resigned masher Marcell Ozuna and coupled with Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr, there might not be a better top of the lineup anywhere in baseball.

One day closer to baseball 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5MNAGwAhzu

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) February 9, 2021

Atlanta went out and grabbed postseason specialist Charlie Morton from the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Braves are hoping that former ace Mike Soroka can get back on the field this year after tearing his Achilles last year and missing much of the season. Assuming Soroka comes back, and Morton still has something left in the gas tank at age 37, Atlanta will have a strong rotation with youngsters Max Fried, Kyle Wright, and Ian Anderson looking a lot like some of those epic Braves rotations from the ’90s. It’s going to take a little run good to get past the Dodgers in the NL playoffs, but I see Atlanta as a bigger threat to LA than San Diego right now.

New York Mets (+1000)

When Steve Chen bought the New York Mets for 2.4 billion dollars, he promised that we were going to see a lot of activity and that he was ready to win right away. After seeing what the Mets look like under Cohen’s ownership, he wasn’t lying! The Mets acquired Frankie Lindor from the Cleveland Indians, grabbing one of the best young ballplayers in the majors to go along the young stars they already had in Pete Alonzo and Jeff McNeil. They also added hard-hitting catcher James McCann to give their lineup a major upgrade at the plate.

“It should be a special year for this team.” – @jeffmcneil805

McNeil is excited about the 2021 season. #LGMpic.twitter.com/NkgVnwakBL

— New York Mets (@Mets) February 16, 2021

New York also added Carlos Carrasco, who emerged from leukemia, to have one of his best seasons ever last year for the Cleveland Indians. They also brought in starter Joey Lucchesi to the rotation as a low-risk, potentially high reward, move. I understand all of the excitement surrounding the Mets, as fans are seeing the team spend money at a furious pace, but to see the Mets as a favorite in the NL right now is laughable. Maybe Cohen makes a couple more moves that make this team even better, but what I am seeing right now on this New York roster is good, not great.

The Middle Of The Pack

• Minnesota Twins (+2000)
• Oakland Athletics (+2200)
• Houston Astros (+2500)
• St. Louis Cardinals (+2500)
• Tampa Bay Rays (+2500)
• Toronto Blue Jays (+2800)
• Cincinnati Reds (+3300)
• Washington Nationals (+3300)

In this next section, we are going to take a look at the next step down from the favorites. These are the teams that don’t have all of the type of those top teams, but should contend for the postseason in their leagues. We will break this down into two groups, teams that are underpriced and those that are overpriced.

Overpriced Teams

The Oakland Athletics always seem to field a contending team despite never spending much money. I think one thing that we have learned under Billy Beane’s leadership in Oakland is that money ball is great for winning regular-season games, but isn’t very effective in the postseason. Beane probably has a couple of tricks up his sleeves, but I don’t see how the A’s are going to be able to replace guys like Marcus Semien, Khris Davis, Mike Minor, Tommy LaStella, and Liam Hendricks. The A’s might be competitive, but they aren’t winning a World Series.

Poor Tampa Bay. The Rays finally had a shot to take home the title last year, but came up just short, losing in the World Series to the Dodgers. This year, the Rays do what they always do; they dumped salary, as they lost Blake Snell and Charlie Morton. Instead of Snell and Morton, they are hoping to contend in the AL East with replacement pitchers Rich Hill and Chris Archer. Yeah, that isn’t going to go well, and I expect Tampa Bay to bottom out in 2021.

It's finally official, Blake Snell is coming to San Diego! @heyscan has all the details for us on #ScanningTheField@padres @snellzilla4pic.twitter.com/4wCkY72aQz

— Fox Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) December 29, 2020

The Cincinnati Reds broke through with a playoff appearance last year behind the strength of their starting pitching staff. And while Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo are both back in Red’s uniforms this year, Trevor Bauer isn’t. Cincy is hoping that Trevor Mahle or Wade Miley can step in and fill Bauer’s shoes, but we all know that just isn’t going to happen. The Reds still have some nice bats with Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Nick Castellanos, and Mike Moustakas, but it’s hard to make a case that Cincinnati doesn’t have less talent than they had last year when they were barely fringe contenders in the NL.

Underpriced Teams

The Minnesota Twins are a mashing team that tries to slug their way to wins in most games. That will be the case this year as well as they resigned slugger Nelson Cruz and they are going to have a formidable lineup. The Twins also added some defensive help when they signed free agent Andrelton Simmons who should help shore up their leaky infield. There are question marks in the rotation and the bullpen, but I think Minnesota still has their championship window open and expect them to continue to look at add pitching depth. More moves are coming here, and I see the Twins as undervalued right now for a team with this much talent.

I am shocked to see that the Blue Jays aren’t getting a little more love right now. Toronto greatly improved their lineup by adding Marcus Semien and George Springer, and you can expect their young guys like Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio to only get better. The rotation is weak behind ace Hyun-jin Ryu, but if Robbie Ray can ever figure things out, he should be a capable number two. When the Jays went out and got Springer and Semien, it showed me that they are ready to make a run, and I would expect them to grab at least one more starter before we kick the season off.

Nolan Arenado is a Cardinal. pic.twitter.com/Rclge3Rq0b

— MLB (@MLB) February 2, 2021

Nolan Arenado didn’t get as much media attention as he deserved playing in Colorado. But in my opinion, there aren’t five better players in baseball than Nolan Arenado. He has a legendary glove at third base, and he is going to give the Red Birds lineup protection for Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong. Kwang-Hyun Kim was a beast in his rookie season on the mound, and you have to expect Jack Flaherty to rebound after a tough year last season. The Cardinals are never very bad for very long and don’t be shocked if they win a division title this season. The Cardinals are my favorite bet on the board from the middle of the pack teams.

The Longshots

• Chicago Cubs (+4000)
• Cleveland Indians (+4000)
• Philadelphia Phillies (+4000)
• Los Angeles Angels (+4400)
• Milwaukee Brewers (+4400)
• Boston Red Sox (+5000)
• Miami Marlins (+7500)
• San Francisco Giants (+8000)
• Arizona Diamondbacks (+10000)
• Baltimore Orioles (+10000)
• Colorado Rockies (+10000)
• Kansas City Royals (+10000)
• Seattle Mariners (+10000)
• Texas Rangers (+15000)
• Detroit Tigers (+25000)
• Pittsburgh Pirates (+25000)

I am going to get this out of the way right up front, I don’t think any of these teams are going to win the World Series this year. Baseball has their have and their have nots, and while we have a couple of teams listed here that are usually contending, teams like the Giants and the Red Sox, I don’t see any of these teams as ready to win it all in 2021. But with these jumbo prices, the hedge values alone if any of these teams were to make the postseason makes them worthy of a look.

The Seattle Mariners aren’t going to be a great team, but to see them priced the same as the Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles is a joke. The Orioles and the Royals are completely bottomed out and will lose at least 100 games each. The Mariners, on the other hand, are a team on the rise, with Kyle Lewis coming off of a rookie of the year season and elite prospects like Jared Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez expected to hit the majors this year. Seattle grabbed James Paxton as a free agent, and he will give the M’s a veteran to guide young starters, Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn. Seattle is a year or two away from a breakout season, but this number is laughably bad.

The UNANIMOUS 2020 AL Rookie of the Year! Learn more about @KLew_5's story tomorrow on MLB Network.

📽️ 'Kyle Lewis: Writing My Own Story' – 4pm ET/1pm PT pic.twitter.com/5GQu2W3vbz

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 16, 2021

The other team that I see as showing value in this bottom tier is the Miami Marlins. Miami surprised just about everybody last year when they made the playoffs, and it’s hard not to get excited when you think of a full season on the mound from Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, and Sixto Sanchez. Don Mattingly was the NL manager of the year last year and has done a remarkable job rebuilding this franchise. They were ahead of schedule last year, and that postseason experience is going to be invaluable this year as they continue their rebuild.

World Betting Star

Wrap Up

Baseball Betting Sites

The 2021 Major League Baseball season is upon us as spring training kicks off this week with pitchers and catchers reporting to camp. Make sure that you stay tuned to TheSportsGeek all spring long as we keep you up to date on all of the Major League Baseball betting news and analysis!