The Los Angeles Dodgers enter the divisional round as consensus World Series favorites, and the defending champions have the betting public behind them.
This season at ESPN BET, there have been three times more bets on the Dodgers to win the World Series than any other team. At BetMGM and DraftKings, the Dodgers have attracted nearly twice as much money from bettors as any other team in the sportsbooks' World Series odds.
Los Angeles was the World Series favorite at +375 as of Friday afternoon at ESPN BET. The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are next, each at +475, followed by the Seattle Mariners at +550. The Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays are each +750, with the Chicago Cubs (+800) and Detroit Tigers (+1200) completing the list.
The Dodgers open their National League Division Series against the Phillies on Saturday. Los Angeles is a small favorite (-115 at ESPN BET) to win the series.
Halvor Egeland, senior trader at BetMGM, told ESPN on Friday that the Brewers winning the World Series would be the worst-case scenario for the sportsbook at this point, but the Dodgers were close behind.
"The Brewers were 50-1 at a point this year, so liability was able to grow pretty quickly on them," Egeland said. "The Dodgers being close to the favorite all year kept the liability down a little bit. The only other team we'd really like to avoid at this point is the Mariners."
The Mariners, who faces the Tigers in an American League Division Series, are the favorite to win AL pennant at ESPN BET, ahead of the Yankees, in part because Seattle has a perceived easier path to the World Series. Seattle is a -170 favorite against Detroit, while the Yankees are a -145 favorite against the Blue Jays.
"Surprisingly, the Yankees are our best result, followed by the Cubs and the Jays," Egeland said.