MLB Opening Day odds: Blue Jays open as road favourites, Ohtani starts vs. Oakland

Nothing says summer is close quite like MLB Opening Day.

The latest: All 30 teams will be in action on Thursday, including the Toronto Blue Jays. After a horrific ending to the 2022 season, the squad has its sites set on a bigger and better campaign. Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Angels face a divisional rival in the Oakland Athletics, while the New York Yankees battle the San Francisco Giants.

MLB Opening Day odds

MLB odds as of 4:44 p.m. on 03/28/2023.

Opening Day highlights

Blue Jays open season in St. Louis

Toronto begins its World Series quest in St. Louis with a date against the Cardinals. The Blue Jays lost some key parts this offseason, such as Teoscar Hernandez, but added outfielders Daulton Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier, as well as starting pitcher Chris Bassitt.

Alek Manoah will get the ball for Toronto while St. Louis sends Miles Mikolas to the mound.

Manoah has the seventh-shortest odds to win the AL Cy Young award at +1,300.

MLB Opening Day odds: The rest of the AL East

Yankees, Aaron Judge host San Francisco

For 10 minutes this past offseason, it seemed like Judge was headed to the Giants. Despite interest from San Francisco, the two weren’t nearly as close as an erroneous report suggested.

Judge, the reigning AL MVP and favourite to lead the majors in homers after blasting 62 last year, ultimately stuck with New York and will look to follow up his historic with a bang.

Ascending Orioles visit Fenway Park

Baltimore went 35-42 through the first three months of last season but finished the year strong.

The O’s were 48-37 from July onward as youngsters like Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman found their footing. Now Baltimore will welcome even more young talent to the team, like AL Rookie of the Year favourite Gunnar Henderson, who got his first taste of the bigs last season.

Baltimore faces a Red Sox team that added key pieces in Masataka Yoshida, Justin Turner, Corey Kluber and Kenley Jansen.

Rounding out the division, the Tampa Bay Rays host the Detroit Tigers at 3:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. The Rays are a +300 betting favourite to win the AL East, trailing both the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Aces in action

Ohtani, Angeles battle Athletics

Baseball fans will see Ohtani and Mike Trout take the field together in a meaningful game for the first time since the memorable ending to the World Baseball Classic.

Ohtani, the WBC MVP, will make his second consecutive Opening Day start. The two-way star is favoured to win the AL MVP award after finishing as the runner-up last season. For more on Ohtani, check out our betting markets and futures odds for the Angels superstar.

Oakland will counter with lefty Kyle Muller.

Jacob deGrom and Trea Turner debut with new teams

Two of the biggest stars on the move this winter were deGrom and Turner, who will meet in Texas to kick off the season.

The oft-injured but dominant deGrom will be the 15th different Opening Day starter for the Rangers in 15 years. Turner, meanwhile, will make his Philadelphia Phillies debut after powering the U.S. to the WBC final.

Philadelphia, which will counter deGrom with Aaron Nola, hopes the star shortstop Turner will be the missing piece after the club fell short in last year’s World Series. Bryce Harper will begin the season on the IL recovering from Tommy John surgery.