MLB playoffs and World Series odds: The best sportsbook to bet every team

October is a special month. Football is in full swing, hockey and basketball get underway, and the baseball playoffs are in session. After 162 grueling regular season games, 18 teams have been eliminated. 12 remain in the fight for the World Series. Four teams have received a bye to the divisional series, while eight teams will meet in the wild-card round to determine which teams move on to the divisional round and which teams go home.

The wild-card round of the MLB playoffs begins on Wednesday with Game 1 of all four series taking place. Since it’s only a best-of-three first round, Game 1 is pivotal. Let’s take a look at the four series and what oddsmakers have to say about each. Make sure to

Philadelphia went on a surprising run to the World Series last year and there are plenty of people who believe this team can achieve a similar level of success this October. The first team in the way of that goal is the Miami Marlins, and the Phillies are heavy favorites to advance past them.

Zack Wheeler takes the ball for the Phillies in Game 1 opposite Jesus Luzardo for the Marlins. Wheeler is a workhorse. He made 32 starts this season and went at least six innings in 23 of those starts. However, Luzardo poses a challenge for the Phillies. He went 2-0 against the Phillies in the regular season, and some key members of the Phillies’ line-up can’t seem to figure him out. Trea Turner is 0-for-8, Bryce Harper is 1-for-9, JT Realmuto is 1-for-13, Alec Bohm is 1-for-13, and Kyle Schwarber is 2-for-9 against Luzardo.

Philadelphia should pull this series out considering their payroll is more than double of that of Miami. However, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them come out slowly in Game 1. The best spot to bet the Phillies in this series is at Caesars Sportsbook. Check out our review of Caesars Sportsbook here and make sure to claim their $1,000 sweat-free first bet offer for new PennLive users. Use promo code “SLPENN1000.”

While the Phillies series might be the most important series for us here at PennLive, there are three other series going on simultaneously. Let’s take a look at the betting odds for those:

• Tampa Bay (-165, DraftKings) vs. Texas (+145, Caesars): With Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Jon Gray all unavailable for Texas in this series, their starting rotation has some issues. Jordan Montgomery will start Game 1, and then expect some combination of Nathan Eovaldi, Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney and Martin Perez to get mixed in over the rest of the series. Tampa Bay will toss ace Tyler Glasnow in the opener before turning the ball over to reliable veterans Zach Eflin and Aaron Civale later in the series. Texas was the best team in baseball for the first half of the season, but barely squeaked into the playoffs. Oddsmakers don’t expect them to turn things back around.
• Minnesota (-112, UniBet) vs. Toronto (+110, FanDuel): The closest series according to the odds is the series between the Twins and the Blue Jays. Both teams are expected to throw three solid pitchers, with Kevin Gausman and Pablo Lopez going head-to-head in Game 1. FanDuel is the only sportsbook offering plus money on Toronto, so I’m eating that up as I trust their lineup slightly more.

• Milwaukee (-154, FanDuel) vs. Arizona (+148, UniBet): Arizona is sending Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly to the mound in Games 2 and 3 against Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta for the Brewers. Those look like potential pitching duels on deck. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, Game 1 will feature them sending inconsistent rookie Brandon Pfaadt to the mound against former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes. Of course, it’s hard to trust Milwaukee’s offense which makes Arizona an appealing upset choice. If I’m betting the Brewers, I’m betting them in the Game 1 Winner/Series Winner market at DraftKings. Milwaukee to win Game 1 and the series pays out at +110. It’s hard to envision the Brewers winning this series if they don’t take advantage of the lopsided pitching matchup in Game 1.

The Atlanta Braves finished the regular season with 104 wins, the best record in baseball and three wins more than the second-place Baltimore Orioles. They scored more runs than any other team in baseball, finishing with 41 more runs scored than the second place Los Angeles Dodgers.

Overall, seven members of the Braves’ line-up finished with an OPS of .800 or better. Eddie Rosario and Orlando Arcia, the two slackers in the line-up, finished with OPS numbers of .755 and .741 respectively and combined for 2.7 WAR. If that’s the weak part of your lineup, you’re cooking with gas. Of course, the Braves are led by likely MVP Ronald Acuna, who just had a 41 home run, 73 stolen base season while batting .337. Matt Olson finished with 54 home runs, seven more than the second best home run hitter in the bigs.

If there’s a weakness with this Atlanta team, it’s likely their pitching. Spencer Strider and Max Fried give them a formidable 1-2 punch, but they’re going to need some strong innings from the likes of Bryce Elder and Charlie Morton if they want to get through the playoffs. Both have been inconsistent. Their bullpen finished 10th in ERA, which is solid but not elite.

The Braves are favorites to win the World Series at every sportsbook. The best available payout currently if you want to bet the Braves can be found at DraftKings Sportsbook. Atlanta is +310 to win the World Series at DraftKings, while they are in the +250 to +275 range at most other sportsbooks.

can get $200 in bonus bets after signing up and placing an original $5 wager. On top of that, you can also get up to $150 in no-sweat bets. Check out our review of DraftKings sportsbook here.

We’ve scoured all legal Pennsylvania sportsbooks and found the best odds for every team still alive in the MLB playoffs. If you have a particular team in mind that you want to bet to win the World Series, make sure you’re taking advantage of the best odds available to you. We’ve done that work for you:

1. Atlanta Braves (+310, DraftKings)
2. Houston Astros (+500, Caesars)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (+500, Unibet)
4. Baltimore Orioles (+700, DraftKings)
5. Philadelphia Phillies (14-to-1, Caesars)
6. Tampa Bay Rays (15-to-1, FanDuel)
7. Toronto Blue Jays (20-to-1, BetMGM)
8. Minnesota Twins (20-to-1, DraftKings)
9. Milwaukee Brewers (22-to-1, FanDuel)
10. Texas Rangers (22-to-1, FanDuel)
11. Arizona Diamondbacks (50-to-1, BetMGM)
12. Miami Marlins (50-to-1, BetMGM)

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