Sports bettors still like Phillies’ futures odds

This article was contributed by BetMGM. For more sports betting insights, check outBetMGM.com.

The Philadelphia Phillies weathered the early-season storm in the minds of sports bettors hitting futures markets at the BetMGM online sportsbook.

After a 5-10 start put them behind the Atlanta Braves by six games in the NL East and wiped out a big chunk of their division-winner handle share, the Phillies have played over-.500 baseball since and have an upcoming four-game series in Atlanta that could erase much of that early deficit.

The public still likes the Phillies in several futures markets, most notably World Series champion, NL pennant champion and NL East champion.

During the 5-10 start, the Phillies dropped from +1600 to +2500 in World Series odds. They lost 1.2 percentage points off their World Series ticket share (7.3% to 6.1%) and 1.3% off their World Series handle share (7.5% to 6.2%).

It was enough to drop them from the fourth-biggest ticket share to the fifth-biggest and from the fifth-biggest handle share to the seventh-biggest.

But in the 5 1/2 weeks since, as they played two games above .500, some numbers haven’t moved while others have marginally moved:

Odds: +2500 (ninth) to +2500 (10th)
Tickets: 6.1% (fifth) to 5.8% (fifth)
Handle: 6.2% (seventh) to 6% (seventh)

The Phillies lost more than 4 percentage points off their NL pennant ticket share (17.8% to 13.7%) in the season’s first four weeks. But they’ve lost just 0.1 percentage points since then and have actually jumped from the second-biggest ticket share to the biggest.

Odds: +1200 (seventh) to +1200 (sixth)
Tickets: 13.7% (second) to 13.6% (first)
Handle: 13.4% (third) to 13.3% (second)

The early seven-game deficit pushed the Phillies’ division title odds from +600 on Opening Day to +800 when they were 5-10. And the slow start chopped a few percentage points off their ticket share and several points off their handle share thanks to big interest in the Braves’ hot start.

But since then, both the Phillies’ ticket and handle shares have increased:

Odds: +800 (third) to +1100 (third)
Tickets: 25% (second) to 26.7% (second)
Handle: 11.2% (third) to 12.4% (third)

You can view updated Phillies futures and more MLB odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook.