BetMGM Astros futures odds on win total, World Series

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

The Houston Astros are the only MLB team to exceed their preseason over/under win total by at least seven wins in each of the last three full seasons (2019, 2021, 2022).

They’ll need 104 wins in 2023 to make it four straight seasons. And the public is split on the Astros registering (at least) the third-highest win total in franchise history.

The public isn’t split, however, on other Astros’ futures, including World Series odds.

When BetMGM released 2023 MLB win totals earlier this winter, the Astros had the highest total among all teams, 97.5.

Approximately four weeks before Opening Day, the Astros still have the highest total at the online sportsbook, though, at 96.5, they’ve fallen into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the only team with more regular-season wins than the Astros since 2014.

A majority of the Astros’ win total handle is on the under (56%), but that share accounts for only 44% of their win total bets. Fifty-six percent of the bets are on the over.

If they do hit the over by at least seven games, the Astros would become the second team to reach 100 wins five times over six full seasons. Only the Atlanta Braves – from 1997-2002 – have done it. (The Dodgers can also accomplish the feat with 100 wins in 2023.)

While the Astros’ win total has declined, their World Series odds have improved. And the public is buying baseball’s first successful championship defense since the New York Yankees capped a three-peat in 2000.

Ten percent of the 2023 World Series champion handle is on the Astros – currently +650 after opening at +700 on Nov. 5, 2022. It’s the second-highest handle share among all teams, while their ticket share of 7.2% ranks sixth.

More than one of every four dollars bet on the American League champion has been bet on the Astros to win a fifth AL pennant in seven years. The Yankees are the only other franchise to do that.

The Astros AL champion odds haven’t shifted this offseason; they opened at +300 and remain at +300, just clear of the Yankees (+350) and well clear of the Toronto Blue Jays (+700) and Seattle Mariners (+800).

Evidently, bettors like the price; they’re pounding the Astros with 27.8% of the total AL pennant handle, by far the most among all teams, on 9.7% of the tickets (fifth-most).

The Astros’ 15-year division title drought from 2002-16 was the second-longest in club history (1962-79) and tied for MLB’s 12th-longest drought in the last 40 years. And in their first 55 years of existence, they won three straight division titles only once (1997-99).

The Astros are now chasing a second three-repeat in the last seven years. And at -200 in AL West odds, they’re a heavy favorite to do so. Only the Mariners (+300) have odds shorter than +1000, and only the Oakland Athletics (+25000) have a bigger handle share (30%) than the Astros (27.4%).

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