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The 2024 MLB season is already in full swing, and after very successful weekends, the Dodgers, Yankees and Braves entered the new week with prominent presences near the top of the World Series Winner futures leaderboard.
Let’s break down the current World Series odds and outlook for each of the three marquee contenders, and see why the Yankees are a great value pick considering their promising start.
2024 Yankees World Series odds to win: +1000 at DraftKings
The Yankees are the best value of this trio by far, especially after starting the season off 5-0 with a four-game road sweep of the Astros and a win Monday night in the series opener against the Diamondbacks.
Perhaps as encouraging as any aspect of the strong start is the body of work put forth by the starting pitchers in their respective first turns of the season. Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman – who were already set to be key components of the starting rotation and then became even more important once Gerrit Cole suffered an elbow injury – allowed just one earned run over a combined 10 1/3 innings in their season debuts.
You can find the Yankees to win the World Series at a +1000 at DraftKings.
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are still hitting well below .200 and have just one homer between them, and Anthony Rizzo and newcomer Alex Verdugo aren’t doing much better. Essentially, the Bronx Bombers have been getting by offensively thus far largely on the contributions of Juan Soto, Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera, so the ceiling for the offense appears pretty expansive once everyone starts clicking.
Cole’s absence naturally keeps these odds longer for the moment, but if Aaron Boone’s squad continues to corroborate its ability to navigate effectively without the ace, this price could prove to be quite the value in hindsight.
2024 Dodgers World Series odds to win: +350 at BetMGM
The Dodgers had a head start on all but the Padres, as they squared off in the Seoul Series a full week before MLB’s full Opening Day on March 28.
Los Angeles has essentially started off the season as well as had been expected, albeit with a couple of “winnable” losses. Pitching has been effective except for Yoshi Yamamoto’s disastrous MLB overseas debut start against San Diego, but the one-time Japanese star helped make up for that by blanking the Cardinals over five innings in his second turn Saturday.
Dodgers to win the World Series is a +350 with BetMGM bonus code PLAYNJSPORTS.
Meanwhile, the likes of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Max Muncy are all already knocking the cover off the ball to varying degree, and barring multiple injuries, that projects to be par for the course over the long haul.
The Blue Crew is so deep that they’ll eventually also see Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw jump into action later in the season to help fortify the pitching staff. As such, their place atop the leaderboard remains fully justified and warranted.
2024 Braves World Series odds to win: +550 at BetRivers
The Braves rolled over the White Sox by a 9-0 margin on Monday night for their third win in four games to start the 2024 campaign; just the type of start one would expect from a team essentially as loaded as the Dodgers.
Much like Los Angeles, Atlanta has seen almost all its big names get the season started off on the right foot. And, the biggest risk/reward offseason addition, Jarred Kelenic, once considered baseball’s best prospect, has come out of the gates swinging a blistering bat (.545 average through four games).
If Kelenic can finally completely fulfill his potential, this lineup could be close to invincible if reasonably good health prevails. The Spencer Strider-helmed starting rotation has also hit the ground running with the exception of an atypically poor season debut by Max Fried.
You can bet on the Braves to win the World Series at +550 with BetRivers bonus code BONUSBET (BETBONUS in NJ).
The fact that Chris Sale, who could help take this group to the next level if he turns back the clock and avoids the injury bug, struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings in his first start of the season could be a harbinger of what’s to come from Atlanta arms. And it’s what gives them solid odds to win it all, even while in the same league as the currently-favored Dodgers.
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