World Series Odds
World Series Odds
It doesn’t get much better than October baseball. Major League Baseball‘s postseason culminates in the Fall Classic, otherwise known as the World Series. And betting on the best-of-seven championship is something you can now do at legal and regulated sportsbooks in Michigan.
MLB futures allow you to bet on any team you like to win the World Series, from the offseason through spring training, into the regular season, and throughout the MLB postseason. Below find more about betting on the World Series in Michigan, including how and where to bet online, along with the latest World Series odds.
Compare World Series odds at MI online sportsbooks
See below for live World Series futures odds at MI online sportsbooks. Odds will change throughout the season. Click on any odds to go directly to the online sportsbook, claim your bonus, and lock in your World Series bets. Check back during the World Series itself for live moneyline, run line, and totals bet on each game.
How to bet on the World Series
Once the World Series starts, there are all kinds of ways you can bet on it in Michigan. This includes moneyline, run line, totals, and team or player prop wagering for each World Series game. Bets on the series as a whole and series-based prop betting are available as well.
But you don’t have to wait for October to bet on the World Series. Michigan sportsbooks allow betting on MLB futures markets starting in the offseason, running through spring training and the regular season, and into the MLB postseason up until the World Series is set.
What are World Series futures?
World Series futures are the bets you can make at Michigan sportsbooks on any team to win the World Series during the offseason, spring training, regular season, and MLB postseason.
You can pick any team you like to win the World Series, and you’ll book that bet at currently posted moneyline odds. Those odds might change for future betting alongside a team’s chances of winning the World Series, but you’ll lock in the odds at the time you place the bet.
Teams out of contention will drop off the board. The odds will shrink on the true contenders as the season continues until the two World Series teams remain.
How World Series futures odds work
During the offseason, Michigan sportsbooks post the odds on all 30 teams to win the World Series.
Oddsmakers base these odds on last season’s stats and standings, future projections, the impact of significant offseason roster changes, and team history. The odds may be adjusted through spring training based on real-life performance, injuries, and how those might affect the regular-season performance of each team.
The World Series futures odds are adjusted even further throughout the regular season based on real-life performance, current standings, significant injuries, and roster moves. Teams that play their way out of contention will drop off the board throughout the season, driving the odds on the real contenders down even further.
Finally, the postseason starts, and the odds are adjusted heavily based on game and series wins and losses, all the way up until the American and National League Championship Series are over. At that point, the World Series futures market becomes simply the World Series betting market.
How the MLB Playoffs work
Normally, all 30 MLB teams play 162 regular-season games, and the top five teams in each of the National and American Leagues earn spots in the MLB postseason. This field includes the three division winners and the two teams with the best records outside of the division winners in each league.
The MLB postseason starts in October and includes four rounds, starting with the Wild Card games. These games pit the two teams in each league with the best records outside of the division winners against each other in a single-elimination game.
The winners then face the top team in each league in the Division Series. The other two division winners also take each other on in the Division Series. These series follow a best-of-five format.
The winners then face off in the best-of-seven Championship Series. Finally, the winners of the American League and National League pennants face one another in the World Series, which also follows a best-of-seven format.
Michigan sportsbooks will offer a full slate of MLB betting markets for every game throughout the regular season and postseason. Plus, World Series futures bets will be offered for the 2021 season and beyond.
Best sportsbooks for MLB promos and odds boosts
World Series futures betting tips
The World Series futures market presents a unique betting opportunity for everyone from casual sports fans betting for the first time to experienced handicappers who follow MLB religiously.
If you find yourself a part of the former group and are considering betting in the World Series futures market this season, mull the following:
- Bet early: The earlier you book a World Series futures bet, the better the odds tend to be. As the MLB season goes on and the contenders separate themselves for the pretenders, the odds on the teams with a realistic chance of making the MLB postseason tend to shrink. They shrink even further the closer the World Series gets. All that means you’re almost always better off betting in the World Series futures market as early as you can.
- Bet with yourself: If you have a team you like in the MLB World Series futures market, it makes sense to bet that team in other MLB futures markets as well. You can spread your money around a little, betting that team to make the postseason, win its division, or the AL or NL pennant. You’ll increase your profits if they accomplish all this and win the World Series. Plus, you might still make a profit if they fall just short of a World Series title.
NL vs. AL World Series wins
The American League Champions and National League Champions have met in the World Series 116 times. So far, the AL champs have won 66 and the NL champs 50.
No team has won more World Series titles than the American League’s New York Yankees, who have won the World Series a whopping 27 times. However, the last Yankees World Series win was in 2009.
The only other team with 10 or more World Series wins is the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals, who have 11. The Cardinals last won the World Series in 2011.
The AL’s Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox each have nine World Series wins.
Only 24 teams have ever won the World Series, half from the AL and half from the NL. Of that group, 20 teams have won multiple World Series titles, again, half from the AL and half from the NL.
That means the Yankees’ massive World Series win total makes all the difference in the AL vs. NL World Series win total statistic.
| Team | League | Appearances | Series Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | AL | 40 | 27 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | NL | 19 | 11 |
| Oakland Athletics | AL | 14 | 9 |
| Boston Red Sox | AL | 13 | 9 |
| San Francisco Giants | NL | 20 | 8 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | NL | 21 | 7 |
| Cincinnati Reds | NL | 9 | 5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | AL | 7 | 5 |
| Detroit Tigers | AL | 11 | 4 |
| Chicago Cubs | NL | 11 | 3 |
| Atlanta Braves | NL | 10 | 4 |
| Baltimore Orioles | AL | 7 | 3 |
| Minnesota Twins | AL | 6 | 3 |
| Chicago White Sox | AL | 5 | 3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 8 | 2 |
| Cleveland Guardians | AL | 6 | 2 |
| New York Mets | NL | 5 | 2 |
| Houston Astros | NL | 5 | 2 |
| Kansas City Royals | AL | 4 | 2 |
| Miami Marlins | NL | 2 | 2 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | AL | 2 | 2 |
| Washington Nationals | NL | 1 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Angels | AL | 1 | 1 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | NL | 1 | 1 |
All-Time World Series Champions
The New York Yankees have won the most World Series titles at 27. That equals 23.3% of all the World Series played and 40.9% of the World Series wins posted by the American League.
The Yankees have appeared in 40 World Series. The team’s 27 wins give them a 67.5% World Series winning percentage in the years they have appeared. No other team is even close to the Yankees when it comes to World Series wins. It would take a decade and a half of consecutive World Series wins for any team to catch them at this point.
Beginning in the 1920s, the Yankees won two or more World Series in every decade except the 1980s and the 2010s. They were shut out in those two decades. However, they won at least one American League pennant in every decade from the 1920s until the 2010s.
The Yankees are the only team ever to have won five consecutive World Series, from 1949-53. They are also the only team ever to have won four consecutive World Series, managing that feat in the previously mentioned run, along with 1936-39.
The Yankees also won three consecutive World Series from 1998-2000. The Oakland Athletics are the only other team to have three-peated, winning from 1972-74.
Add it up, and the New York Yankees are far and away the all-time champions of baseball.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
World Series Betting FAQ
Michigan’s first retail sportsbooks launched inside Detroit’s three commercial casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino Hotel, and MotorCity Casino Hotel, in early 2020.
Several sports betting sites have launched in 2020 and 2021 and accept bets on futures, giving you plenty of options to choose from.
The World Series futures market is by far the most popular, but there are some MLB futures you can also bet on. The list includes:
- Regular-season team win totals
- Division champions
- Wild card teams
- To make the playoffs
- AL and NL pennant winners
- MLB Awards including AL and NL MVP and CY Young
- Award winners
- Player futures including regular-season stats leaders
The World Series is played in the home ballparks of the American and National League Champions. That means we won’t know where exactly the World Series will take place until two teams emerge as American and National League Champions.
Home-field advantage is awarded to the league championship team with the best regular-season win-loss record of the two. That means Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 will be hosted by the team with the best record and the other team will host Games 3, 4, and 6.
The 1919 World Series featured the Black Sox Scandal, involving charges against several members of the Chicago White Sox and various gamblers for allegedly conspiring to throw the World Series games.
The underdog Cincinnati Reds beat the heavily favored White Sox to win the best-of-nine World Series five games to three. Two years later, eight players from the White Sox were banned from baseball for allegedly fixing the series even though they were acquitted of any criminal charges.