The Los Angeles Dodgers capitalized on the New York Yankees’ devastating defensive errors in Game 5 to win the World Series and claim the Commissioner’s Trophy. The Dodgers won the championship for the eighth time and opened as +400 favorites to win it again next season on BetMGM.
The odds went up late Wednesday night after Los Angeles beat New York 7-6, ending the series in only five games. When a team with as much talent and success as the Dodgers wins the World Series, they are expected to be favored the following year, and when a team with the payroll of the Yankees comes in second, they’re likely to open close behind. The Yankees opened at +800 on the 2025 title odds, along with the Atlanta Braves, who lost to the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Series.
The somewhat large gap between the Dodgers and Yankees could be due to Juan Soto becoming a free agent this offseason. Whichever team signs the 26-year-old star outfielder will get a boost in the futures odds before the start of the season.
After losing to the New York Mets in the NLDS, the Philadelphia Phillies sit at +1100 to win it all in 2025. The Baltimore Orioles, who were eliminated in the Wild Card Series, come in at +1100 as well. The Padres are at +1300, followed by the Houston Astros and Mets at +1400.
After an impressive season, the Cleveland Guardians, who made it to the ALCS, are pretty far down the list at +2800. The three yet-to-be-mentioned clubs from this postseason, the Kansas City Royals(+3000), Milwaukee Brewers (+3500) and Detroit Tigers (+4000), are also in the middle of the betting board. The teams with the shortest odds among those who didn’t make the playoffs this season are the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners, both at +2500.
The teams with the longest odds to win it all at +50000 (500-to-1) are the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies. The Sox finished rock bottom in 2024 with a 41-121 record, while the Marlins and Rockies ended the season with just over 60 wins each.
This year and the last few years validate Friedman’s philosophy.
The Dodgers believe that the playoffs are a crapshoot. And that whoever gets to and wins the World Series is more a function of timing, momentum luck and health, than overwhelming talent or performance differential.
So the philosophy. And I don’t know whether this goes back to Stan hastens days with the Braves, or whether this is a saber metrics mindset. Is that you get to the playoffs however you get there. And then you’ll simply win your share of the time.
Meaning if there are 6 teams in the playoffs from the NL. You can buy your way in with depth and money over 162 games. And thus la every year wins the west and if they didn’t would still be a wc. So 1. Get there.
And then they believe you’ll get to the World Series every 6 years and win it every 12. And with some massaging and tweaking maybe improve on that. And they have.
But is this Dodger team better than the one who won 106 games? No. Is this better than all those ones who won 100+ and flamed out? No. In 2017 they’re on the cover of sports illustrated and it captions “best team ever?” They didn’t win. And this team did. With 2 starters. One borrowed. And a 3rd who sucked until the playoffs and had a 6.0 era through the first round.
La looks like they have a few years left to be competitive. But for now they can argue what. 15 years in a row in the playoffs. 4 NL titles and World Series appearances in 8 years. And 3 titles. Two if you’re not a dodger fan. What’s nice is that anything from here on solidifies this as a dynasty Certainly an NL one. Not just a nice little run with a lot of playoff failures. Winning the ws changes these narratives. The 2024 series also validates 2020 and removes all those stupid arguments