Dodgers are gambling favorites to repeat as World Series champions

The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series in 2021, at least according to some oddsmakers. That’s not much of a surprise.

For the last six years the Dodgers have been at or near the top of the offseason World Series odds, including first this year and last.

If you were wondering, the Dodgers had 15/4 odds to win the 2020 World Series, in both March and June per DraftKings, which means a $100 bet won $375. So if you bet $100 every year since 2015 on the Dodgers winning the World Series, you’d be down $25 right now.

To get back in the black, you could place a $100 wager at BetOnline, where the Dodgers have 9/2 odds to win the 2021 Fall Classic, which would pay $450 should Los Angeles become the first MLB team to win back-to-back championships in 21 years.

But that the Dodgers are atop the list of World Series favorites isn’t a surprise. The newsmakers in the 2021 odds are the Padres, who are trying to close the gap in the National League West. San Diego, owners of the third-best record in MLB in 2020, had the third-best odds to win it all in 2021 back on October 30, with 8/1 odds from BetOnline. But now, after the Padres traded for Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, and signed infielder Ha-seong Kim, San Diego’s odds to win the World Series is now 6/1, vaulting the Yankees (13/2 odds) into second place.

The next group of World Series favorites, per BetOnline, are the Braves (11/1), White Sox (14/1) and Mets (14/1).

Links

• Britt Ghiroli at The Athletic wrote about the adverse effect of MLB’s marijuana policy had on various baseball careers, including former Dodgers Javy Guerra and Andrew Lambo.
• Ken Gurnick at MLB.com picked the best single seasons at each position in Dodgers history.
• Andy McCullough at The Athletic wrote about MLB teams trying.
• Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus looked at the precipitous drop of major league starters lasting five innings in 2020.