The MLB regular season ends next Sunday, September 27, and the 30 teams all have between 10 and 17 games left depending on doubleheaders and other makeups. On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers, World Series favorites at +350, became the first team to officially clinch a playoff spot.
Remember, each league will have eight playoff teams this year with the top two teams in every division plus two wild cards making the field.
New Playoff Format
MLB officially announced the playoff schedule, venue, and format earlier this week. The first-round games in both leagues will pit seeds 1 v. 8, 2 v. 7, 3 v. 6, and 4 v. 5. Those best-of-3 series will be played at the site of the better seed. The first round is scheduled to be played between September 29 and October 2, and there is no re-seeding after this round.
After the first round, the four NL teams remaining will head to Texas, and the four AL teams will head to California for best-of-five division series. There will be one NLDS at Arlington’s Globe Life Field and another at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. There will be an ALDS at Petco Park in San Diego and another at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
The best-of-seven ALCS is scheduled for Petco Park, and the best-of-seven NLCS will be at Globe Life Field. The AL winner will travel to Arlington, and the World Series is scheduled for Globe Life Field from October 20 to 28.
There will not be off-days in the first three rounds, minus a sweep, but there will be off-days after Games 2 and 5 of the World Series.
The Favorites
The Dodgers are the overwhelming favorite to win the National League at +130, and they have the best World Series odds at +350. The Wednesday win moved them to 35-15, and they have the inside track on the top seed over division-rival San Diego (+450 NL/+900 WS). After the Dodgers, the other current division leaders are way behind in the odds with the Atlanta Braves at +600 NL/+1200 WS and the Chicago Cubs at +650 NL/+1400 WS.
The American League is wide open according to the odds. The Tampa Bay Rays are the current favorites at +325 AL/+650 WS, even though if the season ended after Wednesday’s games, the Chicago White Sox (+500 AL/+900 WS) would be the No. 1 seed. The White Sox have the fourth-best AL Champion odds, with the New York Yankees at +350 and the Oakland A’s at +450.
Individual Awards
In this 60-game season, it is hard for an individual to separate themselves in the MVP or Cy Young races and three of those four have very close odds with less than two weeks left to play.
The only award that is a foregone conclusion is the AL Cy Young Award race, where Cleveland’s Shane Bieber is a virtual shoo-in at -2500, ahead of Kenta Maeda and Lance Lynn, who are both +1000. The NL Cy Young is closer with Yu Darvish at +100 ahead of Jacob deGrom at +150 with Aaron Nola, Max Fried, and Trevor Bauer, all under +800.
The MVP races are both close according to the odds. In the AL, Nelson Cruz is at +125, ahead of Bieber at +200. Jose Abreu is at +500 with Mike Trout and Tim Anderson lurking under +1000. In the NL, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mookie Betts are tied at +250, while Freddie Freeman has dropped from +2350 on September 2nd to +450 two weeks later.
