The opening round of this year’s expanded MLB playoffs is in the books. The eight winners of the best-of-three wild card series now move onto the two division series matchups in each league. All the top favorites to win this year’s World Series have advanced along with a few teams looking to make an unexpected run.
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American League Division Series
Both of the American League’s best-of-five division series are between bitter MLB division rivals. In once matchup, the New York Yankees will face AL East’s Tampa Bay Rays. Out in the AL West, the Houston Astros will take on the Oakland Athletics.
The Yankees went 33-27 in the regular season to finish seven full games behind Tampa Bay. However, they come into this ALDS showdown as -130 favorites on the series price odds.
Watching both teams play all season long, the value in those MLB betting odds goes to the Rays as +110 series underdogs.
These two teams met 10 times during the regular season with Tampa Bay winning eight of those games. I see that domination carrying over to the next round of games between these two teams.
Oakland won the AL West Division title with a record of 36-24, which was also seven games better than the second-place Astros (29-31). The A’s come in as -135 favorites on the series price. Houston’s odds to pull off the upset are set at +115.
Going back to the regular season results in this matchup, Oakland had a 7-3 edge in the 10 games. Once again, I am going with the hotter head-to-head team in this series by betting on the A’s.
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National League Division Series
Following the opening round, the National League basically followed suit with one division series between two teams from the East and one featuring two teams from the West. However, when it comes to the series price odds, neither matchup is expected to be all that close.
The Atlanta Braves won the NL East with a record of 35-25 as expected. The Miami Marlins were second in the standings at 31-29 which was a huge surprise. Atlanta swept Cincinnati to advance and Miami stunned the Chicago Cubs with a pair of back-to-back wins.
The two will face one another next and the Braves have been opened as heavy -280 favorites. The series price odds on the Marlins is +235. Over the course of the regular season, Atlanta had the 6-4 edge in that head-to-head series.
If there was one division series with value in the underdog, this one would top the list. Miami has already proven it belongs in the division round. It has also proven in can go head-to-head against the Braves. This may be a bit of a reach but I am taking the Marlins and the attractive plus money odds.
The other NLDS matchup pits the Los Angeles Dodgers against the equally surprising San Diego Padres. The Dodgers posted the best record in the Majors this season at 43-17 but the Padres were able to keep things interesting with 37 wins in 60 games to finish second.
Head-to-head in 10 games, Los Angeles won seven of those contests. The Dodgers will start this series as heavy -280 favorites. The series price on San Diego is set at +235.
This time around, I have to go chalk. The Dodgers were favored to win it all before the season started. They are +225 favorites to win the World Series heading into this round of the playoffs and -120 favorites to win the NL Pennant.
