Way Too Early Look At 2023 MLB Championship Odds

It’s February which means spring training warm-up games for the 2023 MLB season are about to start in earnest, with the new campaign set to get underway on March 30th, exactly six weeks away. While some betting sites oddly have the Los Angeles Dodgers as the odds-on favorites to win it all in 2023, some sports betting sites like Sports Interaction have the reigning and defending champion Houston Astros atop their early MLB outright odds tables. 

2023 MLB Outright Winner Odds

We love to keep tabs on MLB futures odds even in February. We’ve taken a look at who sportsbook Sports Interaction has at the top of their 2023 World Series winner odds table so we can start handicapping the upcoming MLB campaign bright and early. You know what they say, the early bird gets the best odds.

Houston Astros 2023 MLB Odds

The Houston Astros have been a force to be reckoned with in recent years, winning the American League pennant four times since 2017, including the last two straight. They went on to win the World Series in two of those years, once in 2017, and again last season. Unfortunately, that first title in 2017 was tainted by an unprecedented cheating scandal during which they were found to have been stealing signs.

It turned them into the most hated team in baseball, and maybe North American sports, but the franchise didn’t wallow. Instead, they went on to those two straight pennants, winning a clean World Series last year against the Phillies after losing several high profile players to free agency and hiring legendary manager Dusty Baker to right the ship.

Houston didn’t lose much in terms of free agents after their World Series win, but they did do a little bit of shopping in the free agency market. Their biggest move was adding three-time All-Star first baseman Jose Abreu, and they also added reliever Rafael Montero to a bullpen that was the best in the business last season with a league-leading 2.80 ERA. They also bring back four of their five 10+ win starting pitchers to the staff, with Justin Verlander the lone starter leaving for greener pastures in New York.

Los Angeles Dodgers 2023 MLB Odds

2022 was an up and down year that saw a Dodgers campaign during which they set a franchise record with 111 regular season wins (just five short of the MLB record) only to falter immediately in the postseason, dropping their Division Series matchup with the San Diego Padres in embarrassing fashion 3-1.

Betting sites, nearly all of whom have them listed as one of the top two teams in terms of implied probability of winning the 2023 World Series, as well as many pundits are expecting a big bounce back after that discouraging end to the 2022 season. While many would have expected the Dodgers not to simply sit idly by during the offseason following such a terrible playoff performance, especially considering they have top five payroll, their winter spending has been just as disappointing as their postseason performance in 2022.

They’ve picked up fringe players such as shortstop Miguel Rojas, but they also lost long-time Dodgers and significant contributors at the plate such as Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger, as well as a couple of their top starting pitchers in Tyler Anderson and Tony Gonsolin. They also lost closer Craig Kimbrel and shortstop Trea Turner. With that much roster turnover, it’s a bit of a mystery why betting sites are so high on them.

Best Of The Rest

But hey, the fact that sportsbooks are so high on the Dodgers after a brutal offseason means that other more likely contenders have better odds next to their names. Both teams from New York, the Yankees and the Mets, are looking dangerous going into the 2023 season.

The Yankees have acquired elite pitcher Carlos Rodon, All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and re-signed Aaron Judge to a whopping nine-year $360 million deal after his record-setting 2022 campaign. After a few quiet years, it seems the Yankees are finally acting like the Yankees again. The Mets, for their part, signed young pitcher Kodai Senga and veterans Jose Quintana and Justin Verlander to bolster the rotation after the loss of Jacob deGrom, re-signed outfielder Brandon Nimmo, and gave Edwin Diaz the richest contract for a relief pitcher in MLB history.

The surprise NL runner up San Diego Padres are also in the top six of the odds table along with the Atlanta Braves. The Padres broke the bank to swindle all-world shortstop Xander Bogaerts from the Red Sox with an 11-year, $260 million deal, meanwhile the Braves were able to fill a need by acquiring exciting young catcher Sean Murphy via trade.