{"id":150406,"date":"2020-09-28T23:25:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T06:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=150406"},"modified":"2020-09-29T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T17:26:14","slug":"mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Begins Postseason Play as 16 Teams Vie for the World Series, Oddsmakers Like LA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The biggest postseason in baseball history starts Tuesday. No, really. The 2020 MLB postseason brings 16 teams to the cusp of October. Play starts Tuesday when the four American League Wild Card best-of-three series starts, and the four National League series begin on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_150407\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-150407\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-150407\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg\" alt=\"MLB postseason\" width=\"1200\" height=\"891\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts-142x105.jpg 142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-150407\"class=\"text-description\">Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the consensus favorite among oddsmakers to win the 2020 World Series. (Image: USA Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>COVID-19 forced MLB to abandon its traditional 162-game marathon schedule and opt for a 60-game sprint. Because of the shorter season, the decision was made to expand the playoffs. It\u2019s harder to get a sense for what team is the best in just a little more than a third of the season. That&#8217;s especially true when you consider the Washington Nationals, last year\u2019s World Series champs, would not have even made the expanded playoffs if the same format was in effect. The Nats were 27-33 and in fourth place in the NL East before finishing the season 66-36.<\/p>\n<p>So, that\u2019s something to keep in mind as MLB postseason play begins. The four higher seeds in each league will host the Wild Card series, and while there is something to be said about home-field advantage, a three-game series can produce a random outcome. In any given season, you could see a 100-loss team take two-of-three from a 100-win team. One bad outing from an ace pitcher can turn the tide in a short series.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the series matchups and odds according to FanDuel.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p><strong>American League<\/strong><br \/>\nHouston Astros +150 at Minnesota Twins -178<br \/>\nChicago White Sox -108 at Oakland Athletics -108<br \/>\nToronto Blue Jays +186 at Tampa Bay Ray -225<br \/>\nNew York Yankees -124 at Cleveland Indians +106<\/p>\n<p><strong>National League<\/strong><br \/>\nCincinnati Reds +118 at Atlanta Braves -138<br \/>\nMiami Marlins +162 at Chicago Cubs -194<br \/>\nSt. Louis Cardinals +170 at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/padres-among-world-series-favorites-after-acquiring-mike-clevinger\/\">San Diego Padres<\/a> -200<br \/>\nMilwaukee Brewers +250 at Los Angeles -310<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/mlb-2020-postseason-schedule-announced\">MLB.com<\/a> for game times and broadcast information.<\/p>\n<h2>Who&#8217;s Hot, Who&#8217;s Not Heading Into MLB Postseason<\/h2>\n<p>When trying to handicap a short series in a short season, the best barometer might be to look at what teams are the hottest in the majors. According to TeamRankings.com, here\u2019s how each of the playoff teams fared in their final 10 games.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p><strong>American League<\/strong> &#8211; Rays 8-2, Indians 8-2, Blue Jays 6-4, Twins 6-4, Athletics 5-5, Astros 4-6, Yankees 4-6, White Sox 2-8.<br \/>\n<strong>National League<\/strong> &#8211; Dodgers 8-2, Reds 7-3, Braves 6-4, Cardinals 6-4, Padres 5-5, Brewers 5-5,\u00a0Marlins 5-5,\u00a0Cubs 4-6.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sometimes it helps to go even a little deeper into the numbers. Take, for example, the Reds. On Sept. 12, they were 20-26 and many had written them off for a postseason berth. But they finished the final two weeks going 11-3. That included taking two of three at Minnesota, where the Twins had previously just lost five times in their first 28 home games.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that hot streak, oddsmakers aren&#8217;t convinced it&#8217;ll carryover into October. World Series odds for the Reds range from +2000 at PointsBet to +3500 at BetMGM.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers World Series Favorites<\/h2>\n<p>Heading into October, oddsmakers across the US believe the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-dodgers-are-world-series-favorites\/\">Dodgers<\/a> are the heavy favorite to win their first crown in 32 years.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The winningest team in the majors this year started hot and stayed hot throughout the season. LA boasts a pitching staff that led the NL in earned run average (3.02) and a lineup that led the league in homers (118), slugging percentage (.483), and runs (349).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>FanDuel, DraftKings, and PointsBet all offer the Dodgers at +350, with BetMGM posting odds of +375.<\/p>\n<p>Oddsmakers also don\u2019t see much difference between the Yankees and Rays. FanDuel, DraftKings, and PointsBet have the AL East rivals as co-second choices. PointsBet and DraftKings have them at +600 each and FanDuel at +700. BetMGM, meanwhile, lists the Yanks at +600 and the Rays at +800.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to remember with this postseason, once the Wild Card round ends, the National League teams will head to Texas and the American League teams will go to California to play the divisional and league championship series. After that, the AL and NL pennant winners will face off in Arlington, Texas for the World Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The biggest postseason in baseball history starts Tuesday. No, really. The 2020 MLB postseason brings 16 teams to the cusp of October. Play starts Tuesday when the four American League Wild Card best-of-three series starts, and the four National League series begin on Wednesday. COVID-19 forced MLB to abandon its traditional 162-game marathon schedule and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":150407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MLB Begins Postseason Play as 16 Teams Vie for the 2020 World Series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oddsmakers like the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their World Series , but can they survive the long postseason and break the 32-year drought.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLB Begins Postseason Play as 16 Teams Vie for the 2020 World Series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oddsmakers like the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their World Series , but can they survive the long postseason and break the 32-year drought.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T06:25:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T17:26:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"490\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/\",\"name\":\"MLB Begins Postseason Play as 16 Teams Vie for the 2020 World Series\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-29T06:25:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-29T17:26:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Oddsmakers like the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their World Series , but can they survive the long postseason and break the 32-year drought.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-begins-postseason-play-as-16-teams-vie-for-the-2020-world-series\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/29bc1a7a-807a-429d-bf5d-69821e77ccdb-2020-07-22_Mooke_Betts.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":490,\"caption\":\"Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the consensus favorite among oddsmakers to win the 2020 World Series. 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