2026 World Series Odds: Yankees Remain Favored AL Squad

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The American League prevailed in the Midsummer Classic, blanking the National League 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Cody Bellinger stood tall as the All-Star Game MVP, and his New York Yankees are second on the World Series odds board behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MLB odds will likely favor the Dodgers throughout the rest of the regular season regardless of how hot any other team gets. Let’s take a look at how the odds are shaking out ahead of the season’s unofficial second half.

2026 World Series winner odds

Odds last updated on 7-15. Odds from Polymarket. Use our Polymarket promo code (COVERS) for a $50 trading bonus when you deposit at least $20 as a new user.

2026 World Series odds over time

Here, we’ll track how the World Series odds shift throughout the offseason, free agency, spring training, and 2026 regular season.

MLB World Series futures predictions

The Los Angeles Dodgers are rightly favored to win the World Series, and you can certainly justify wagering on them at +200 or thereabouts.

However, a lot can happen in a few months. Granted, even their late-season swoon didn’t hurt them too much, but the Dodgers were +500 as of the Wild Card Series.

I don’t hate my Atlanta Braves pick, especially at that number, but with both Ronald Acuna Jr. (again!) and Spencer Strider injured (again!!), I’m not feeling as comfortable.

Still, the Braves are +900 now thanks to a 6.5-game lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies.

I am tempted to grab a share of the Milwaukee Brewers, but they might be a great regular-season team and nothing more. There’s no shame in that, but they need to show better finish before I take them at anything shorter than +2000 at this point in the season.

If the season ended today, the St. Louis Cardinals would be in the postseason. And they are as long as +15000 to win the World Series. That’s easily the biggest line for any team with a winning record. For context, the 33-41 Mets are still +8000.

I am tempted to sprinkle a quarter unit on St. Louis at that price, but I am also a Cardinals fan. I don’t mean to say that in a misanthropic sense, but in a realistic one. This was never designed to be the year, and I highly doubt Chaim Bloom – the man who took over as head of baseball ops from John Mozeliak last offseason – is going to mortgage the future for a stab at glory this year.

The rotation and bullpen have holes that need plugging beyond what a trade deadline can accomplish, and I fully expect Dustin May, JoJo Romero, and Riley O’Brien to be used as trade assets instead of foundational pieces even if the team is still sniffing around a wild-card spot in late July.

This is the first time in ages that I feel good about the future, but it remains exactly that…the future. The Jordan Walker breakout, the J.J. Wetherholt arrival, the Alec Burleson surge…these are all things to grab onto as proof of concept. But the real drive toward the World Series is going to come in 2027 and beyond.

But +15000 is still very tempting.

Previous World Series picks thread

5-11: Braves

With Tarik Skubal out for an extended period of time, and the Detroit Tigers offense looking a bit out of sorts, I think it’s worth pivoting to an alternative World Series pick. I’m going with the Atlanta Braves. I am not buying the Tampa Bay Rays or the Athletics, two of the three AL teams with winning records, and I’m not about to commit to the Chicago Cubs with all of their concerns in the starting rotation. But if I’m eyeing an alternative to the Dodgers, and don’t want to pay a premium on the New York Yankees, I’ll grab the Braves. First of all, they have baseball’s best record and the biggest division cushion. Thanks to uneven and bad play from the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, the Braves have a nine-game lead in the NL East. At +87, Atlanta owns the best run differential. And even with Ronald Acuna Jr. sidelined, the offense keeps humming along thanks to a resurgent Matt Olson, slugging sophomore catcher Drake Baldwin, and others. The rotation is being held together by toothpicks and super glue, but Spencer Strider finally looked more like himself, and Chris Sale continues to mow people down. Getting them anywhere close to +1000 is a gift

2-26: Tigers

This might be the Detroit Tigers’ best shot at winning the Fall Classic before the window closes a tad before re-opening. Two-time American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is poised to enter free agency after the season, which would greatly diminish their chances going forward, even with fellow southpaw Framber Valdez anchoring the rotation. But with Skubal and Valdez at the front of the rotation, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize providing solid innings in the middle, and veteran Justin Verlander returning home for one last shot at glory with the team that drafted him 22 years ago, the pitching side of things is promising enough to inspire confidence. The lineup is where risk and uncertainty come into play, which is why we can get them for +2500. Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Spencer Torkelson are more or less penciled in as the heart of the batting order, which is a bit wobbly. Colt Keith could take another step forward, and Gleyber Torres has a reasonably high floor, but the ceiling feels limited. However, the Tigers have an abundance of prospects knocking on the door of the major leagues. Shortstop Kevin McGonigle and outfielder Max Clark are the two with the most promise, and they should make their debuts fairly early on. McGonigle is a candidate to crack the Opening Day roster, while Clark is likely to arrive closer to midseason. Trey Sweeney has already had a taste, Max Anderson is probably the second baseman of Detroit’s future, and Hao-Yu Lee and Jace Jung could be useful pieces from the jump. The point is, the Tigers won’t mess around with Skubal’s final year. And with the AL Central still in flux, Detroit has a projected 72.6% chance of reaching the postseason — the second-best odds in the American League, behind only the Seattle Mariners at 79.1% — per FanGraphs. Getting to the postseason is, obviously, the first big hurdle. And if the Tigers are in the mix at the All-Star break, management will likely add at the trade deadline, so the soft spots on the roster today won’t be the same in a few months.

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Past World Series winners

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2025 World Series by toppling the Toronto Blue Jays in an epic seven-game series.

Here are the last 10 World Series winners, along with their opening odds.

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